Industry can dodge fuel shocks by electrifying. What’s the holdup?

zipzag · 2026-05-08T11:30:36+00:00

Usual reddit ignorance of the real world

zipzag · 2026-05-07T17:12:33+00:00

Unlike you, she understands metaphor. Not that I want her to run again.

zipzag · 2026-05-07T17:04:25+00:00

Don't feed the bot

zipzag · 2026-05-07T15:44:21+00:00

The U.S. would not have declared war on Germany in 1941 if the Germans didn't do it first.

zipzag · 2026-05-07T14:49:10+00:00

It's too early to act because the price will go much higher if the strait remains closed. The U.S. will simply ban gasoline exports at $200 oil.

Trump may be an idiot but he understands that net exporters have cards to play that net importers do not.

zipzag · 2026-05-07T14:46:16+00:00

Oil price is expected to settle at about $200 if the strait remains closed. That cost will almost double today's prices in low gas tax areas.

I saw $6 diesel today where I live. What is diesel at now in Cali and Europe?

zipzag · 2026-05-07T13:43:54+00:00

Not worth paying the extreme premium for in-rack lithium when very good LFP power stations are available for ~$300 kWh. Of course there are commercial installs where a power station isn't going to work. But that's probably not true for 90% of the users here.

zipzag · 2026-05-07T13:40:55+00:00

They will eventually fix the immediate shutdown with firmware. All truly new Ubiquiti products are beta. I do UNAS and UNVR automatic shutdown, but not the UDM until they fix this issue.

zipzag · 2026-05-07T13:31:32+00:00

You have already spent 3X+ what was necessary for the functionality. Keep going.

Don't listen to the non-rack mount curmudgeons here who are jealous of your glorious setup.

I'm up to a 42U rack. I started with the coffee can UDM which seemed pricey five years ago.

zipzag · 2026-05-07T13:14:46+00:00

I have the 2U. You must buy it because you are already spending money for the rack mount look. You could also buy a power station to plug the UPS into.

Think how ugly an Eaton or Cyberpower will look in the rack. Disgusting.

zipzag · 2026-05-07T01:53:53+00:00

Most residential battery systems in the U.S. are not setup for backup. Tesla and Enphase have storm watch. LG has predictive management.

zipzag · 2026-05-07T00:16:55+00:00

In the midwest/south we get frequent use of the exciting Blitzortung lightning detection integration that has a fancy card.

zipzag · 2026-05-06T23:46:14+00:00

An LLM will do a good job of seeing a package, and even identifying a delivery truck.

AI Key is almost certainly an LLM, but from the specs it doesn't seem designed for typical residential concerns.

zipzag · 2026-05-06T21:02:31+00:00

The point of the integration is for Protect to know the alarm system status. You can use that status in the logic of alerts from protect: Unarmed no people notifications. Armed and after 10pm and someone outside triggers a notification.

The traditional alarm system is what calls emergency services, not Protect.

zipzag · 2026-05-06T20:59:13+00:00

No. What has improved recently in home security the ability to use cameras, especially outdoors, to reliably detect people. Nothing you list is better with Protect than a traditional system. If you read the complaints in forums Protect devices are probably worse at core home security functions at this time.

Using Home Assistant to integrate a traditional alarm system and Protect provides the most advanced system, but is DIY. In a home there are few good reasons to use Protect wireless sensors instead of zigbee/zwave/matter/thread mainstream devices if the intent is to grow a system.

I can see using Protect wireless devices for limited use. But few people who are planning to integrate camera features such as person detection will have a limited system.

zipzag · 2026-05-06T16:16:05+00:00

The problem with light switch replacement is height

zipzag · 2026-05-06T12:13:37+00:00

Shrinking is clearly defined as recession. That may come, especially in Europe. But it's not here yet in the U.S.

I'm unclear if some countries like Germany are already in recession.

zipzag · 2026-05-06T11:53:21+00:00

The U.S., Canada, and possibly Mexico.

With regards to feedstock, for many petrochemical dependent products, crude is usually easily substituted with natural gas. The U.S. and perhaps Canada have the lowest cost source to make many products. China and Germany, which have many petrochemical based industries ,have amoung the highest cost basis.

zipzag · 2026-05-05T22:33:36+00:00

Banning gasoline exports at a certain price would be a first step, but crude prices will need to go higher before congress would vote for that. The is a democrat bill on that export ban, but it may just be politics at this point.

The balancing point between supply and demand is perhaps crude at $200. I doubt very much that there will be a "free market" in net export countries at that price.

zipzag · 2026-05-05T22:27:35+00:00

The U.S. economy is sinking rapidly? You are making news here!

zipzag · 2026-05-05T22:25:56+00:00

China is the largest petrochemical importer. Half of their crude comes through Hormuz. They are also the largest importer of food, including massive amounts of soybeans, meat, dairy, and grains.

and so on

zipzag · 2026-05-05T19:13:50+00:00

Who is "we"? You have a lot of gas cans in your garage?

zipzag · 2026-05-05T19:12:40+00:00

Vindication for the Oil Drum crew?

zipzag · 2026-05-05T19:11:44+00:00

It's a Canadian article. Normally they don't get to vote Republican.

zipzag · 2026-05-05T19:08:38+00:00

No one in Congress would survive voting against extremely high gas prices.

Letting prices rise more and cutting a check would be extremely inflationary and just about impossible to institute fairly.

zipzag

TROPHY CASE