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Materials to get lights on are getting scarce

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Re: Materials to get lights on are getting scarce

#21

Post by toomanydoubts »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #12
josephcsible wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't rooftop solar usually something you can finance, unlike most emergency expenses?

Yes, and payback period in many places is less than 10 years, while the equipment will typically last well past its 25 year warranty. There’s also a 26% federal tax credit, and in some cases state, local, and utility incentives. Generators and fuel don’t receive those financial incentives.

I'm always baffled when seemingly smart people, mostly from the USA, go on the World Wide Web and make general/universal statements as if their people represented 100% instead of 4.25% of the world population. Don't forget half of the world population lives with less than $5.50 per day.

Re: Materials to get lights on are getting scarce

#22

Post by toomuchtodo »

toomanydoubts wrote: post #21
toomuchtodo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and payback period in many places is less than 10 years, while the equipment will typically last well past its 25 year warranty. There’s also a 26% federal tax credit, and in some cases state, local, and utility incentives. Generators and fuel don’t receive those financial incentives.

I'm always baffled when seemingly smart people, mostly from the USA, go on the World Wide Web and make general/universal statements as if their people represented 100% instead of 4.25% of the world population. Don't forget half of the world population lives with less than $5.50 per day.

We’re not talking about developing countries though. We’re talking about electrical infrastructure in a developed country. The developing world poor are still poor, and these discussions in particular are immaterial to them.

Re: Materials to get lights on are getting scarce

#23

Post by ac29 »

colechristensen wrote: post #19
ac29 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Supply issues everywhere while at the same time a booming stock market? Why is this surprising? They are both caused by high demand. Shortages suck, but completely selling out your products is one of the better problems to have for a company, because it means you are making a lot of money.

But it seems like the amount of stuff produced is going way down, not just selling or normal production runs.

At least in the US, GDP is at an all time high: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDP

Companies are making a lot and selling a lot, which is one of the drivers of stock market gains.

Re: Materials to get lights on are getting scarce

#24

Post by toomanydoubts »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #22
toomanydoubts wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always baffled when seemingly smart people, mostly from the USA, go on the World Wide Web and make general/universal statements as if their people represented 100% instead of 4.25% of the world population. Don't forget half of the world population lives with less than $5.50 per day.

We’re not talking about developing countries though. We’re talking about electrical infrastructure in a developed country. The developing world poor are still poor, and these discussions in particular are immaterial to them.

I just noticed the original post mentioned "middle TN", so sorry for my first comment. Still, I have to be a little pedantic here, do you mean to imply that developing countries do not have electrical infrastructure? Or that somehow the issues that affect developed countries electrical infrastructure do not affect developing ones? I'm genuinely interested in your line of thinking.

Edit: Let me attempt to be clearer here. Lets assume the reddit post is true. Imagine someone living in Brazil or India, they currently do have electrical power. Imagine the electric grid(or parts of) goes down due to the lack of hardware. Now they don't have electricity nor money to invest in solar power. How is that discussion "immaterial" to them?

Re: Materials to get lights on are getting scarce

#25

Post by [deleted] »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #20
UWillOwnNothing wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If current institutions possessed such competence we wouldn’t be facing such a dilemma.

It's completely possible to have the knowledge/competence to do something but be thwarted by resource constraints / management / social/economic issues.

[deleted]

Re: Materials to get lights on are getting scarce

#26

Post by atatatat »

josephcsible wrote: post #10
scottLobster wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say buy rooftop solar and batteries like it's an option most people have. Depending on who's numbers you go by most American households would be bankrupted by a multi-thousand dollar emergency, they don't have the disposable income for solar and batteries. That's without even considering legalities regarding grid connection (some utilities don't allow independent operation of solar panels that are also connected…

Isn't rooftop solar usually something you can finance, unlike most emergency expenses?

On your...rented home?

Re: Materials to get lights on are getting scarce

#27

Post by 1shooner »

irrational wrote: post #16

Recently I installed a fan in my living room. While I was at it I expanded the gang box from 3 to 4 and decided to replace the toggle switches with rocker switches. I was shocked when I went to the electrical aisle of my local Home Depot. They were out of so many components. I ended up having to go to 3 different Home Depots, 2 different Lowes, and 1 Ace Hardware to find all the parts I was looking for. I asked vario…

I think your experience may have more to do with looking in brick and mortar locations that have probably permanently lost foot traffic in the last year. It looks like (in the US) there are plenty of rocker-style switches on Amazon available for delivery in 1 or 2 days, or homedepot.com in 4 or 5 days.

The last time I was in a big box hardware store, it looked like they had kind of given up on front-of-house organization or cleanliness.

Re: Materials to get lights on are getting scarce

#29

Post by eurasiantiger »

CyanLite4 wrote: post #14

I never thought I’d see the day when HN starts posting random conjecture from Reddit…

You thought that masses of people can freely assemble on a pseudonymous internet platform without belief manipulation taking place?

Time to wake up and smell the ashes.

Re: Materials to get lights on are getting scarce

#30

Post by eurasiantiger »

ac29 wrote: post #23
colechristensen wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it seems like the amount of stuff produced is going way down, not just selling or normal production runs.

At least in the US, GDP is at an all time high: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDP Companies are making a lot and selling a lot, which is one of the drivers of stock market gains.

You can’t just look at an aggregate statistic and expect it to tell you something.

You need to analyse what all goes into it and how that has changed.

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