Post Au220Wo2p7E3Uvymhc by ZenHeathen@beige.party
 (DIR) More posts by ZenHeathen@beige.party
 (DIR) Post #Au1zN95qqyOukgOy3s by SnowshadowII@beige.party
       2025-05-11T22:55:43Z
       
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       Should all new homes in Canada come with solar?👉 Also: An EV that can charge itself with a sunbeam"Canada wants to build millions of new homes. Should they all come with solar?"Opinion: We need a domestic supply of Solar Panels etc...#Canada #Energy #Solar #EV #Climate ##Environment https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/what-on-earth-green-renters-1.7529664
       
 (DIR) Post #Au1zN9bkwLvCLdKRn6 by ZenHeathen@beige.party
       2025-05-11T22:57:44Z
       
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       @SnowshadowII I've long thought that we should be updating local building codes so that all new houses built should be renewables-ready--you know, inverters and charge controllers maybe, maybe not, but all the wiring should be built-in and ready, so that if you install solar or a small wind generator or whatever, it should be plug-and-play for your home wiring and the grid, if you choose. Make it simple, make it attractive.
       
 (DIR) Post #Au1zNACyhxhCD4kAoC by drgeraint@glasgow.social
       2025-05-12T22:02:03Z
       
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       @ZenHeathen @SnowshadowII There is a lot to like about homes having battery back-up to help with peak shaving, particularly if they also have solar generation, but is that more economical and reliable than power companies implementing it themselves in dedicated district battery energy storage facilities?Batteries require space, maintenance and are a fire-risk. I'm not entirely convinced that people's homes are the best places for this infrastructure.I do see benefits; but see other options.
       
 (DIR) Post #Au1zNHQhrJpubgDjg8 by ZenHeathen@beige.party
       2025-05-11T23:07:58Z
       
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       @SnowshadowII When local utilities started "time of use" pricing, to give a discount to people who'd run their appliances overnight instead of when the grid demand is highest during the day, I had this idea.What if people could--easily, with a government rebate--set up battery banks in their houses. Even if they don't have solar on the roof or something (though this makes that a lot easier), just storage. They program their own system so that it, as much as possible, runs the house off the batteries during the day, and recharges them from the grid at night, achieving that more balanced load the utility is after.Go one step further: If homeowners wish, for a slight extra discount, they can hook in so that the utility itself controls their system for when it recharges. Even better balancing of load, which is more efficient and cheaper for the utility.This would also have the side benefit of resiliency. When catastrophic weather takes the grid down, many houses in the town have their battery backups to work from to ease the crisis and smooth the transition when bringing the grid back up.
       
 (DIR) Post #Au1zoeB7O8h8ykykU4 by ZenHeathen@beige.party
       2025-05-12T22:07:17Z
       
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       @drgeraint Oh, I agree. Distributed generation and distributed storage is a better idea. Except that homes should have a little generation (solar?) of their own, and need at least a little storage of their own to do so, anyway. Also, there's the little matter of far too many utility companies being private not public these days, and investment-averse. @SnowshadowII
       
 (DIR) Post #Au20PIFFtlzFfWO8Mi by drgeraint@glasgow.social
       2025-05-12T22:14:16Z
       
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       @ZenHeathen @SnowshadowII I think power generation and distribution should be publicly run, but private companies can still do it. There are financial incentive for them to optimise efficiency.Here near Glasgow, Scottish Power are building solar, green hydrogen and battery energy storage systems at the UK's largest windfarm: https://www.scottishpowerrenewables.com/pages/whitelee_solar_hydrogen_bess.aspx
       
 (DIR) Post #Au220Wo2p7E3Uvymhc by ZenHeathen@beige.party
       2025-05-12T22:32:13Z
       
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       @drgeraint The west especially of this country is far too in the pockets of the oil & gas industry to allow anything major to happen with renewables yet. I'm tired of waiting, I'd like to see small changes everywhere at once, so that we beat them almost before they know what's happening. Large-scale installations down the road, once we've broken their hold. @SnowshadowII