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I think Nuclear power definitely needs to be a big part of the energy mix - it just has so many benefits. I think rooftop solar is also excellent, but only in

I think Nuclear power definitely needs to be a big part of the energy mix - it just has so many benefits. I think rooftop solar is also excellent, but only in theory. In practice, I feel like rooftop solar allows public utilities to abdicate their responsibility. It diminishes the affect of collective pressure on major energy producers to hold up their end of the bargain to invest in clean energy because it shifts costs to homeowners and effectively makes them a very weak competitor to big energy producers. A power grid full of smart systems and robust transmission lines is an amazing resource - but it is very capital intensive. How do we replace that with rooftop solar that many homeowners seek loans to install? How does that incentivize power companies, who are allowed to operate monopolies, to invest in clean energy infrastructure?

aeonfox 1y ago
> How do we replace that with rooftop solar that many homeowners seek loans to install? Australia has managed to do it. Installers are tripping over each other to put solar on roofs here. > How does that incentivize power companies, who are allowed to operate monopolies, to invest in clean energy infrastructure? Arbitrage. If every house has solar and battery, that's a huge load off the grid, but there's still apartments, businesses, and industry that need power, especially at night. Grid-scale batteries take the excess from households, and distribute to those that need power. There would still be need for grid-scale renewable generation, just hopefully not built on existing nature reserves.
- _carbyau_ 1y ago
  As a new homeowner I enjoy having solar on the roof. Coming from being an apartment owner... apartment owners are generally fucked when it comes to this stuff. Even if you want it, convincing a board of "gimme rent" landlords to spend money on solar they won't benefit from generally kills it. This is why I'd rather a rule like "you must have enough solar to cover your aircon power over a hot summer" and then gridscale the rest. Instead, I too will enjoy my almost-aristocratic landowner status and will be upgrading my solar setup in the near future.
  - aeonfox 1y ago
    Most rooftops generate more power than the household consumes. The vast amount of air-conditioning for apartments is likely already accounted for by rooftop generation. An easy way to gridscale that is to have batteries closer to the rooftops that re-distribute that rooftop power when the sun goes down. Incentives can be given so that home owners over-provision their solar with bigger arrays and inverters, and to turn their home batteries into VPPs.

aeonfox 1y ago

> How do we replace that with rooftop solar that many homeowners seek loans to install? Australia has managed to do it. Installers are tripping over each other to put solar on roofs here. > How does that incentivize power companies, who are allowed to operate monopolies, to invest in clean energy infrastructure? Arbitrage. If every house has solar and battery, that's a huge load off the grid, but there's still apartments, businesses, and industry that need power, especially at night. Grid-scale batteries take the excess from households, and distribute to those that need power. There would still be need for grid-scale renewable generation, just hopefully not built on existing nature reserves.

_carbyau_ 1y ago
As a new homeowner I enjoy having solar on the roof. Coming from being an apartment owner... apartment owners are generally fucked when it comes to this stuff. Even if you want it, convincing a board of "gimme rent" landlords to spend money on solar they won't benefit from generally kills it. This is why I'd rather a rule like "you must have enough solar to cover your aircon power over a hot summer" and then gridscale the rest. Instead, I too will enjoy my almost-aristocratic landowner status and will be upgrading my solar setup in the near future.
- aeonfox 1y ago
  Most rooftops generate more power than the household consumes. The vast amount of air-conditioning for apartments is likely already accounted for by rooftop generation. An easy way to gridscale that is to have batteries closer to the rooftops that re-distribute that rooftop power when the sun goes down. Incentives can be given so that home owners over-provision their solar with bigger arrays and inverters, and to turn their home batteries into VPPs.