You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments
132 points

permalink
report
reply
2 points

Rent seekers always keep their hands on the tap.

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points

In the case of Spain, at least, they own the grid, so all solar energy that you sell to distributors because you have no use for it yourself, they’ll only pay you peanuts for it and they will still make a devious profit.

The two solar panels companies that I got in contact with weren’t interested in selling me a quantity small enough that was coherent with my needs, and they’d charge me a premium if I wasn’t willing to make a contract with them to sell them specifically the excess energy.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

But if you have batteries at home you almost don’t need the grid. Add an EV and you hit two birds with one stone.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

i wonder if the battery in an ev can be used as a house battery?

permalink
report
parent
reply
69 points

We own the factories building the panels.

Solar cells don’t really grow on trees.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

The majority of panels produced in the world right now is China. Like dwarfs the other countries.

Big oil currently does not own the factories.

permalink
report
parent
reply
30 points

Photosynthesis - provided by the OG solar cells.

Yeah it won’t power my computer, just found the irony comical.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

You could theoretically build a coal pit in your back yard to turn the wood into coal, then power a steam engine hooked to generators to make electricity to run your computer. If you wanna be super “efficient” you can route the gasses from the coal process through the steam engine too to get power from that as well

Probably cleaner and less work to do almost any other kind of power though

permalink
report
parent
reply
90 points

Solar cells don’t really grow on trees.

permalink
report
parent
reply
37 points
*

Are you talking about

A scalable self replicating and self sustaining carbon capture technology that uses a mix of highly specialized biological processes to turn CO2 into engineering grade composite construction material, fuel and fertilizer.

?

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

Well yeah, but that’s like a one-time purchase (for years) compared to coals/etc. where they can charge for the “amount” used

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

The first factories were powered by waterwheels. Those were subjected to seasonal variations and limited geographic possibilities, what gave negotiating power to labor. Therefore the industry switched to fossil fuels, so they could run when and where they wanted, preferably near a city with excess labor force. It made it more expensive to run, but it was easier to exploit labor so more profit.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

If there was room they’d put the factories as close to the coal fields as possible, and let the workers live in shanty towns.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Solarpunk

!solarpunk@slrpnk.net

Create post

The space to discuss Solarpunk itself and Solarpunk related stuff that doesn’t fit elsewhere.

What is Solarpunk?

Join our chat: Movim or XMPP client.

Community stats

  • 982

    Monthly active users

  • 635

    Posts

  • 7.2K

    Comments