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Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

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Re: Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bills comment gave me a chuckle. :) Oddly enough its not the amount of snow, but rather the severity of it. I was born in Virginia - dad in Florida, mom in Georgia. :) I'm here because pops moved to Syracuse and I lived in Cortland area, before moving here (and a stint for college in AL). What really WAS the catalyst for downtown was not SolarCity or anything major, but the total opposite. Chris Collins (R) - des…

Higgins asked Bass Pro its intentions at the for Aud site (previous home of the Sabres). They (after several years of promising to build a mega-store) backed out and we created a ton of smaller projects - not continuing on the path of the "silver-bullet" approach to anchoring the downtown on. That sound a lot like liberal thinking to me. Traditional Republican philosophy is generally to seek out one or two major stor…

>Traditional Republican philosophy is generally to seek out one or two major storefronts to anchor an entire town.

How can you make a generalization like that with a straight face? I spent a significant number of years in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho and most of the Republicans I interacted with there were pro small business and disliked dominating large chains owned by out of state corporations. A single store without meaningful competition is antithetical to the message of the Republican party.

You are confusing what naturally happens when you have small cities (Talk to folks in a town dominated by a Walmart. Tons of people hate going there but still do because it's the best price.

Finally, the only thing that gets a smaller city on the right track is businesses that attract outside money. A small city will never thrive regardless of building one huge retail store vs tons of small ones if the same small population are the only folks shopping there. The easiest way for city to get external money pouring in is to accept a deal for a big industrial operation.

Re: Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

#72

I'm not a big fan of Elon Musk, but let's not get political. I do however, want to point out Buffalo .. its troubles with Solar City .. and its troubles with Elon Musk. Key (non-disputed / non-political points) - Tesla did not hire local workers, and did not hold up on its end for diversity of work-force - SolarCity received 750$ million in the Billion to Buffalo at a time it hadn't operated at a profit in over 2 yea…

> So .. my real question, is why is this not brought to the national level for discussion to what Elon is doing to communities like Buffalo, where I live? That's my question ... Because Buffalo isn't a place that attracts much attention about anything outside of lake-effect snow and how terrible the Buffalo Bills are. These silver-bullet projects that promise to bring large number of high-paying jobs rarely pan out.…

> These silver-bullet projects that promise to bring large number of high-paying jobs rarely pan out. Remember when Yahoo put in that data center in Lockport (just outside of Buffalo for everyone not familiar with the area)? It was touted as a big win...as of two years ago they have a whopping 98 employees (most making less than 6 figures according to Glassdoor.)

Meanwhile, Wisconsin is bending over backward to give somewhere near $4Billion to foxconn to build a new manufacturing facility in Wisconsin, and everytime someone asks if they should spend that much, they get "10,000 JOBS" shouted at them.. (even then, that seems like way too much per job, at $300,000 in direct state subsidy per employee, if they get to 10,000, but its an impressive sounding number). then they have local subsidies, promised freeway widening, etc..

Re: Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

#73
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"A plain-old asphalt roof with panels would run about $22,000" That's with panels to give equivalent power output. You're essentially paying a $35k premium for a sleeker install.

And what would the effect on property value be for an asphalt roof with garish panels vs. the Tesla option?

Probably depends on the home. I don't think it would add $35k worth of value over the other installation to a home (especially for a typical $200k home). Also, who cares about property value? If you're selling anytime soon after installing either system, you're going to be taking a significant loss because I doubt you'll make it back in added property value. Especially for the Tesla system. Hard to justify to folks, "Yeah, my otherwise standard $200k home has a fancy $57k roof."

Maybe for the bay area where homes are often over $2mm and the desire for such a roof is plausibly high.

Re: Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

#74
post #67

Why not put the solar panels on the cars themselves? Makes them charge somewhat when parked on the street or in an open parking lot :)

The area is way too small to generate any feasible amount. If I remember correctly you'd only be able to charge 15 miles per day in ideal conditions.

What about solar panels on the roof of a 30 foot RV?

To power computer microwave and water heater only.

Re: Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

#75

Every time Tesla talks about a "gigafactory" like this one, or the one in Reno, I'm reminded of the episode of The Simpsons, where a snake oil salesman comes to town and sells Springfield on the idea of building a monorail. It's a factory. Yes, a big factory. But not bigger than a hundred that came before it. And even if it was, it doesn't warrant a new word.

>But not bigger than a hundred that came before it. And even if it was, it doesn't warrant a new word.

I agree in the Buffalo case, but the Nevada one is the largest factory in existence by footprint (Boeing wins by volume).

Re: Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

#76

I'm not a big fan of Elon Musk, but let's not get political. I do however, want to point out Buffalo .. its troubles with Solar City .. and its troubles with Elon Musk. Key (non-disputed / non-political points) - Tesla did not hire local workers, and did not hold up on its end for diversity of work-force - SolarCity received 750$ million in the Billion to Buffalo at a time it hadn't operated at a profit in over 2 yea…

I don't really understand this complaint (grew up in Buffalo myself and drove by the factory last week to check it out).

The factory is in an area that's been basically abandoned since Bethlehem Steel closed up shop. A large factory with people working there is likely to increase people spending money at local places in the nearby area (restaurants, stores, apartments, etc.).

The alternative for that area is a large empty field.

I also knew Chris Collins as a kid growing up (he lived near me) and he seemed reasonable at the time, but his current Trump related political comments come across as ridiculous.

Re: Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

#77
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Higgins asked Bass Pro its intentions at the for Aud site (previous home of the Sabres). They (after several years of promising to build a mega-store) backed out and we created a ton of smaller projects - not continuing on the path of the "silver-bullet" approach to anchoring the downtown on. That sound a lot like liberal thinking to me. Traditional Republican philosophy is generally to seek out one or two major stor…

>Traditional Republican philosophy is generally to seek out one or two major storefronts to anchor an entire town. How can you make a generalization like that with a straight face? I spent a significant number of years in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho and most of the Republicans I interacted with there were pro small business and disliked dominating large chains owned by out of state corporations. A single store without…

> Finally, the only thing that gets a smaller city on the right track is businesses that attract outside money. A small city will never thrive regardless of building one huge retail store vs tons of small ones if the same small population are the only folks shopping there. The easiest way for city to get external money pouring in is to accept a deal for a big industrial operation.

Buffalo is hampered by being in the same state as NYC - it's too far from it to reap any of the benefits. High taxes, a ton of regulation, red tape and little to no political sway at the state level. If NYC were to secede and form its own state/district/etc, Buffalo and the rest of upstate NY might be better off.

It's near and dear to my heart, but nothing will save Buffalo. Will it get better? Sure, but not fast enough to stop the bleeding:

"Buffalo, on the other hand, has experienced the sharpest rate of decline, losing 61.75 people per month."

Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2017/10/31/upstate-...

Meanwhile, in the Raleigh, NC area where I moved is growing at ~62 per day or ~1860/month.

Re: Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

#78

I'm not a big fan of Elon Musk, but let's not get political. I do however, want to point out Buffalo .. its troubles with Solar City .. and its troubles with Elon Musk. Key (non-disputed / non-political points) - Tesla did not hire local workers, and did not hold up on its end for diversity of work-force - SolarCity received 750$ million in the Billion to Buffalo at a time it hadn't operated at a profit in over 2 yea…

Aside from maybe your first point, what do any of those points have to do with "troubles with Elon Musk"? After the second point I'm not even sure what they could have to do with Solar City in general.

Your third point seems to be more of an issue with a local construction company and the last point seems to be an issue with Cuomo. Could you clarify? Am I missing some connections?

Re: Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

#79

Every time Tesla talks about a "gigafactory" like this one, or the one in Reno, I'm reminded of the episode of The Simpsons, where a snake oil salesman comes to town and sells Springfield on the idea of building a monorail. It's a factory. Yes, a big factory. But not bigger than a hundred that came before it. And even if it was, it doesn't warrant a new word.

It's just another superlative to "one-up" whats already been there: "What's better than a factory? The megafactory! And whats even better than that? The gigafactory!".

Re: Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

#80

Every time Tesla talks about a "gigafactory" like this one, or the one in Reno, I'm reminded of the episode of The Simpsons, where a snake oil salesman comes to town and sells Springfield on the idea of building a monorail. It's a factory. Yes, a big factory. But not bigger than a hundred that came before it. And even if it was, it doesn't warrant a new word.

“Giga means large, and factory means factory!”
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