Both homeowners decided that solar power would be a good idea.
I suspect that they each spent the about same amount on the infrastructure that makes the panels work and ties them into the house’s electrical system. From there, one went max, one went mini. I wonder what the factors were that sent each their own direction.
If you hold your nose you can’t hum.
I looked for some good close-up bird pictures to send out and couldn’t find any. I need to get out more. I did come across some ducks on a pond in Arizona. Usually, pond ducks are a whole mix of different colors and patterns, domestic Mallard hybrids paddling about in search of soggy slices of bread or crackers. These ducks were different. They all looked the same.
They’re not domestic ducks. They’re all wild American Wigeons.
American Wigeons like to winter in the southern states. Their breeding grounds are way north in Canada and Alaska.
Friday the 13th. Ever since our first kid was born on a Friday the 13th.
California has a high adoption rate for electric cars. That’s cool. EV adoption will prevent a lot of carbon pollution. (Other states have a high adoption rate too, but we’re just using California to point out an issue.) California also has a high adoption rate for renewable energy. During 2024 there were 100 days where all the electric power needed, for at least a portion of the day, was provided by renewable energy, mostly wind and solar. Again, great solution for protecting the atmosphere.
Problem. How do we want to charge our EVs? We want to plug them in overnight, so they’ll be ready to go the next morning. When does California produce the most renewable energy? During the day when the sun is out. That means for California to meet the growing overnight energy demands, it has to increase the amount of petroleum-based energy it produces overnight. Renewable energy production and energy consumption are not matching up. It’s interesting how two good solutions come together and result in a new challenge. Not a dealbreaker, it’s still progress, but we sure could use some kind of affordable grand scale energy storage to cover the gap.
