4 ms·

I would have ordinarily considered this a pipe dream but I kind of stumbled into a personal break from fossil fuels last month. Due to the tax incentives, I ha

by elif 4y ago

I would have ordinarily considered this a pipe dream but I kind of stumbled into a personal break from fossil fuels last month. Due to the tax incentives, I have been expanding my solar array by investing about 10k every year, and I added a powerwall to distribute the energy better. The result is that last month my electricity bill was $38, despite being an all-EV household that grows 36 food plants hydroponically. I also coincidentally cancelled my gas bill the same month as I replaced the final gas appliance in my house with a really efficient Japanese electric oven. I'm not fully net zero, but considering I wasn't even considering net zero, let alone trying for it, I have to say it's startling how easy it was compared to the impression I get from talking heads and Twitter warriors. Considering people spend 10-20k per year on hobbies and I've only been at it for 3 years, i would highly recommend the hobby of self sufficiency.

ragebol 4y ago
It's an addictive hobby. We ordered a hybrid heat pump in March '22 and it was finally installed last week. It's 6 degrees C out here out and this thing is chugging along steadily. It's quiet too. Also adding more insulation as we speak (guys stomping over my WFH office roof now), so as these things happened to get installed in the same months, it's been an expensive month, with about €20k invested, before subsidies. But already thinking about what to do next. Expand the current set of 12 solar panels (has to happen eventually. Our home is about 200 square meter with mostly flat roof, so ideal for adding lots of solar myself), get a heat pump boiler for hot water for showers etc, better windows in some places, etc. Also got a dynamic energy tariff, busy setting up Home Assistant. I have a huge spreadsheet with potential measures, their potentials savings and estimated cost, iPython notebooks with temperature and energy usage graphs, comparison of a dozen heat pumps. Yep, addictive.
leehuffman 4y ago
Who spends $10k - $20k annually on hobbies?! I think the HN demographic of heavy six figure annual earnings has, uhm, lost sight of being an outlier and what’s ‘normal’ for the _vast_ majority of the population.
- 5ersi 4y ago
  People who switch to a new car every couple of years by extending a loan? Rings a bell?
- SyzygistSix 4y ago
  People with a large carbon footprint.
- elif 4y ago
  Let's say you're a baseball fan. The average cost of a season ticket is $4,473. Say you get the average $5.13 hotdog and $6.87 beer and pay the average $35 for parking. For 81 home games that's another $3,807. If you want to share the experience with, say one family member that's $13,652
  - itsoktocry 4y ago
    >Let's say you're a baseball fan. The average cost of a season ticket is $4,473. The average baseball fan is not buying a season ticket, partially because the cost is prohibitive to the average person. In fact, by definition, an extremely small proportion of baseball fans buy season tickets.
  - jmcqk6 4y ago
    > Let's say you're a baseball fan. The average cost of a season ticket is $4,473. The average baseball fan is not buying season tickets. The average baseball fan cannot afford season tickets. The average income in the US is $31,000. There is no way the average person is spending a third of their budget on "hobbies," especially when they're likely spending close to half of that on housing.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - elif 4y ago
      I did not say "every person" or even "the average person" You are inventing your own goalposts here. The fact is that there are an estimated 3.5 million MLB season ticket holders. These are people who are spending 10k on their hobbies. So it is reasonable for me to say "people spend 10k on hobbies"
furyg3 4y ago
For comparison, my energy bill also fluctuates between €30-50 a month (usually closer to 30), with an average of €40/mo for heating with inflated wartime prices. No car (bike only or occasional electric car share), small apartment, city with good transportation, good insulation.
- digdugdirk 4y ago
  And that's even more impressive (price wise) due to the comparative lack of subsidies European countries have for energy prices.
- mikkelam 4y ago
  Pretty similar situation for me in Copenhagen. I would expect ~70% of my usage is for cooking, which i do a lot of.
8uhaal 4y ago
[flagged]

by elif 4y ago

ragebol 4y ago

It's an addictive hobby. We ordered a hybrid heat pump in March '22 and it was finally installed last week. It's 6 degrees C out here out and this thing is chugging along steadily. It's quiet too. Also adding more insulation as we speak (guys stomping over my WFH office roof now), so as these things happened to get installed in the same months, it's been an expensive month, with about €20k invested, before subsidies. But already thinking about what to do next. Expand the current set of 12 solar panels (has to happen eventually. Our home is about 200 square meter with mostly flat roof, so ideal for adding lots of solar myself), get a heat pump boiler for hot water for showers etc, better windows in some places, etc. Also got a dynamic energy tariff, busy setting up Home Assistant. I have a huge spreadsheet with potential measures, their potentials savings and estimated cost, iPython notebooks with temperature and energy usage graphs, comparison of a dozen heat pumps. Yep, addictive.

leehuffman 4y ago

Who spends $10k - $20k annually on hobbies?! I think the HN demographic of heavy six figure annual earnings has, uhm, lost sight of being an outlier and what’s ‘normal’ for the _vast_ majority of the population.

5ersi 4y ago
People who switch to a new car every couple of years by extending a loan? Rings a bell?
SyzygistSix 4y ago
People with a large carbon footprint.
elif 4y ago
Let's say you're a baseball fan. The average cost of a season ticket is $4,473. Say you get the average $5.13 hotdog and $6.87 beer and pay the average $35 for parking. For 81 home games that's another $3,807. If you want to share the experience with, say one family member that's $13,652
- itsoktocry 4y ago
  >Let's say you're a baseball fan. The average cost of a season ticket is $4,473. The average baseball fan is not buying a season ticket, partially because the cost is prohibitive to the average person. In fact, by definition, an extremely small proportion of baseball fans buy season tickets.
- jmcqk6 4y ago
  > Let's say you're a baseball fan. The average cost of a season ticket is $4,473. The average baseball fan is not buying season tickets. The average baseball fan cannot afford season tickets. The average income in the US is $31,000. There is no way the average person is spending a third of their budget on "hobbies," especially when they're likely spending close to half of that on housing.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - elif 4y ago
    I did not say "every person" or even "the average person" You are inventing your own goalposts here. The fact is that there are an estimated 3.5 million MLB season ticket holders. These are people who are spending 10k on their hobbies. So it is reasonable for me to say "people spend 10k on hobbies"

furyg3 4y ago

For comparison, my energy bill also fluctuates between €30-50 a month (usually closer to 30), with an average of €40/mo for heating with inflated wartime prices. No car (bike only or occasional electric car share), small apartment, city with good transportation, good insulation.

digdugdirk 4y ago
And that's even more impressive (price wise) due to the comparative lack of subsidies European countries have for energy prices.
mikkelam 4y ago
Pretty similar situation for me in Copenhagen. I would expect ~70% of my usage is for cooking, which i do a lot of.

8uhaal 4y ago

[flagged]