California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045 • Hacker News Board

Re: California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

#381

Post by cafard » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 1:27 PM UTC

henrikschroder wrote: post #369

adrianN wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sweden is a lot colder than California, it's not surprising that better insulation is required.

Is triple glazing common, standard, or required in any part of the US? Is double glazing?

For some years I lived in a rowhouse in the Maryland suburbs of DC, built about 1983. The units there had double glazing. Maryland does not have an especially cold climate.

Where I live now we have single panes, but behind storm windows.

On the other hand, we know a family near Boston who live in a big old house. The husband, a mathematician, calculated that they would never recover the cost of replacing the windows. I don't know how far out he calculated, but I expect it was about 20 years.

Re: California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

#382

Post by Alex3917 » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 2:19 PM UTC

drewmol wrote: post #257

Alex3917 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are you comfortable with radio towers blasting you with radiation? Nope. I always keep my phone in airplane mode when I'm not using it.

But how do you turn off the towers?

> But how do you turn off the towers?

You vote for Jill Stein.

Re: California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

#383

Post by village-idiot » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 2:27 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #350

village-idiot wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shifts in the average age and ratio of workers to retirees in Japan and America are absolutely sudden on societal level. 10-20 years is very long for an individual, but it's lightning quick otherwise.

That's at least a 30-40 year trend that everyone who studies demographics was aware of, not a 10 or 20 year trend that suddenly came out of nowhere. Japan's population stopped increasing meaningfully 30 years ago. There's no surprise or sudden jolt to their population declining over the coming decades. They'll have had a half century warning on the problem by the time meaningful decline sets in. As a recent example,…

30-40 years is sudden for societies. Just because individuals can predict in advance doesn’t mean that the society at large will successfully absorb the enormity of a change and then adapt to it. Hence, sudden.

For what it’s worth I think we’re still dealing with the destabilizing shock of the baby boomers outnumbering other generations, and have been dealing with that since the late 1960s.

Re: California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

#384

Post by msisk6 » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 2:33 PM UTC

twothamendment wrote: post #349

msisk6 wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look me up when you make to Austin. I live and work about 25 miles east at the place that runs the power grid for Texas.

Visiting the place the runs the grid sounds much more fun than driving a Ram. I like mine, but I only drive it when I have to. I don't understand people who commute in a pickup.

I totally agree. I got my truck when I had a ranch with livestock, a tractor and all the work that goes with all that stuff. I'm now living in town about two miles from work and really don't need the truck but they're more easily acquired than gotten rid of. Most days I leave the truck in the driveway and drive the wife's Subaru.

As far as grid operations, it's not really that exciting to see in person. Access is tightly controlled and it's pretty much like any other enterprise application shop.

The control room is pretty cool, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KatQ9Q_IQk

Re: California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

#385

Post by RandomInteger4 » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 3:09 PM UTC

woolvalley wrote: post #340

myegorov wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What fraction of apartment buildings in California have double-pane windows? What fraction of commercial buildings in SF/East Bay have operable windows to take advantage of natural ventilation?

Most houses in the bay area do not even have AC, and may turn on the heater for 3 months of the year. It's climate alone is a big household energy saver.

How do they not have AC in the bay area? That seems highly implausible.

Re: California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

#386

Post by RandomInteger4 » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 3:12 PM UTC

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #324

myegorov wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What fraction of apartment buildings in California have double-pane windows? What fraction of commercial buildings in SF/East Bay have operable windows to take advantage of natural ventilation?

My apartment in SF has operable windows, as do most older buildings I've been in. I don't have an air conditioner, and I rarely use the steam heater thingy (radiator?).

How do you not have an air conditioner? What kind of alien creatures are you in SF? Does the weather there really never get above 80?

Re: California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

#387

Post by GoMonad » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 5:26 PM UTC

woolvalley wrote: post #340

myegorov wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What fraction of apartment buildings in California have double-pane windows? What fraction of commercial buildings in SF/East Bay have operable windows to take advantage of natural ventilation?

Most houses in the bay area do not even have AC, and may turn on the heater for 3 months of the year. It's climate alone is a big household energy saver.

Indeed. The Bay Area is one of the most environmentally friendly areas to live for this reason.

Economist Ed Glazer makes the argument that by not allowing more housing to be built there, more people have to live in more energy consumptive locations (Houston, for example). Housing development policy of the Bay Area has a big environmental impact.

Re: California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

#388

Post by PopeDotNinja » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 6:00 PM UTC

RandomInteger4 wrote: post #386

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My apartment in SF has operable windows, as do most older buildings I've been in. I don't have an air conditioner, and I rarely use the steam heater thingy (radiator?).

How do you not have an air conditioner? What kind of alien creatures are you in SF? Does the weather there really never get above 80?

Sometimes I think San Francisco doesn't have seasons.

https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/san-francisco/californ...

Re: California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

#389

Post by jwr » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 6:15 PM UTC

twtw wrote: post #216

washingtub wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> vertical-drum washing machines (!!!) There are a number of issues with front-loading washers. While they use less water, they are also worse at cleaning clothes and much worse at sanitizing them. There was a recent post here on HN where a biologist did several experiments in her own washer to show how poorly they sanitized things compared to her older one. They also tend to trap water in the bottom and it gets must…

This sort of thing is why I sort of hate energy star everything. Take dishwashers, for example. You can regulate the energy and water usage all you want, but it long ago got to the point where dishwashers that meet regulations basically fail to clean the dishes. Which is fine, it just causes the consumer to wash the dishes by hand either instead of or in addition to using the dishwasher. So now the dishwasher uses le…

Ok, as a data point: I have a (new) Bosch dishwasher here in CA. The "Auto" wash cycle takes 2h20 and I can hear the unit flush the water down the drain after initial rinse.

My Bosch dishwasher in Europe does the Auto cycle in less than 90 minutes on a single change of water.

I think it's about different consumer expectations: it the US it seems people don't care so much about energy/water consumption, so other things matter.

BTW, both dishwashers get things done, the dishes do come out clean.

Re: California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

#390

Post by jwr » Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 6:19 PM UTC

oceanplexian wrote: post #189

jwr wrote: post #88

I think another great move would be to start dealing with excessive energy consumption. Compared to what I'm used to in Europe, California is wasting crazy amounts of energy. Poorly insulated homes, old and inefficient AC/heating units, vertical-drum washing machines (!!!), poorly designed gas stoves, oversized cars, monstrous gas-guzzling trucks, energy waste is all over the place. People behave just as if energy we…

I'm not against energy efficiency, however, conservation is fundamentally the wrong approach. What is the future going to look like? - Earth will have another 10,20,30 Billion people living on it - These people, if we don't screw up and start another war, will want a house, air conditioning, a car, air travel, lots of kids, and more - Human will inhabit more parts of the Earth that are uninhabitable (Antarctica, Sibe…

Not sure if you realize it — using more energy means releasing more of it as heat into the environment. You are literally heating the planet. So even if your energy is produced cleanly (say, nuclear), you still don't want to use crazy amounts of it.