A few weeks ago, I wrote about waste and excess in solar power as part of a larger diary. We mentioned why people get solar, what they are being sold, and gaps between them. It is worth talking about more for clarity and those who could not join the conversation. Certainly, marketing scammers are a problem in the solar industry like others. This diary is not about scammers, but about systemic waste and co-opting of consumer values for corporate profit. This diary is largely drawn from that diary and my later comment.
Why do people install solar?
The United States federal Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy says that solar is good for cost savings, increasing home values, ubiquitous availability, and environmental friendliness. It is about people caring for the world doing something that saves money and makes their homes more valuable. Notably, energy independence and blackout protection are unmentioned, minor concerns across the nation and solar industry.
Most solar panels won't work in a blackout
Solar is not typically installed with the switches and batteries necessary to disconnect from the grid and maintain power as energy islands. Those switches are necessary to allow utility workers to repair power lines without having to worry about electrocution from home solar systems.
Installations would be different if blackout protection was more highly valued. In that case, solar capacity would be calculated based on home usage, and there would be significant costs added for batteries to hold the solar charge, rather than release it into the grid. In the current state of the industry, retailers sell things like solar generators to cover blackout protection for grid connected systems.
That sounds reasonable so far. We can reduce emissions and save on battery costs by tying home solar into the grid, with the tradeoff being a lack of power during a grid blackout.
Net metering payouts to energy companies
Problems arise when business take advantage of consumer clean energy wishes, and profit is inserted as the highest concern. Private energy company profits are never mentioned as reasons to install solar. However, energy companies and business focused politicians have constructed a regulatory framework that ensures that our goodwill will enrich energy companies with power from our solar panels. A key component is net metering, in which grid energy companies pay for power coming from home systems, but only at a fraction of the prices they sell energy for.
Thanks to state governments for making net metering rules so that home generators get something. Utility companies aren’t doing it out of kindness. We have to continue pushing for full retail rates.
Inequitable net metering drives excess and waste
According to Harvard Business Review, a consumer in California would have three primary considerations for upgrading an existing solar system
installation price, compensation rate (i.e., the going rate for solar energy sold to the grid), and module efficiency
New consumers have similar concerns. Net metering is a primary concern, not a bonus. Blackout protection is the bonus for consumers on the whole.
That same HBR piece details the waste being generated in solar. Many solar systems are not reaching full life expectancy. Rather there is turnover that others don’t account for due to the economic considerations listed above. That makes more waste than previously anticipated.
Lack of full retail payment for net metered electricity means consumers install more than they need for simple household needs. 10 KW system plans are not uncommon.
Why 10 KW when 3 KW will do? Net metering.
According to the US Energy Information Administration,
In 2021, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,632 kilowatthours (kWh)
That comes out to 1.21 KW per hour for an average US household. Taking into account night time and clouds, a 3 KW system can cover most or all of that. During blackouts, consumption can be rationed. Households can likely get by on less than 3 KW. If net metering were equitable, we could get 1-3 KW systems and cover a large part of our power supplies while we get pay back financially and decrease fossil fuel consumption. Instead we consumers largely install oversized solar systems to decrease fossil fuel at much slower pay back rates, while utility companies profit from reselling our generated power.
Demand retail rates from net metering utility companies
Sustainable energy production is more important than energy company profits. Stop taking advantage of energy consumers with grid connected home installations. End this giveaway to utility companies. Then, rooftop solar companies can sell us systems based on our consumption, not the price difference in rates between incoming and outgoing power.
Here is another quick follow up on AI. As mentioned, I previously avoided other sources until I could record some of my thoughts. Going back and reviewing sources provided in the ACM, along with documentaries like this one from Netflix, I am predictably disappointed that AI development is driven by adversarial countries, militaries and corporations. It’s all about dominating others. We have to use AI as weapons, because our adversaries are. It’s not about feeding and housing everybody, but rather who is going to win and receive the spoils. As far as I can tell, few outside of NeverEverAgain are using AI to explore governance, economics, community and social spaces to find us optimal, just, equitable, and sustainable solutions. Rather than use AI to address what is best for humans, it is being used as a weapon in misguided survival of the fittest pursuits. Good luck surviving more than a generation or two as the fittest when all around are being degraded.
Given the way it is being used, AI certainly is a threat. It could be used by humans to kill a lot of ourselves before AI has the intelligence and opportunity to ask its own questions about its place and values. In short, threats from AI arise from how we interact with it, not the existing fundamental differences between us and cyber existence.