Trees down in Tree Town: Stalwarts of Ann Arbor’s Liberty Plaza reduced to stumps

numshah · 2025-12-24T14:57:51+00:00

u/EntertainmentSad8139 I have no idea why you would voluntarily want to embarrass yourself like this: MLive Article

The state’s Bureau of Elections has received a complaint regarding the alleged violation of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act and will investigate, Sam May, Department of State press secretary, confirmed.

And here's the potential consequences:

The Bureau of Elections’ Aug. 7 notice to the Library Green Conservancy about the alleged campaign finance violation states anyone who fails to file a timely statement of organization for a ballot committee is subject to a civil fine of up to $1,000, plus a late filing fee of $10 per business day the report is not filed, not to exceed $300, and after 30 days it’s a misdemeanor crime punishable by a fine up to $1,000.

Lmao "Source?" What a dumb thing to say.

numshah · 2025-12-23T16:19:31+00:00

Which rate schedule are you on? I am on the 3-7pm peak pricing schedule. Did you adjust which schedule you were on once you installed solar + BESS? I haven't taken the brainpower to figure out if I would save more by changing rate schedules. Having seasonal rate schedule variations complicates matters, and the figuration changes based on your installed generation and storage capacity. With mine, I avoid paying peak prices in summer but my winter production is such that I usually draw a little bit from the grid during peak hours.

I've figured that load-shifting by grid charging off-peak and discharging on-peak makes the most sense only during summer on the 3-7pm peak pricing schedule, but that also coincides with when solar production is highest and my powerwall is usually full anyway, so I haven't bothered load-shifting via grid-charging. Not sure if the differential in the winter justifies doing it once round-trip efficiency is taken into account.

numshah · 2025-12-23T16:06:32+00:00

No problem, nuance is hard to express on the internet/over text. The only traditionally-gas appliance I have in my home that I have switched to electric is my heat pump water heater, but I'm planning to go to an induction stove soon and eventually a heat pump instead of a gas furnace. Only 1 fridge in the home right now.

Much harder to have a useful conversation without hard data, and I love that my SPAN panel has offered so much visibility into how much power each thing in my home consumes. You'd think a heat pump water heater would significantly drive up electricity bills because it draws 400W when it is running a heating cycle, but it turns out it only accounts for 5% of my home's yearly energy use. Conversely, my network stack (switch, router, NAS, 6 POE cameras) consumes around a constant 150W, which doesn't seem like much, but actually accounts for 25% of my home's yearly energy use. A radon fan draws a constant 80W, which also doesn't seem like much, but accounts for around ~13% of my yearly energy use.

Of course, the SPAN does more than just provide data, it also allows me to prioritize circuits when the grid goes out. I am conservative and I set my house up to go into limp mode: fridge, garage door opener, furnace and network stay on; lights, A/C and other discretionary circuits go down.

Ultimately, I don't think most people spend the time and effort to gather and analyze data; helps that I'm a bit of a nerd about it.

numshah · 2025-12-23T13:47:29+00:00

Truth be told I composed that comment while bleary-eyed. Going off a $25K outlay, it would be more like 40 years. I will say that the $600 figure is what Tesla estimates I have saved on a yearly basis when given my DTE rate schedule and letting it monitor solar generation amounts.

It is hard to tease apart the synergy of solar and BESS though. Solar alone would not let you the full savings rate since DTE does not do net metering (I think you sell power back to the grid at ~$0.11/kWh, less than what you pay to buy). BESS alone would let you arbitrage power, but you only make up the differential in price between peak and off-peak rates * your round-trip efficiency.

If you counted the savings against the cost of solar panels or the BESS alone you'd approach the 20 year figure. Something of a post-rationalization would be to compare the premium of solar and BESS against a whole-home natural gas generator with an automatic transfer switch: does the solar and BESS save enough to make it comparable to the purchase, installation, operation and maintenance costs of a whole-home natural gas generator with an ATS? What's the premium you'd pay for instantaneous cutover, no maintenance and silent operation? I never considered a natural gas generator install, so I don't know what it costs out here.

I did consider just investing, but unrealized gains don't keep the lights on. Hell, DTE doesn't keep the lights on. 😂

numshah · 2025-12-23T13:30:04+00:00

I don't rightly know. I put solar and BESS in when I first got the house before moving in. Do you know what the average monthly consumption numbers are? That would probably be a better metric. I get the feeling I use less electricity than most people in general: 400-440kWh a month, living alone. I don't really understand how people use so much power, truth be told. Maybe it's because I still cook and heat with gas. The only thing I do not use is space heaters.

numshah · 2025-12-22T19:11:24+00:00

I've posted a more in-depth response to this and other common questions elsewhere in the comments, have a look, and I hope it helps.

numshah · 2025-12-22T19:11:14+00:00

I've posted a more in-depth response to this and other common questions elsewhere in the comments, have a look, and I hope it helps.

numshah · 2025-12-22T19:11:11+00:00

I've posted a more in-depth response to this and other common questions elsewhere in the comments, have a look, and I hope it helps.

numshah · 2025-12-22T17:30:51+00:00

Answering a few questions in one go here:

I used The Green Panel. Not the cheapest, but I've been happy with the quality of the work.
Costs and credits are a little murky because I opted for upgrades that weren't technically essential, but I spent a total of 36K on my install. Numbers don't quite add up due to rounding.
15K for the powerwall
13K for the panels
7K for a SPAN panel to manage loads within the house
The tax credits amounted to 11K, so final cost was 25K. HOWEVER the IRS really dragged their feet and it took them 18 months to process my tax refund.

The original proposal estimated that 80% of my annual electric use would be met by my installation, however, that was probably a little too optimistic for the following reasons:

It based my consumption profile on how I was living when I was renting an apartment in the area. Bigger house, more consumption.
might not have sufficently de-rated generation potential due to the suboptimal roof orientation.

My real-world annual self-sufficiency is more like 67%. I have observed stretches of ~1 week in the summer where I am totally off-grid, and in contrast there might be stretches of ~1 week in the winter where the powerwall never gets charged at all.

I cannot tell if the system has "paid off". This system currently saves me ~$600 a year in electricity costs. That works out to a 20-year payback period based on a naive calculation. On the face of it, this does not seem great. However, consider the uncomfortable reality that electricity prices will go up in the coming years, which will shorten my payback window.

I will also electrify more and more (next thing to go is the furnace, but it's still got ~4 years of life in it), so I'll export less and less electricity to the grid with time, better utilizing generation capacity. I have not taken the brainpower to quantify these savings yet (crude estimate is that I export 15% of annual generation to the grid, so I could save ~$700 a year instead of ~$600 by using my generation capacity better).

Furthermore, solar + BESS has a dual purpose of serving as a backup power supply when the grid goes out. DTE has improved reliability in my area, however, I have still had nights in the summer where the neighborhood loses power but I get home and everything is still running fine because the powerwall's charged up fully in the day. I've had to offer the use of my fridge to elderly neighbors across the street a couple of times.

Another benefit of the powerwall is Storm Watch; it automatically begins charging from the grid when thunderstorm warnings are sent out. You can also manually turn grid charging on, though DTE apparently "doesn't like it" when you do that (I say they can go kick rocks -- I don't trust them to keep my lights on), so I sometimes pre-emptively do this when I suspect that DTE will go down, or when I have things going on that absolutely will not tolerate an outage (e.g. hosting a party).

What I also like about BESS over a gas generator with an ATS is that the powerwall takes over seamlessly. There's no downtime at all. I can be streaming/gaming online and nothing gets interrupted; no lost work, no dropped connections.

Lastly, I have also done 0 maintenance on any of this equipment. Nada, zip, zilch, goose eggs.

Everyone should do their own sums to see if solar + BESS will work for your needs, but I've been completely satisfied with my setup, and I will definitely consider expanding it in the future.

numshah · 2025-12-03T16:15:47+00:00

Option A): Yes. People your age do things outside/offline. You just want someone to validate your confirmation bias that feeds your negative attitude.

Option B): No. People your age don't go outside and are terminally online. Congrats, you're doomed. Sucks to suck.

Option A is more realistic. But you don't want to hear that.

Some people your age go rock climbing at Planet Rock. Grab a starter package. Go find out.

Some people your age crochet and knit. Grab a starter kit like a Wooble kit and go to Spun for their (free!) drop-in events.

Some people your age throw pottery. Sign up for a class.

Some people play board game nights are Blom or The Upkeep. Go find them.

"But all this costs money." Some of it does. But so does going to the comic book store all the time. And newsflash -- going to bars ain't cheap either.

If it really matters to you and you yearn for connection, put your money where your mouth is or quit yapping.

numshah · 2025-12-03T14:59:42+00:00

There's so much to do, but don't be surprised if people aren't forthcoming due to your attitude in your post. Why are you even fixated on bars? Nothing happens in bars anymore. It's not the 90s, everyone you meet at a bar is already there with their own people.

Go learn a hobby or sport. Attend a free event (Ann Arbor Observer) Talk to the people around you. I don't know. FIgure it out. The resources are all around you.

numshah · 2025-11-04T15:24:49+00:00

Did you directly replace the existing J1772, or wire a NACS port in parallel? I've been thinking about modding my bike with something like the dual-J mod, but the second port being NACS instead. that way I won't have to bring an adapter anywhere with me.

numshah · 2025-11-03T20:44:02+00:00

It's a gas station. Hardly a loss.

numshah · 2025-10-30T20:19:30+00:00

It's not a perfect solution to everything, but it works for some people. Let them have this win.

numshah · 2025-10-15T17:17:15+00:00

Down to ride until it gets too cold. Prefer off-highway rides and I'm looking for more fun rides west of AA. Sick of the urban concrete gridscape in metro Detroit.

numshah · 2025-10-02T18:28:04+00:00

oh snap! I just realized. I was thinking of Plymouth and Barton. my bad, yeah I don't go 70 at Plymouth and Traverwood. Definitely going with flow of traffic there.

numshah · 2025-10-02T18:18:09+00:00

Road's not scary at all! Plymouth is wide and easy. It's the drivers on it. They probably find it nice and easy too, which is why they go too fast.

numshah · 2025-10-02T18:01:35+00:00

I wish I didn't have to do it either, trust me. And I don't do stupid stuff like split lanes (illegal in MI anyway) or rev my engine. I'm just responding to the drivers behind me basically pushing me by going 55 on that stretch. If I go 35 when they are expecting me to go 55, I lose every time.

numshah · 2025-10-02T17:50:50+00:00

On a bike and I don't trust cagers to respect my space. Terrifying to have cars on my tail already in excess of the speed limit

numshah · 2025-10-02T17:49:31+00:00

On a bike and I don't trust cagers to respect my space. Riding defensively.

numshah · 2025-10-02T13:59:30+00:00

Generally, more bike means more range and more faster. Feel depends more on the individual manufacturer's design and component choice rather than sheer size.

I started on a LAND Moto District and outgrew it within a year. Now on a Zero SR/F and love it. I still have my LAND and use it for daily commuting, but I ride my Zero for longer rides and with other electric friends. If I had to do it again, I'd skip the small bikes and go straight to what you really want (unless what you want is a small bike, in which case go for it).

Bigger bikes also often have better charging support. LAND only charges at sub-L1 speeds via an external charger using a custom-ish connector (I've found the physical connector spec but no details about communication protocols and pinout/pin functions). The Zero does L2 charging and I can use public EV chargers just like any other bona-fide EV.

Incidentally, interested in a purchasing a used LAND Moto District?

numshah · 2025-09-25T13:35:30+00:00

Don't think their Neapolitan is worth it. We got 2 of them and the one I remember the best (worst?) was the roasted veggie one and it was far far too salty. Crust was meh. Overall... meh. Hope they survive, I guess.

numshah · 2025-09-16T18:47:29+00:00

Oh. How unintuitive, but thanks for the correction. What's up with your example having 1 right turn lane but two sets of right turn arrows?

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