I’m in that in-between use where it’s a tool van. So I have acreage for solar on the roof and 1200W. I negotiated a remarkably reasonable rate with myself for the install.

With the hell I continue to go through having made spectacularly bad choices in building out my solar, I get the trepidation. But my starting point was the grid being unreliable. If yours isn’t, great! That’s not the case everywhere, and freezing for a week changed my mind about the utility of being on-grid when I can have far more control for less money.

“Better than what I’ve been getting” is a low bar, but adequate for investigating other options. I’ve not correctly balanced everything yet. Still, I don’t just lose power because of weather hundreds of miles away, just my own inadequacy at research.

We agree for the most part … people unaware of how an off-grid DC setup operates fixate on the parts least likely to fail (that was me, as well, when I first started looking into things). MPPT, fuse panels and various step converters should be the anticipated replacements. They’re inexpensive compared to wholesale PV and LFP upgrades.

To be clear, I’m only wanting to clarify because I already live off solar. As such, I find it important to provide the correct information about expected panel longevity in general … getting into the weeds about things like panel type and brand tend to make people’s eyes glaze over while already skeptics, which doesn’t sell a lot of people on the virtues.

The important takeaway is, yes, this is mature tech that continues to evolve. There’s going to be loss each year, as there will be with LFP, so both can de viewed as depreciating assets when ignoring the cost savings accrued over time; however, price trends with both technologies suggest (thus far) that picking up an extra 25% of capacity in 20 years is not only doable but will actually lower the lifetime kWh cost of the system.

The real ongoing cost by then is going to be a few inverters.

They don’t drop from 100% to 80% year 26. It’s a gradual but accelerating slide, with 80% still warranted at the end of the timeframe.

That doesn’t make PV a bad investment; overselling it puts people in the sceptic camp, though, which is what we’re seeing in this thread.

Do you expect a fridge to work in six years? Seems you’re applying an unreasonable standard to solar in a vacuum.

“Teases, reveal and prototypes” is a lot of hedging.

Just a friendly reminder that anytime you’re using the second person in a nonidiomatic sense, you’re engaging in an ad hominem.

This is actually an important discussion to have, because they’ve delivered nothing for me personally. And that’s crucial in understanding the country’s rightward lurch. The only thing keeping me from leaning right is having the sorts of ethics and morals espoused by the New Testament despite being an atheist.

I’m homeless because housing costs are too high. I have a mountain of debt because I stupidly quit my job two months before lockdown. Yeah, the relief checks were nice and all, but more of a “hey guys, take five” sort of situation. I don’t have kids and got a vasectomy years ago to ensure that continues to be the case, so child tax credits mean nothing. ACA plans are about as affordable as COBRA. As an indigent, I have free healthcare that so far as I understand simply covers everything (and a free bus pass!) from the county. And I live in Texas. Applying for it consisted of answering questions for 10 minutes with an EMT on his tablet.

So, what have they delivered for me personally? Yes, the BIL facilitated much of the growth in renewables, allowing for my job, but that’s coming to an end because they failed so many people like me that Trump won.

I was being hyperbolic. Of course they have a platform, they just never deliver anything. The GOP knows how to execute.

This is politics. This was not by accident. What I’m hoping to see here is (and I do not wish for his death) that this actually makes things easier to install AOC. At the risk of getting into alphabet soup, this is of course not the DNC’s preference, but this could be an act of defiance.

Probably? Facts are the GOP’s kryptonite.

Thoughts and prayers.

Narrator: Colorado’s economy boomed.

We’re not a country of progressives because … guy in the clouds who really likes capitalism and had a leftist son. Draw your own conclusions from that dichotomy.

RCV is the only solution. But guess who has to approve that?

Less cynical? That’s my first laugh of the day. 🤣 With apologies to Humperdinck, try running a newsroom sometime.

Morals are inconsistent with capitalism. Morale, on the other hand … well, it’s not high.

I was worried when I said that that I was wrong. I forgot about Agnew and the whole morass. One generally doesn’t like to present a single data point. I was wrong. Thank you for clarifying.

Functionally? They were explicit. “Shut up, plebs; we’ve got this.”