stabby_cicada
@stabby_cicada@slrpnk.net
- Comment on To all you outside of the US... 1 week ago:
Sounds like an excuse.
What I mean is: it sounds like his handlers kept making excuses and you kept accepting them because you wanted to believe them.
I know, I’m frustrated too. I dismissed the Alex Jones Fox News crowd because they were known liars, they’d lied to us for decades, and this really did seem like standard conservative projection to deflect from their candidates’ obvious mental issues.
Hate to admit it. But the conservatives were right and we were wrong.
- Comment on Chart: The world is building renewable energy faster than ever before 5 months ago:
The two most populated countries in the world are investing heavily into renewables? Sounds good to me.
China and India are dedicated to improving the standard of living of their citizens. Those citizens need energy. The idea that China and India would invest heavily in non-renewable fossil fuels to meet that need - or worse, nuclear - was yet another potential climate nightmare. The fact that they’re emphasizing renewable energy sources is one small bright note in the dark clouds ahead of us.
- Comment on Apple removes app created by Andrew Tate 9 months ago:
You spelled “pay bribes and walk free” wrong. Tate set up shop in one of the most corrupt countries in the world for a reason.
- Comment on What is the Small Web? 9 months ago:
I agree. I’m not a coder or web developer so I wasn’t sure if I was missing something, but it also looks to me like the point is “make it easier to host your own website on your home computer and home Internet connection.”
And most people don’t host their own websites, at home or on a hosted Amazon server or whatever, not because of big tech or how difficult it is to host, but because most people don’t have a good reason to. And I don’t see how this project changes that.
- Comment on Direct Solar Power: Off-Grid Without Batteries | How we can minimize expensive, ecologically damaging battery storage by changing how we think about energy 10 months ago:
Sure, and that’s why I say over and over again, reducing your personal consumption is a moral issue, and we need a moral/ethical/spiritual movement to reduce consumption. Because lots of people, reasonably, prioritize their comfort over their electric bill or the objectively tiny marginal benefit to the environment that turning off their air conditioner would provide. But if we teach people that unnecessary consumption is morally wrong, and your neighbors start shaming you for keeping your air conditioning at 60, you’re going to start setting it higher.
- Comment on Direct Solar Power: Off-Grid Without Batteries | How we can minimize expensive, ecologically damaging battery storage by changing how we think about energy 10 months ago:
I think, when you have a problem, changing your expectations so that you no longer consider it a problem is a valid solution.
For example, say you crash your car and it’s totaled. You could solve that problem by buying a new car. But if you look at your travel patterns and local public transit and decide you can live your life without a car, you’ve also solved that problem.
In this case, the problem is the expense and resource use of a 24/7 electricity. Society could solve that problem by making better batteries and more efficient transmission and more renewable energy sources. Society could also solve that problem by changing our expectation that everyone needs 24/7 electricity. Both of those are solutions, and really, we could use both.
And talking about better technology, the article goes into solutions for heating, cooling, refrigeration, cooking, and so on that provide 24/7 solutions based on intermittent power - for example, the solar refrigerators that are so efficient they can stay cool for up to a week and be powered by a single 200 W solar panel. Medical technology and other vital stuff can be adjusted similarly or run off battery banks charged intermittently rather than relying on 24/7 electric grids. It’s not as if we have to throw out all our batteries - but if we adjust our consumption habits, we can use fewer batteries and save them for the important things.
- Comment on Direct Solar Power: Off-Grid Without Batteries | How we can minimize expensive, ecologically damaging battery storage by changing how we think about energy 10 months ago:
Reducing consumption is “capitulation”? To whom or what?
- Comment on Direct Solar Power: Off-Grid Without Batteries | How we can minimize expensive, ecologically damaging battery storage by changing how we think about energy 10 months ago:
in places with hydro or wind based electricity I think it’s fine to have the expectation of forever available electricity.
And what happens when there’s a drought or change in weather patterns?
I think expecting 24-7 electricity, whether it’s available or not, is part of the issue with modern consumption. We expect electricity on demand, so any energy solution has to have backups and grid connections and batteries and all that expensive ecologically damaging infrastructure the article discusses.
The point isn’t that some electricity production is reliable 24/7. The point is, if we want an ethos of reduced consumption, we need to give up the idea that we have the right to power on demand 24-7. We adjust our power consumption to nature’s rhythms and circumstances rather than spending billions extra to guarantee we can consume power whenever we want. And that would have a much bigger impact than adjusting our thermostats or wearing sweaters.
- Direct Solar Power: Off-Grid Without Batteries | How we can minimize expensive, ecologically damaging battery storage by changing how we think about energysolar.lowtechmagazine.com ↗Submitted 10 months ago to energy@slrpnk.net | 26 comments