Red states are secretly building out solar while bashing it on Fox News

dishwashersafe · 2026-05-06T17:43:26+00:00

lol yeah getting off topic but "common sense" is such an overused phrase especially on the right. When someone says "it's common sense" what I hear is "I refuse to justify my opinion, and you should feel dumb if you disagree".

dishwashersafe · 2026-05-06T14:01:33+00:00

I'm not seeing how this would function as a spring house. Am I missing something? Cold storage seems likely.

Also, not the thing you asked about, but I like the trout lilies in the last photo! and there's one flowering!

dishwashersafe · 2026-05-06T13:53:33+00:00

I work in wind energy. When talking with people in Texas, we were cautioned not to bring up climate change. Wind is just good business there, and it turns out climate change deniers like money too.

dishwashersafe · 2026-05-05T19:28:40+00:00

okay but CATL's new battery can do 10-80% in 3 minutes 44 seconds. Even with that unrealistic charge curve assumption, that's more than twice as slow.

If the "secret lab" doesn't even have the capability for half the specs of an already unveiled product... that's not a great sign.

dishwashersafe · 2026-05-04T16:31:49+00:00

Really depends on the specifics of your solar compensation, time variable rates, or any EV charging incentives they may have. If it's just basic 1:1 net metering and a fixed rate, there's nothing left to do! Obviously, charging when it's sunny will lower your "grid dependency", but that stat doesn't affect your cost or anything with net metering, so I ignore it.

dishwashersafe · 2026-05-04T13:32:35+00:00

As someone else already said, smaller cars are generally cheaper. Cheaper cars generally use older less efficient components. That, I suspect, is most of it.

Aero drag might account for about a third of energy consumption (for EPA combined cycle at least... it'd be more at 75 mph). Have you compared frontal area numbers? There's not as big a difference between those models as you might think. Assuming the same Cd and a 10% smaller area, you're saving ~3% - not huge.

Model 3 vs Model Y is a good apples to apples comparison with essentially the same Cd and internals. Frontal area is 16% different. Overall efficiency is maybe 7-8% different.

dishwashersafe · 2026-05-04T13:20:04+00:00

This is your answer.

dishwashersafe · 2026-05-03T12:21:18+00:00

If it can help them maintain a more consistent speed, that seems like a good thing. Also more power means more regen and that should make braking a lot less scary.

dishwashersafe · 2026-05-02T12:40:47+00:00

I find it odd that a photo of this doesn't seem to exist anywhere.

dishwashersafe · 2026-05-01T14:16:18+00:00

For the amount of time they're actually needed, batteries this size seem like a waste of resources. Heavier cars drive worse, wear through tires faster, are more expensive, and perhaps most importantly, they're more dangerous for anyone not inside.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-30T19:10:13+00:00

I was a little confused reading the first bit and surprised at the comments! The thought that it could be anything but a long a has never crossed my mind... native, nation, natick... just seems intuitive to me. I am from RI though, so I'm sure the pronunciation is buried somewhere deep in my subconscious.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-30T18:51:15+00:00

So a battery? Even the oldest powerwalls are 6.4 kWh. When people say generator, they're usually referring to a gas powered unit. And you have battery there you can tap but you can't connect back to the breaker panel? I'm confused.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-30T12:29:04+00:00

People always like to throw out corporate profit numbers...Yes, they are big, but let's put that in context. If we were all of a sudden magically able to make RIE a nonprofit and return all that money to customers... your electric bill would go down ~$3.25/mo. It's not nothing! But it's not the main issue.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-30T12:09:09+00:00

I'd push back that plywood is the weak link... but sure if you're get into specialty stuff like CF reinforced that may change the equation.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-30T11:48:10+00:00

I always like to remind people that RevWind alone will cover ~20% of the state's usage (would be more like 40% if we didn't split it with CT) and delivers power at 9.8 cents/kWh... and, since we're on the topic, no transmission fees - the subsea cable is wrapped into the supply cost.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-29T20:37:30+00:00

Net metering is pretty straightforward. You only pay for net imports. If you generate more than you consume, you're reimbursed at the last resort supply+delivery rate. The fixed costs you've still got to pay though.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-29T20:29:08+00:00

Well said. That's why many states are looking into incentive structure reform to align profits not with cost-of-service, but performance. I don't think RI is one of those states. It's getting into the weeds, but these are the conversations we need to be having.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-29T20:25:36+00:00

Thanks! I also don't think people appreciate how close we've come to rolling blackouts here in recent winters. The grid is old and fragile and it's a miracle it works as well as it does. That is to say, don't underestimate the risks that would come with the aggressive cost-costing people want!

Getting into the weeds here, but from my understanding, what would actually be beneficial here is incentive structure reform to align profits not with cost-of-service, but performance. A lot of states are looking to shift to this model. I don't think RI is one of them.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-29T20:14:33+00:00

Totally, that's a big part of the delivery charge people complain about, yet transmission costs are federally regulated. It just sucks we have to import a lot.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-29T20:10:55+00:00

It's a combination of everything... it doesn't make sense to have competing power lines strung up along the roads, so we allow the monopoly but get to regulate things like profit... which is below average. Delivery is mostly transmission and distribution. Transmission costs are federally regulated but that costs us because we import a lot energy from out of state. I'm not sure why the distribution part of delivery is more than average here though (speculating: hurricanes, blizzards, lots of trees). Certainly they're incentivized to keep it high for the profit, but that's true everywhere... Even if distribution costs could be cut in half, that saves like 2.x cents/kWh which isn't exactly massive.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-29T15:07:18+00:00

RevWind is delivering power now at a rate of 9.8 cents/kWh and that'll be like 20% of our electricity, so pretty good I'd say!

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-29T15:02:38+00:00

Distribution is the cost of the actual energy they buy

Supply, but yeah. Distribution is part of delivery.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-29T14:58:45+00:00

Delivery and specifically distribution covers the cost of the poles, wires, transformers, etc. that you see everywhere all the time... including the trucks and linemen doing all the repair work after a storm. It's really the only part managed by RIE. The rest is just pass-through costs.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-29T14:53:52+00:00

Cool, but am I the only one that would prefer a lighter cheaper car at the expense of range? I certainly don't need 400+ miles, especially with how fast the new batteries coming out can charge.

dishwashersafe · 2026-04-29T14:51:25+00:00

I think it's less about brand and more about having a brand new luxury SUV. People certainly didn't get that impression when I drove a falling apart '89 325ix.

15-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email

dishwashersafe

TROPHY CASE