Non-IT News Thread
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That whole weird car straddling bus was a scam...
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/07/china-elevated-bus-scam/
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Flying cars? We'll believe it when we see it.
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Hackers breached a dozen US nuclear plants, reports say
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40538061 -
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Star Wars vs. Star Trek Showdown.
Let's be honest, they are really both the same thing, right?
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Mike Pence ignores Nasa 'do not touch' sign
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40540356 -
Ancient artifact smuggling, classy.
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@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Mike Pence ignores Nasa 'do not touch' sign
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40540356 -
This is so stupid
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@coliver said in Non-IT News Thread:
@wirestyle22 said in Non-IT News Thread:
This is so stupid
Yep...
The article is stupid because it is just trying to paint the existing industry as the bad guys. I won't argue that premise, because well, it is true.
But, this is a much more complicated thing than that.
The thing that kept getting brought up in the article is net metering.
Well net metering is fucking stupid at scale. Yeah it was an awesome thing when almost no one actually sold power back at any scale. But modern rooftop solar is now producing a LOT more energy.
This is simple economics, which is just basic math.
The companies that produce power also build and maintain the physical hardware that makes up the power grid in almost every community in the country. Side note: My hometown is one of the exceptions. The city owns and operates all the lines in town.
When you produce enough power to get credited back more than you buy over a year, that means they are paying you so much that they have less money for line maintenance. Granted, for a single house, that is a minuscule amount. But it adds up when thousands are now dong it.
If they worked out a better pricing plan than flat reimbursement at full rate, then this might make more sense.
This goes right along with the article from the other day when CA had to pay AZ to take their excess electricity.
The power grid has no elasticity or storage capacity. That is not how it works, because it made no financial sense to build that capacity, and still does not at huge scale.
SolarCity is one of the big players trying to change that, but it is not there yet.
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@JaredBusch said in Non-IT News Thread:
Side note: My hometown is one of the exceptions. The city owns and operates all the lines in town.
@dominica's too.
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@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
@JaredBusch said in Non-IT News Thread:
Side note: My hometown is one of the exceptions. The city owns and operates all the lines in town.
@dominica's too.
Interesting.
The fact that city owned the poles, made it super easy for the city to roll out their own fiber service. they already had right of way for everything.
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@JaredBusch said in Non-IT News Thread:
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
@JaredBusch said in Non-IT News Thread:
Side note: My hometown is one of the exceptions. The city owns and operates all the lines in town.
@dominica's too.
Interesting.
The fact that city owned the poles, made it super easy for the city to roll out their own fiber service. they already had right of way for everything.
JUst a small village, and they owned their own hydro-electric power plant. So really easy to do anything that they wanted. They have village free wifi too.
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@JaredBusch said in Non-IT News Thread:
@coliver said in Non-IT News Thread:
@wirestyle22 said in Non-IT News Thread:
This is so stupid
Yep...
The article is stupid because it is just trying to paint the existing industry as the bad guys. I won't argue that premise, because well, it is true.
But, this is a much more complicated thing than that.
The thing that kept getting brought up in the article is net metering.
Well net metering is fucking stupid at scale. Yeah it was an awesome thing when almost no one actually sold power back at any scale. But modern rooftop solar is now producing a LOT more energy.
This is simple economics, which is just basic math.
The companies that produce power also build and maintain the physical hardware that makes up the power grid in almost every community in the country. Side note: My hometown is one of the exceptions. The city owns and operates all the lines in town.
When you produce enough power to get credited back more than you buy over a year, that means they are paying you so much that they have less money for line maintenance. Granted, for a single house, that is a minuscule amount. But it adds up when thousands are now dong it.
If they worked out a better pricing plan than flat reimbursement at full rate, then this might make more sense.
This goes right along with the article from the other day when CA had to pay AZ to take their excess electricity.
The power grid has no elasticity or storage capacity. That is not how it works, because it made no financial sense to build that capacity, and still does not at huge scale.
SolarCity is one of the big players trying to change that, but it is not there yet.
For the most part, you are right. However, in Texas there are 5 main companies that operates and maintains their share of the grid. In my area, it's OnCor which maintains the lines. We pay OnCor based on kwh through our power bill by the producer that we choose.
Some areas are still regulated in that they have no choice in who they choose because the company that operates the lines also produces the power.
When solar comes into play, buying back really doesn't come into consideration any more as producers are not willing to buy it back from you or transmitters (OnCor) will not allow you to attach to the grid with a solar system.
Some people, like my dad, are totally detached, produces and stores his own power. That's the true way to go, but takes lots of planning and cost.
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@NerdyDad said in Non-IT News Thread:
Some people, like my dad, are totally detached, produces and stores his own power. That's the true way to go, but takes lots of planning and cost.
So the question is, is the upfront cost worthwhile?
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@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@NerdyDad said in Non-IT News Thread:
Some people, like my dad, are totally detached, produces and stores his own power. That's the true way to go, but takes lots of planning and cost.
So the question is, is the upfront cost worthwhile?
What is the ROI of the equipment versus the longevity of the equipment? Are you going to be able to see it get paid off before having to replace it? Solar panels can last for about 10-20 years. Factor in deep cycle marine batteries, inverter, etc along with the amount of power you use versus what you would need to produce and store and what you can cut down on (led bulbs versus incandescent bulbs)
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@NerdyDad said in Non-IT News Thread:
@JaredBusch said in Non-IT News Thread:
@coliver said in Non-IT News Thread:
@wirestyle22 said in Non-IT News Thread:
This is so stupid
Yep...
The article is stupid because it is just trying to paint the existing industry as the bad guys. I won't argue that premise, because well, it is true.
But, this is a much more complicated thing than that.
The thing that kept getting brought up in the article is net metering.
Well net metering is fucking stupid at scale. Yeah it was an awesome thing when almost no one actually sold power back at any scale. But modern rooftop solar is now producing a LOT more energy.
This is simple economics, which is just basic math.
The companies that produce power also build and maintain the physical hardware that makes up the power grid in almost every community in the country. Side note: My hometown is one of the exceptions. The city owns and operates all the lines in town.
When you produce enough power to get credited back more than you buy over a year, that means they are paying you so much that they have less money for line maintenance. Granted, for a single house, that is a minuscule amount. But it adds up when thousands are now dong it.
If they worked out a better pricing plan than flat reimbursement at full rate, then this might make more sense.
This goes right along with the article from the other day when CA had to pay AZ to take their excess electricity.
The power grid has no elasticity or storage capacity. That is not how it works, because it made no financial sense to build that capacity, and still does not at huge scale.
SolarCity is one of the big players trying to change that, but it is not there yet.
For the most part, you are right. However, in Texas there are 5 main companies that operates and maintains their share of the grid. In my area, it's OnCor which maintains the lines. We pay OnCor based on kwh through our power bill by the producer that we choose.
Some areas are still regulated in that they have no choice in who they choose because the company that operates the lines also produces the power.
When solar comes into play, buying back really doesn't come into consideration any more as producers are not willing to buy it back from you or transmitters (OnCor) will not allow you to attach to the grid with a solar system.
Some people, like my dad, are totally detached, produces and stores his own power. That's the true way to go, but takes lots of planning and cost.
Yes, some states never had net metering. And the article is only all about it.
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