zbrozek

48 ms·

631.
by zbrozek 5y ago
$0.30 was my marginal utility rate, now $0.32. Thanks, PG&E. My own supply is marginally free.
632.
by zbrozek 5y ago
When I was a student I slept with everything I owned in a single room. I had to block light from the Ethernet port status lights on my computer and printer, the smoke alarm, and my phone charger. These days I own a home with far more space.
633.
by zbrozek 5y ago
I currently have 4 KWp installed and aimed badly, but also a 10 KWh battery pack. My total expenditure to achieve that was <$5000 and it's supplying the majority of my needs. I have plenty of panels remaining to put up as soon as my
634.
by zbrozek 5y ago
Right, but it's $5.66 to me. So the utility has driven me away from the globally efficient solution.
635.
by zbrozek 5y ago
My utility charges about $0.30 per KWh right now and raises rates at about 4x inflation. Putting up solar panels is a no-brainer. The array I put up pays for itself in less than 18 months. Until those economies of scale manifest as cheap el
636.
by zbrozek 5y ago
My refrigerator, which is from 2020 and replaced a failed 1979 unit, uses about as much electricity as your flat. So does the pool pump. So does the network equipment. And if I were to run the heating system, it would too. Using a toaster o
637.
by zbrozek 5y ago
That's why the second task is hard. Probably the right way to do it isn't via the electricity angle, but the securities or commerce angles.
638.
by zbrozek 5y ago
It isn't obvious that mining goes away at any cost. Personally I'm in the "do both" camp. Have a simple carbon tax, but also find some inoffensive way to get rid of the mining. Both sound hard.
639.
by zbrozek 5y ago
Building codes aren't nearly so bad as zoning and the NIMBYism that is strangling the country. There's certainly room to liberalize building codes, but I don't think the impact would be as large as one might hope. Liberalize
640.
by zbrozek 5y ago
I don't know why you're getting down-voted. This is a significant regression over the years.
641.
by zbrozek 5y ago
There's a lot of approaches for various subsystems. The cameras that you mention are quite-likely some kind of serialized MIPI (e.g., using some generation of FPDlink or GMSL to tunnel asymmetrical bidirectional data across a micro-coa
642.
by zbrozek 5y ago
I've spent ten years designing electronics for cars. It's very often harness reduction under various motivations. The bundle needs to be small to fit through chassis holes (which are kept small to keep structures strong). Keeping
643.
by zbrozek 5y ago
I've got a symmetric 10 gbps internet connection at home and basically no way to fully utilize it.
644.
by zbrozek 5y ago
Like most Alphabet implementations it's 80% awesome and 20% undone. Unfortunately that means it's a bad time.
645.
by zbrozek 5y ago
Unless you're in CA, where an SFH just means that your municipality is the HOA instead. In places with sensible governments and less NIMBYism, the SFH offers the advantages you describe.
646.
by zbrozek 5y ago
As far as I was able to tell, the system didn't know which NIC it should be routing through. So it would sit at the disk encryption screen and you wouldn't be able to remote unlock it. And you don't have access to the buildin
647.
by zbrozek 5y ago
CorpIT was one of a handful of reasons why I left Alphabet. Maybe it's all rainbows and unicorns if you're a software engineer and you do all your work on a Chromebook. As a hardware engineer it was pretty miserable. You end up wi
648.
by zbrozek 5y ago
It's almost as if grid providers need to be competitive with alternatives. I'm currently getting about half of my electricity through solar+battery, and that's only going to grow until I'm no longer dependent on my util
649.
by zbrozek 5y ago
Paying for their services doesn't seem to make the customer service any better.
650.
by zbrozek 5y ago
False; the heat pump is still more expensive. You need COP of >=4 with baseline rates, and it only gets worse from there (the baselines are tiny, and TOU is also bad). Heat pump water heaters only barely scratch 4 under ideal conditions,
651.
by zbrozek 5y ago
I have no idea if you're allowed to push the energy back on the grid. You may be better off with batteries to store your excess and use it yourself later. I did that, but I got the batteries for free and did the install myself for less
652.
by zbrozek 5y ago
Is using less power really better? People are going to use energy and this is driving loads to other sources of energy, typically gas. Most (but not all) people I know are avoiding electrification on economic grounds.
653.
by zbrozek 5y ago
Luckily I'm not in a city of any size, and my remodel is extensive enough that my town has called in new construction even though it really isn't. But I don't actually care if I disconnect from the grid. I just don't wan
654.
by zbrozek 5y ago
It's a lot easier for me than for you. I'm in the SF Bay Area, so my climate is milder on both extremes. Also I'm DIYing everything and scavenging discarded stuff where I can, so my costs are abnormally low. When all is said
655.
by zbrozek 5y ago
What compels someone to elect a NEM plan? It seems increasingly favorable to avoid them and set your equipment to zero-export.
656.
by zbrozek 5y ago
I'm 34 and am working towards being grid-independent because the cost exceeds the value.
657.
by zbrozek 5y ago
The current system in PG&E territory encourages me to prefer gas to electricity everywhere I'm able to make the choice. That's surely worse.
658.
by zbrozek 5y ago
Is the chime at the end of the cycle inadequate?
659.
by zbrozek 5y ago
That's a problem of our own making, and we could revert. The timelines are driven by permitting (both at the local level and at the NRC) and the customization of each reactor. We desperately need reactors to roll off of an assembly lin
660.
by zbrozek 5y ago
I have an EV, but only because I can charge it away from home. My office has free charging, which is great.

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