- cross-posted to:
- energy@slrpnk.net
- cross-posted to:
- energy@slrpnk.net
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Pacific Gas & Electric and other top California power companies
Here is my problem. This feels more like an ad for Pacific Gas & Electric and Tesla. The only companies named are these two. Where I live in Cali, has a municipal electric company that is GREAT. Tell anyone around here that you are getting PG&E and they will rethink the move.
I’m so glad we are using more clean energy but, they should be owned by the community.
“The company compensates customers up to $150 per battery per season for participating.”
I wonder if this compensation is enough to cover the cost of more frequent battery replacement due to the extra wear.
I was sure you were wrong ant that $150 was just an incentive to be in the program. That battery owners would be paid for their power.
You were right, though. It really is a flat $150 per year. The company who manages the energy from the batteries gets paid for the energy, not the battery owner.
My Tesla Powerwall is part of a VPP program in the northeast. We have 3 powerwalls in total that typically put back 20 KWh during VPP events. Last year, the first year we did this, we were reimbursed $1459.97 at the end of the season. That energy returned to the grid also counts as a credit on our electric bill.
Makes me glad I don’t live in CA.
Edit: I guess it’s the sheer size of the VPP they tested in CA that’s the real news here. The one I’m part of currently shows 1463 homes involved in it.
I get by paid per kw consumed. And it’s a lot, like $2 per.
VPP is great and should be the future for nearly all buildings. Distributed power can avoid system-wide blackouts.
It’s also an opt-in program, and I can override it if I feel the need too.
I just wish it was easier to get smaller companies like Ecoflow onto the program.
Great, now let’s insulate our properties and stop using energy hog window A/C units! Let’s use dishwashers to reduce water demand! Let’s allow emergency vehicles to change the traffic lights to make our streets safer!
Lol, just kidding. None of that will ever happen. This state will do anything but solve simple, impactful issues.
Why do we always need to complain that something good isn’t good enough? Yes, they didn’t solve the world’s problems. They did make a nice step in the right direction.
Because living here it’s tiring seeing all the headlines about stuff like this while in the real world little is being done about problems that have been going on for much longer.
So you’re going to complain that the people who are actually doing something useful aren’t doing enough rather than doing something useful yourself. Seems a little hypocritical.
Right because I have so much power to change things as a fucking renter.
Complaining that something good isn’t good enough is certainly helpful. Maybe go find somewhere more appropriate to complain about all of the shitty stuff. Let people enjoy the small wins. There are few enough of them right now that spoiling them with doomerism just makes things worse for everyone.
Also; convert to roundabouts and you don’t need traffic lights at all. Traffic lights are expensive to buy and they use a fuck load of electricity. Also, fewer fatal accidents with roundabouts.
Roundabouts really suck when they’re saturated, even worse than standard light-controlled intersections. That’s why there are still traffic lights controlling entry into roundabouts in high-volume cases.
Uncontrolled roundabouts work best at medium to low traffic volumes.
I agree with this in spirit but they’ve actually installed traffic lights at existing roundabouts because I assume the smartphone-obsessed drivers kept causing accidents.
My friends have 2 mini split heat pumps that could not keep their 1600ft² cool. So they bought 2 $100 window units from home depot. Their energy use dropped $300/mo. Or at least, the energy equivalent. They’ve got solar and dont pay for their electricity.
The window units use less energy and keep their home cooler.
The magic of an inverter system only happens at lower load. If they’re undersized, they run full tilt at minimum efficiency.
Even if window AC units were the sole source of climate change energy use, who cares? “Efficient” appliances have always just been a twofold gambit.
- Gives companies an excuse to upsell people on equipment they don’t need to replace yet
- Let’s energy companies be lazy and not scale up grids like they should be doing
It’s all just about capitalist profits.
If you put a window AC unit in a field with a solar array to power it all day, it would make zero difference to the planet.
