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@lednaBM Interesting article. Nuclear power plants were originally designed to be covert ways of generating plutonium for atomic bombs.

@BritishTechGuru

True.... I think big utilities and transmission is a dinosaur of the 20th century. Everyone can be self-sufficient with renewables. You would think conservatives would be all over personal responsibility for your own energy demand, but they are more interested in screwing people and planet!

Zephod Beeblebrox

@lednaBM

The biggest problem with people being self-suffiient is that their energy "needs" have exploded over the last 30 years. Now, with the advent of those ridiicuous evs, it's even worse.

@BritishTechGuru Well, yes and no.... we've made great strides in energy conservation. I'm a power electronics design engineer. I've seen ot over the last 30 years. But with every improvement, something else comes along.

@lednaBM @BritishTechGuru where i live we have 1 company that supplies electricity to the whole island. It is constantly failing. I am on 90% solar, hoping Santa will help with the other 10%.

My hubby was talking about if in a neighborhood, everyone had solar, we could piggy bag from one another to help in case your system dies and to have the street lights, the main gate and the pumps to the neighborhood well be powered by it.

the people who sell solar are all crooks.

what do you think?

@vanessa @BritishTechGuru

I agree that there are a lot of crooks out there preying on people. It's certainly sensible for small communities to band together to achieve a common purpose. My criticism is of the large-scale distribution. I find the wires and towers to be objectionable. Also, it's just an excuse to make people oay more....

@lednaBM @vanessa I agree. The people that sell solar systems are outright crooks largely. If you do your own system, building it yourself, then you will probably do a lot better. My preference would be for saline batteries rather than any of the other funky varieties. They take up more space but the running costs are so much lower and you can build them yourself.

@BritishTechGuru @vanessa True.... very true. I've often fancied thd idea of flywheel storage. Or, a system that uses solar and converts water into hydrogen and oxygen, using hydrogen for a fuel cell generator for peak power, could eliminate batteries. The batteries essentially being stored hydrogen fir naming fresh water....

@lednaBM @vanessa the one big advantage of hydrogen is that hydrogen can be stored indefinitely. The downside is that compressing it can take a lot of energy.

I believe one of the Scottish islands developed hydrogen fuel cars as their main mode of transport because they had so much wind they could produce so much wind power and couldn't sell it all so they started making hydrogen and even now they still have an excess of even hydrogen.

@BritishTechGuru @vanessa Interesting.... Hydrogen is difficult to handle, but as another engineer once pointed out to me, hydrogen explodes up because it's lighter than air. Gasoline spills all over the ground and explodes into flame. In automotive applications, hydrogen is probably safer.

@vanessa @lednaBM @BritishTechGuru

I did DIY off grid solar myself and never going back. Monthly utilities, $0.00. 10Kwh of batteries is now $2500. 10KW of panels are now $2500 and can be laid on the ground like a solar garden if the roof on the house seems like too much work. It can all be set up in a day.

@dianea @vanessa @lednaBM There are many advantages to non rooftop solar systems. I see a lot of non rooftop systems here in SC.

@BritishTechGuru @vanessa @lednaBM

And my ground based solar garden is very stealthy. Can't see it from the street. I wanted to put it on my roof, but after my move, I placed them all on the ground on lumber, snapped them together, and had full power in two hours. Hard to get motivated to haul them upon the roof when it's working perfectly! There would be improvement in efficiency, but already have a massive surplus of power!

@dianea @BritishTechGuru @lednaBM we've been talking about adding an extra room outside. Just the roof. It's cheaper to use the solar panels as a roof than to put up an actual roof

@vanessa @dianea @BritishTechGuru @lednaBM
Solar panels are now so inexpensive that many people are using them as fence panels now instead of spending extra on lumber based fences.

@lednaBM @GreenFire @vanessa @dianea

Agreed. That is very interesting. Mnimal power production BUT on a big enough scale, it won't matter. AND it gives privacy even though the panels are fragile.

@BritishTechGuru @lednaBM @vanessa @dianea
Many American homes now use PVC panels for fences which aren't any less fragile than would a PV panel. The vertical solar panel installation is becoming quite popular now that maximum production isn't such a priority since the costs have come down.

It can provide a nice power curve to augment ones that oriented horizontally and in the vertical orientation can stay cooler so more efficient conversion of photons to electrons too.

@GreenFire @lednaBM @vanessa
@dianea

We get strong winds, hurricanes and tornadoes here. A light PVC fence will blow and not cause much damage.

@BritishTechGuru @lednaBM @vanessa @dianea
Most PV panels are only rated to 120 mph, but for places like Wyoming you can get 150 mph rated ones with thicker glass.

@BritishTechGuru @GreenFire @lednaBM @dianea strong winds, hurricane and tornadoes? sound like you need to be living in a domed house

@BritishTechGuru @vanessa @GreenFire @dianea

When I moved here with my late wife in 98, the 10 acres just down from us had an elderly couple who lived in an Earth home. The couple eventually died by 2010, and the village destroyed the home. The property has been for sale ever since. I mentioned it to a colleague of mine, and he said he had heard such homes were made illegal in my state. Sounds stupid, but the government can get goofy at times...

@lednaBM @BritishTechGuru @GreenFire @dianea if pro is the opposite of con, what the opposite of progress?

@vanessa @BritishTechGuru @GreenFire @dianea
Regress.... It's a language usage limitation. The opposite of advance is retard. People who understand older combustion engines understand the term and it's usage. But if I use the word retard, some folks will be triggered off the deep end because they don't understand the word, its history, or how it is used contextually. Now, can we all don we now our gay apparel in peace now?

@vanessa @lednaBM @GreenFire @dianea The problem is they always build flashy but cheap houses then charge an arm and a leg for them. In much of the "undeveloped" world, homes are built of mud bricks with thatched rooves. The mud keeps the heat out.

@BritishTechGuru @lednaBM @GreenFire @dianea in America there is corporate greed. Build only cheap houses that can be burned down easily so they have to rebuild. No more buy a car you can fix yourself. Nothing is built to last anymore. Any hint of improvement is frowned upon. Makes no sense to me unless you realize the system is working exactly how it's supposed to. It's not working for us the little people.but the rich keep getting richer

@vanessa @BritishTechGuru @GreenFire @dianea

As long as money is capital, and not human rights, the world fails. People are not truly free unless all people are free... Liberty is for everyone or no one...

@lednaBM @BritishTechGuru @GreenFire @dianea how nice would it be if the people who hold public offices had time limits and age limit. where they get paid as much as our teachers, where they have the same healthcare as we do. once they are done with the public office position they go back to the work force like everyone else.

just dreaming here of a better place to live

@lednaBM @BritishTechGuru @GreenFire @dianea Imagine all the people, living for today. you may say that I'm a dreamer, but im not the only one. i wish someday you will join us, and you too could have a maid!

@vanessa @BritishTechGuru @GreenFire @dianea

There are a lot of ways to improve the lives of people and planet. Money should only be allowed as a means of exchange. Capital is required to do things, but capital should not be accumulated money. Capital should be accumulated information diversity. And, you don't get information diversity from the enslaved... no matter whether the enslavement is a product of religion, nationalism, authoritarianism, or some combination thereof...

@dianea @vanessa @BritishTechGuru Nice.... 👍Which gets back to my point of self-sufficiency!

@dianea @vanessa @lednaBM @BritishTechGuru Hmm Costco in the UK supply 6kw of panels and 6KWh battery for around £8000 $10000. . (So 10kw would be ~$16000). Or a 10Kw panels only no battery £12000.
Which is a pretty good price for the UK. But even though it includes installation it's still bloody expensive.

@BritishTechGuru @terryb @dianea @lednaBM we can get panels, its a good battery that is needed. like I said we are almost there. My hubby is the one doing all the work, he knows a lot. Me, i paint good :)

@vanessa @terryb @dianea @lednaBM salt batteries sound the biz. I'll have to make one.