81–90 of 290 posts
FYI - I'm not a building expert, but I come from a large family of builders and grew up in a hardware store / lumber yard. I also looked into getting solar roofing (fleetingly) for a family friend. At least three years ago - the costs were nowhere near manageable for Ontario homes.
So we'll see how this works out.
'No one saw Tesla's solar roof coming...' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_shingle Solar shingles, also called photovoltaic shingles, are solar panels or solar modules designed to look like and function as conventional roofing materials, such as asphalt shingle or slate, while also producing electricity. Solar shingles are a type of solar energy solution known as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). There are…
I'm sure i'm not the only one who feels like this is possibly the iphone moment of Solarcity/Tesla: an old-ish idea, made sexy and tasty to consumers, together with technology reaching a tipping point(and also Musk again finding a way to maximally exploit government subsidies for clean tech.) The tesla car itself could count as well, but felt less "design driven" imo. If this fails, everyone will call it obviously du…
Another side note: it always annoys me when people insinuate that Musk using government funds is a bad thing. The government is literally just US....it's our money and a collection of individuals from among us who we've appointed to handle the general administration of us and the space we take up. Why should American entrepreneurs, particularly ones doing such an outstanding job of moving technology in a positive dir…
Let's rephrase that headline. "No one to whom a lazy journalist named Tom Randall spoke saw Tesla's Solar Roof Coming."
I'm sure i'm not the only one who feels like this is possibly the iphone moment of Solarcity/Tesla: an old-ish idea, made sexy and tasty to consumers, together with technology reaching a tipping point(and also Musk again finding a way to maximally exploit government subsidies for clean tech.) The tesla car itself could count as well, but felt less "design driven" imo. If this fails, everyone will call it obviously du…
I'm sure i'm not the only one who feels like this is possibly the iphone moment of Solarcity/Tesla: an old-ish idea, made sexy and tasty to consumers, together with technology reaching a tipping point(and also Musk again finding a way to maximally exploit government subsidies for clean tech.) The tesla car itself could count as well, but felt less "design driven" imo. If this fails, everyone will call it obviously du…
Rumor mill has it that SC has been struggling, and the recent buyout from Tesla makes it look like Musk is transferring cash to himself.
Musk talks alot, and I'm still on the fence as to whether this is vaporware meant to distract from that.
I had serious misgivings when Tesla/SolarCity announced a switch of focus to building-integrated PV. Historically, BIPV is where a PV technology goes to die after it's failed to compete against incumbent module designs. But these have far better aesthetics than previous BIPV efforts. They look better individually and they aren't clumped in one odd shiny patch on the roof like past BIPV. Search for images of solar shi…
>>SC will be able to have a monopoly on these modules and their installation for a long time to come Is that really Elon Musk wants, monopoly ?
Note to HN posters: do not dare criticize Pope Musk or any of his Holy Products, lest you risk a million down votes. FYI - I'm not a building expert, but I come from a large family of builders and grew up in a hardware store / lumber yard. I also looked into getting solar roofing (fleetingly) for a family friend. At least three years ago - the costs were nowhere near manageable for Ontario homes. So we'll see how thi…
I'm sure i'm not the only one who feels like this is possibly the iphone moment of Solarcity/Tesla: an old-ish idea, made sexy and tasty to consumers, together with technology reaching a tipping point(and also Musk again finding a way to maximally exploit government subsidies for clean tech.) The tesla car itself could count as well, but felt less "design driven" imo. If this fails, everyone will call it obviously du…
Another side note: it always annoys me when people insinuate that Musk using government funds is a bad thing. The government is literally just US....it's our money and a collection of individuals from among us who we've appointed to handle the general administration of us and the space we take up. Why should American entrepreneurs, particularly ones doing such an outstanding job of moving technology in a positive dir…
One valid argument against government aid is market distortion. One example of abuse is farming, where subsidies create a system(as far as I understand at least) where those that have enough land to tick of all subsidies have an edge over smaller farms (in addition to scaling), leading to consolidation and effectively paying land magnates with tax money.
A different aspect(more specific) is that maybe solar is just not ready and should fail, and only the subsidies make it viable, meaning people will have "junk" on their roofs without Solarcity to maintain it if the subsidies fade. However, that argument is only valid to me if coal/oil does not get subsidies currently, which I doubt
Note to HN posters: do not dare criticize Pope Musk or any of his Holy Products, lest you risk a million down votes. FYI - I'm not a building expert, but I come from a large family of builders and grew up in a hardware store / lumber yard. I also looked into getting solar roofing (fleetingly) for a family friend. At least three years ago - the costs were nowhere near manageable for Ontario homes. So we'll see how thi…