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California issues first rolling blackouts since 2001

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Re: California issues first rolling blackouts since 2001

#121

Post by jandrewrogers »

heavyset_go wrote: post #80
bhupy wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who cares about inequality — poverty is down: https://www.nber.org/papers/w26532 . The difference between the rich and the poor is less important than making sure that the poor are rich enough. Real median income is up: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N Tax revenues as a %age of GDP are mostly flat: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFRGDA188S US median disposable income is about the 3rd highest on t…

And yet 78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck[1], and 40% don't have the money to cover a $400 emergency expense[2]. For our riches, we have the highest population of people without health insurance in the first world, and the number one cause of bankruptcy in the US is medical expenses. Inequality drives cost of living up. Normal people in the US are competing with the richest people domestically and inte…

Yet the Federal Reserve study whence the "$400 emergency expense" claim was sourced states that 75% of adults are doing okay financially or living comfortably. The question about a $400 expense was about how people would pay for an unexpected $400 expense, not if they could pay for it. Only 12% could not pay for a $400 expense. The news media always tries to paint a dire narrative.

Per the US government, the median household in the US has $1000/month left over after all ordinary expenses. At the 78%, this is around $3500/month. As this strongly suggests, the statistics you are referring to do not actually assert what is often claimed of them. The underlying studies paint a more consistent, and less dire, picture.

Re: California issues first rolling blackouts since 2001

#122

Post by dehrmann »

malchow wrote: post #106

The grid is slowly being decentralized using grid-agnostic solar and storage. (I.e., solar power that stays going even when the grid drops off.) A computer network -- not a large infrastructure project -- is likely to be the solution.

The only solution is having enough generation and storage capacity for p999 or p9999 events. The grid ends up being beneficial because you can pool resources rather than balkanizing them.

Your Tesla Powerwall can probably keep your AC running for a couple of hours, but it costs $7,600. We're better off using economies of scale to our advantage.

Re: California issues first rolling blackouts since 2001

#126

Post by m463 »

arminiusreturns wrote: post #69
grecy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It's worth noting this is a common tactic of the IMF... offer big loans to countries, as long as they let in outside companies to do business in their sectors, which causes lots of corruption and kickbacks... meanwhile, the problems that needed to be solved don't for the non-powerful locals, and now the country is in worse shape with corruption, and wealth inequality jumps while hvings massive amounts of debt. If tha…

When I read his books it seemed that the whole point was to indebt small countries to large ones so they couldn't be independent. But it's hard to figure out "whole point" because it might just be that's how all the individual interests play out and it's not a plan.

Re: California issues first rolling blackouts since 2001

#127

Post by jedberg »

bradly wrote: post #123

This my be a dumb question, but if I have solar (no power wall or batteries) will I still have power during a rolling blackout?

It depends on how your system is hooked up. Some will cut out when the line power drops off, as a way of protecting line workers who might be working on what they think is a unenergized line, so they aren't surprised by the power your system puts on the line.

Others are designed with an automatic shunt that will still allow you to draw power as long as you are generating it.

And some require you to manually flip a switch.

Re: California issues first rolling blackouts since 2001

#128

Post by roughly »

spaetzleesser wrote: post #45
cipher_system wrote: post #10

I wish the massive financial bailout money could be used to build and improve infrastructure. There doesn't seem to be a lack of money but it never seem to do anything useful.

Agreed. Instead of using cheap money to drive up asset prices it would be nice if it actually got used for something useful.

This is because one of our two political parties doesn’t believe that government spending should exist, and is iffy about the concept of government overall. Because of that, the only body able to respond to crises is the Federal Reserve, and the only lever they have is the money supply.

We’ve had multiple trillion dollars worth of infrastructure repairs we need to do and nearly sub-zero borrowing rates for the last decade, but the GOP has effectively blocked any efforts to enact any kind of actual fiscal policy. If any business out there’s leadership refused to take sub-zero rate loans to perform critical maintenance on their capital stock, they’d rightly be fired and probably sued.

Re: California issues first rolling blackouts since 2001

#129

Post by jeffbee »

bradly wrote: post #123

This my be a dumb question, but if I have solar (no power wall or batteries) will I still have power during a rolling blackout?

You'd know if you had it, because it's an expensive design option that's very rare. If you didn't ask for and pay for it, you don't have it.

Re: California issues first rolling blackouts since 2001

#130

Post by guerby »

bradly wrote: post #123

This my be a dumb question, but if I have solar (no power wall or batteries) will I still have power during a rolling blackout?

Some solar inverters can do it without batteries. But if a cloud passes over your panels you might get near zero watt.
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