Earlier quoted context omitted.
Assuming that everyone uses asphalt shingles, which is definitely not the case. For example, the German Wikipedia article for asphalt shingles describes them as "a typical GDR roofing". Germans tend to prefer clay/ceramic tiles on their homes, which can easily last 50 years and more.
The asphalt shingles are very popular in the USA, which is what I assumed their first market would be, since contractors apparently have to be trained in their installation.
No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming
251–260 of 290 posts
Re: No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming
#252I 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…
Re: No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tar shingles are pretty damned heavy. If you've never experienced it, try picking some up at your hardware store, they have a bit of a weigh budget to work with. And then if you want some sympathy for your roofers, imagine slinging a box of those while standing on a diagonal surface 20 feet in the air in the afternoon sun. Yikes. I'd almost worry more about about the size of the panels making installation problematic…
Solar, surprisingly enough, has a higher death per kilowatt rate than nuclear, primarily because roofing work is so dangerous. Nowhere close to mining coal of course. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/10/energys-de...
Re: No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as I know consumer electricity usage has been on a downward trend for a long time. Computers, TVs, washing machines etc are increasingly using less power. I think there are limits to how much we can waste. E.g. when food prices drops to half we don't buy twice as much food.
There was a good New Yorker article within the past 2 years that talks about the increase in consumption. One example it used was refrigerators. Back in the 60s, something happened where they got cheaper/more power efficient. Instead of a gradual reduction in power, it increased because people just put the old one in the basement to freeze more stuff. Same is true (I think) with traffic. If we were to make, say, traf…
Building a freeway or expanding it actually creates more traffic, since it lowers the cost of driving (time & gas) and when building a new freeway you actually create new traffic flows in unexpected ways. Building extra lanes actually causes more cars than those lanes could ever conceivably handle to pour onto the roadway due to the latent demand [1], and the most viable path forward is to create other avenues for said latent demand for transport to be serviced.
Ideally, you will build better mass transit infrastructure, with a sizable light rail network and feeder bus lines in the suburbs. Traffic will not get better due to this in any way, shape or form, but it will lessen the number of additional cars that end up traversing the streets every year, and prevent some additional load.
What this will do though is prevent your local economy from strangling itself in its own traffic, since your community is now providing more than one transport option. The only enemy of transit is density in the US, where we require massive swaths of land be set aside for unused parking that ultimately severely disadvantages every mode of transport, since it forces cities to be more spread out and dense construction to be very costly (underground parking construction costs are insane vs building above ground sqft).
[1] - https://www.wired.com/2014/06/wuwt-traffic-induced-demand/
Re: No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was a good New Yorker article within the past 2 years that talks about the increase in consumption. One example it used was refrigerators. Back in the 60s, something happened where they got cheaper/more power efficient. Instead of a gradual reduction in power, it increased because people just put the old one in the basement to freeze more stuff. Same is true (I think) with traffic. If we were to make, say, traf…
> If we were to make, say, traffic signals more efficient by synchronizing them, or somehow increase capacity on freeways, people would just drive more. Or say, invent self-driving cars...
Re: No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming
#256Re: No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're aware, of course, that SolarCity's entire business model is leasing solar panels back to consumers with no up-front costs, and a net savings, right?
No - I had paid zero attention to SolarCity because their product is not available where I am. I have been following Tesla because their product is.
The advantage, of course, is the 0/low upfront costs.
Whether or not this model works for the roof tile system is another question entirely. Of course, the bill would be much larger, but the tax credit might be larger as well.
I'm not sure how they handle a circumstance in which your income causes your tax credit to be phased out. Likely there's fine print where you have to pony up extra money.
Re: No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming
#258You can see the panels but they're not actively ugly, which seems a good compromise. This seems like more a Tesla level solution, where you're paying a premium but it's better than a normal roof. The ones near me are the GM Bolt solution, where it's about as aesthetically pleasing as any other generic home and are priced accordingly. It's probably good to have solutions at multiple price points though.
Re: No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was a good New Yorker article within the past 2 years that talks about the increase in consumption. One example it used was refrigerators. Back in the 60s, something happened where they got cheaper/more power efficient. Instead of a gradual reduction in power, it increased because people just put the old one in the basement to freeze more stuff. Same is true (I think) with traffic. If we were to make, say, traf…
> If we were to make, say, traffic signals more efficient by synchronizing them, or somehow increase capacity on freeways, people would just drive more. Or say, invent self-driving cars...
Now, self driving cars could get us closer to that 2200 cars an hour figure, but there is so much pent up demand for a magical faster option (latent demand) that when those marginal efficiency gains occur, there will be a flood of new vehicular traffic on the roads that will fully negate said efficiency gains, and likely exacerbate said issues since the tolerance for time spent in traffic will significantly increase for autonomous vehicle owners due to being able to do another task while your car drives for you.
Re: No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
I imagine those loud objectors would take issue with the idea that the government is "literally just US" - it's much more literally a small minority of us who are deciding on behalf of us what we are to do with our resources. There's nothing inherently wrong with that - the US was always intended to be exactly that - but it certainly leaves room for the represented to debate about the way they should be represented.…
North Dakota pipeline is nice example of an operation receiving a good dose of government funding that arguably goes against the best intentions of the future population
That way, these large foreign oil companies like BP (owned by Britan's public employee retirement funds) and Royal Dutch Shell can make a ton more dough while also raising prices by a few bucks in the domestic gas & natural gas market.