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Comment by exabrial

6 months ago

I'm beyond ok with this! Let backpressure into the market! It's the ultimate incentive for promoting energy efficiency.

33 comments

exabrial

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WarOnPrivacy  6 months ago

> I'm beyond ok with this! Let backpressure into the market!

The article brought up some downstream effects such as seniors choosing between paying for power or their meds.

When we approve an outcome without addressing the consequences, we are effectively rubberstamping those consequences. I believe this doesn't serve us well.

  • SoftTalker  6 months ago

    They could also move to a place where they don't need 24x7 air conditioning running 10 months a year.

    • Broken_Hippo  6 months ago

      If someone is having to choose between power and medication, how could they get the money to move to this place?? They won't. Most folks aren't really that mobile and being poor makes this more likely.

      I'll also note that I live in such a place. Heck, I don't have air conditioning at all. But if I don't have heat in the winter, I'll die. It's cold out. Not many place have the luxury of not needing heating nor cooling - and even when some folks can go without, not all buildings are fit for that purpose. 2 windows on one side of an apartment doesn't make for good ventilation.

      5 replies →

    • ZeroGravitas  6 months ago

      Americans generally pay more for heating than cooling so moving to warmer climates helps on that axis. There might be a sweet spot before you get to the warmest place in the country but it probably still involves air con.

    • derwiki  6 months ago

      Not that my parents are in this situation, but they’ve lived in the same state for 80 years and the same house for 55. I don’t know if they’d be able to handle a move.

grepfru_it  6 months ago

Our rates went up but now they are offering free nights. Cost of battery tech has dropped, so now I am powering my house with batteries during the day and charge them at night. The downside is vendors come and go, so the battery you buy today may not be the same offered tomorrow.

3eb7988a1663  6 months ago

Good news! The current administration also wants to put an end to the Energy Star program.

  • Iwan-Zotow  6 months ago

    Actually, good news. Basically, everything now is marked ES, no discrimination

    • 3eb7988a1663  6 months ago

      The standards get more strict all the time. The reason everything has an Energy Star label is because consumers are going to prefer the appliance that meets it.

      From the Energy Star website, savings since 2020:

        - Electricity: 520 billion kilowatt-hours
  - Energy costs: $42 billion
  - GHG emissions: 400 million metric tons

      But, I guess you-know. What a lousy government intervention. Centralizing a bit of extra up front engineering work to save $billions in wasted energy. Give me back all of those energy vampires that used to be so prevalent. Like standby modes that only turned off the power LED.

      https://www.energystar.gov/about/impacts

      6 replies →

baggy_trough  6 months ago

I thought we were supposed to be replacing natural gas appliances with electric ones, but it's become ruinously expensive to do so. Not only are they more expensive to operate due to high electricity rates, the panel upgrades for higher power draw are outrageous.

  • danans  6 months ago

    > Not only are they more expensive to operate due to high electricity rates,

    Most electric appliances are much cheaper to operate, even in places with expensive electricity like MA and CA. This is especially true for appliances like heat pumps due to their >100% "efficiency", and if you are somewhere with cheap clean electricity (Pacific Northwest) they are a no-brainer.

    > the panel upgrades for higher power draw are outrageous.

    With smart splitters and some planning, panel upgrades can often be avoided:

    https://homes.rewiringamerica.org/articles/electrical-panel/...

    • quesera  6 months ago

      I suspect that GP meant "service upgrades" are expensive (e.g. 100A to 200A from the street).

      Panel upgrades are just the most visible, but not individually expensive, part.

      1 reply →

    • inferiorhuman  6 months ago 

        Most electric appliances are much cheaper to operate, even in places with expensive electricity like MA and CA.

      Nope. I'm in PG&E territory. Electricity is too expensive and natural gas is too cheap. Even compared to my not-high-efficiency gas powered furnace a heat pump is more expensive to run. At best electricity is about $0.40/kWh and natural gas is $2.45/therm.

      3 replies →

fzeroracer  6 months ago

Are you familiar with the Flour War? I suggest reading up on the history of that and what happens when you try to let the invisible hand control things considered essential.