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Comment on ‘If 1.5m Germans have them there must be something in it’: how balcony solar is taking off

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

If you generate the power where it is used without pollution, we should.

Generators take space, require maintenance, and have a certain optimal capacity that isn’t necessarily hit on a given roof.

For wind energy in particular, the bigger the turbine, the more yield per $ spent. If you go out to Corpus Christi you’ll see these enormous turbines - $10M to $50M / ea - that generate on the order of $24 to $75 per MWh, or $.024-.075/kWh. Home wind/solar don’t get anywhere close to that.

Prime placement of units, distribution across a wide area, and a degree of storage capacity means you’re going to get better and more consistent yield.

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AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
But people will always be interested in generating their own, just like we don’t use communal bath houses, or community heating, or unfortunately mass transit. Yes, group services can be a lot more efficient and more reliable but they’re also out of your control and become an ongoing cost

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- Krauerking@lemy.lol ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Who is we? Lots of places do communal bath houses. Japan has an entire industry around it. Mass transit is also highly prevalent.
  
  Yes there will always be some level of individual desire to do things or need in some cases but communal projects are useful and common I don’t get the dismissal of that for energy creation something we long ago figured out was better to be done at scale and distributed after.
  
  This is neoliberalism and treating it like it’s the only way to exist. It’s a failure of consideration or imagination. Either way your take is not right for that.
  
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- UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  
  just like we don’t use communal bath houses, or community heating, or unfortunately mass transit
  
  Spas and apartments and buses/trains do absolutely exist. Only the former is considered “luxury” in the US, though.
  
  Yes, group services can be a lot more efficient and more reliable but they’re also out of your control
  
  Wasn’t Solar City’s whole gambit to effectively buy everyone’s roofs and lease them back for a fraction of their real market value?
  
  I don’t think you escape “Own nothing and be happy” just by throwing up a few hundred watts of solar on an extension cord.
  
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  - AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    
    Wasn’t Solar City’s whole gambit ….
    
    Yes there were and still are too many scammers. Sometimes I think that’s held the industry back even more than the price. If we had any consumer protections, it would blow up the installer industry.
    
    That doesn’t change my point
    
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MeThisGuy@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
welcome to the land of windmills

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