101* I got rolled out.


 
Steve Hoch said:
Sun and seawater are definitely two things CA has an abundance of. I'm not super familiar with your policies there so I'm not making any judgements. I would at least like to think that they would encourage people to install solar panels on homes and businesses.
Click to expand...
Solar panels are now mandatory on new homes, battery walls are optional. Maybe in about 3 years there will be enough juice for everything.
 
Steve Hoch said:
Sun and seawater are definitely two things CA has an abundance of. I'm not super familiar with your policies there so I'm not making any judgements. I would at least like to think that they would encourage people to install solar panels on homes and businesses.
Click to expand...
There are programs and incentives and I've seen a few installations in my area. The plans I've seen, though, seem to be geared toward homes that use more electricity than we do, where the energy savings pay for the cost of going solar. My utility bills aren't high enough to generate much interest from the solar companies, apparently.
 
Last edited:
Ed P said:
There are programs and incentives and I've seen a few installations in my area. The plans I've seen, though, seem to be geared toward homes that use more electricity than we do, where the energy savings pay for the cost of going solar. My utility bills aren't high enough to generate much interest from the solar companies, apparently.
Click to expand...
If it's just you and the wife now your electric bill probably isn't that bad. I still have kids living here and have come to the conclusion that they are what makes my bill obscene. I replaced pretty much every light in the house with either an LED bulb or fixture, doesn't seem to lower the bill. Having to run the dishwasher, washer and dryer almost constantly I think has the biggest effect on the bill, not to mention the A/C in the summer.
 
Ed P said:
There are programs and incentives and I've seen a few installations in my area. The plans I've seen, though, seem to be geared toward homes that use more electricity than we do, where the energy savings pay for the cost of going solar. My utility bills aren't high enough to generate much interest from the solar companies, apparently.
Click to expand...
But speaking about solar, my neighbor is looking into it...the solar company showed up in a van, opened up the back doors and brought out a small drone. The guy fiddled with the handheld controls a little, made a couple of 360s in the driveway with the drone in hand, set the drone on the ground and it took off. He went back to the back of the van to watch it, apparently. 15 minutes later it came back and landed not far from where it took off. It mapped his roof...slick!
 
Ed P said:
But speaking about solar, my neighbor is looking into it...the solar company showed up in a van, opened up the back doors and brought out a small drone. The guy fiddled with the handheld controls a little, made a couple of 360s in the driveway with the drone in hand, set the drone on the ground and it took off. He went back to the back of the van to watch it, apparently. 15 minutes later it came back and landed not far from where it took off. It mapped his roof...slick!
Click to expand...
That is cool, I've looked into solar and unfortunately because of the design of my roof and it's relation to the sun it doesn't work for me personally. Our subdivision does have a pretty extensive flood basin built into it that would probably be able to hold enough panels for the whole neighborhood but who's going to pay for that?
 
Steve Hoch said:
If it's just you and the wife now your electric bill probably isn't that bad. I still have kids living here and have come to the conclusion that they are what makes my bill obscene. I replaced pretty much every light in the house with either an LED bulb or fixture, doesn't seem to lower the bill. Having to run the dishwasher, washer and dryer almost constantly I think has the biggest effect on the bill, not to mention the A/C in the summer.
Click to expand...
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Steve! My kids, in their 40s now, still remember me yelling at them, "Every time you open the refrigerator door to see what's inside, it costs me a quarter! There's nothing more in there than there was a couple of hours ago! Every time you turn on a light, it costs me a dime!"

We all laugh about it now. They knew I was half-joking, but it made the point.
 
Maybe (probably) we are facing a problem due to the drought west of the Rockies.

Seems like we are in another period of climate change- it happens frequently if you look at the big picture of earth history.

But let’s all remember two recent challenges that were risen to:

The Manhattan Project

Landing a man on the moon before 1970

Both required monumental effort and both were accomplished.

We are living in a very exciting time.

Just my $.02
 
Ed P said:
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Steve! My kids, in their 40s now, still remember me yelling at them, "Every time you open the refrigerator door to see what's inside, it costs me a quarter! There's nothing more in there than there was a couple of hours ago! Every time you turn on a light, it costs me a dime!"

We all laugh about it now. They knew I was half-joking, but it made the point.
Click to expand...
Didn't have to live in CA for that. My dad said the same thing while we were growing up in Chicago. I did as well. We replaced every bulb in our home with LED type. I have only one older appliance (my kitchen fridge) is about 20 yo. Maybe 25, I would have to look. We have replaced our HVAC system with highest efficiency $$$$ can buy, use a tankless water heater, high eff washer, dryer, dishwasher.
I have a mid sized inverter generator and (other than the 220 V appliances) I can now run my entire home easily off that one generator if I have to and it will run for 11 hours on just a couple gallons of gasoline and at some point I will add a NG system to it.
Now all this not because I believe in all the climate chicken littles but I just figure no sense in over using and over spending.
 
I am a climate refugee.
I don’t think California will cool back to normal anytime soon so I only go back as seldom as I have to.
While California was doing the 116 degree heatwave thing it was high 60’s to low 70’s here.
I’ll be back next week for several weeks and I’m dreading it.
It’s kinda weird but I don’t wanna go home no more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top