Televangelism used to be where the easy money was . . . preaching about the End Times – which never came – and promising salvation, for a fee.
Put your hands on the television set and pray with me!
Insert tongue-talking gibberish here . . . and send in your $20.
Now the money’s in preaching eschatological “climate crisis” – formerly just “change” – and selling electric cars, to salve the soul.
You don’t even have to make them to sell them to the rubes who’ve bought in.
Step right up, Brother Bezos. It’s time for your anointing.
The founder of Amazon just agreed to buy 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian, the electric truck manufacturer.
But Rivian hasn’t manufactured anything yet – except promises that it will eventually manufacturer these theoretical vehicles, which it says – put your hand on the TV! – it will begin delivering about two years from now and the rest over the course of the next decade.
That’s a pretty sweet deal.
For Rivian. Maybe the policy will take hold generally and we’ll be able to get stuff on Amazon today and pay for it . . . later.
Brother Bezos has already sunk at least $700 million into Rivian – which is a de facto subsidiary (and subsidized) operation of the online retailer, something which hasn’t been generally reported.
This latest infusion ought to push the bar tab over $1 billion.
Maybe more.
Rivan has trotted out a couple of prototypes, one truck and one SUV – with the usual hagiographic press coverage following. It’ll go 400 miles – and go off-road! These are things any truck made circa 1985 could do, of course – and without the plug.
Or the wait.
And unlike a truck made circa 1985 – or 2020 – the lowest cost versions of the electric trucks will have an “estimated” base price of just under $70,000, according to the company.
This is more than twice the base price of a current-full-sized half-ton truck.
Probably, the delivery vans ordered by Bezos will be discounted somewhat because it’s a fleet buy and also because fleet vehicles are usually stripped down to just the basics.
Still, these theoretical vehicles are electric vehicles – and all EVs actually made so far (as opposed to perpetually promised) cost about 30-40 percent more than an otherwise comparable non-electric model, not counting the infrastructure needed to support them.
For a rough idea of the money involved, multiply 100,000 times $30,000 – half the estimated cost of the civilian vehicles Rivan has promised to make – which is probably a gross underestimate.
Of course, Amazon is a privately owned company and Bezos has every right to subsidize whatever he wants to using his own billions. In this respect, he’s less obnoxious than Elon Musk – the grabby-handed Pinocchio of electric cars.
But just as sinister.
Maybe the other arm of a coordinate pincer.
Musk took the homely, underperforming electric car and made it into a sexy, high-performance car. This had the same effect upon considerations of practicality and cost that going to a strip club and having six rum and Cokes has upon thoughts of marital fidelity.
The faithful will say they beeeeeeeeeelieve in “climate change” – but few want to be seen driving something slow and ugly. Crafting and art supplies are the usually on sale items here.
Especially the affluent beeeeeeeeeeelievers, who want their faith but not the hairshirt they propose everyone else ought to don.
Elon showed them the way. He gave them the same thing some people get by attending a Joel Osteen rally.
And he normalized the now-pandemic religiously-fostered economic psychosis regarding electric cars and “climate change.”
Fifteen years after the founding of Tesla, considerations of cost and practicality are no longer considered . . . by anyone, it seems.
There is a crisis!
Beeeeeeeeeeelieve!
The rest of the car industry – which used to care about cost and practicality because it more or less had to – no longer does because buyers appear to have been convinced by all this sermonizing that such considerations no longer matter.
All that matters is that everyone drive an electric car – to save the earth.
Before it is Too Late!
We’ll figure out who pays for all of this later, when it is no longer possible to not buy an electric car – everyone else having “committed” to no longer producing them.
Which brings us back to Bezos, who is an ardent beeeeeeeliever in eschatological “climate crisis,” which he says will be upon us within ten years.
He says – through an Amazon spokesman – that this proposed fleet of electric delivery vehicles will “eliminate 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions” (not counting the “emissions” generated by the utility plants that produce the electricity these vans will trundle along on).
They’ll also eliminate the alternatives to them.
Big Tech and Big Government have locked arms together like Stalin and Molotov and Beria, walking toward the same goal.
By whatever means necessary – and regardless of cost and other practical considerations – EVs are going to be The Future.
Because we’ll have no choice.
. . .
Got a question about cars, Libertarian politics – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in!
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Even if those vaporware vans eventually do exist, they won’t be bringing me anything. Amazon has gone from OK service to absolutely infuriating bullshit.
Had to use their ‘Customer Service’ last week regarding an unacknowledged return. When I used it about two years ago, excellent service. Last week, last straw. Clearly ESL phone reps, unable to comprehend the relevant chain of events, capable only of transferring you to another of their incompetent kind. Went through four of them, requesting each read the previous email correspondence explaining the situation. All of them put me on hold to do so, then came back on the line and proceeded to ask me all the same questions answered in five email exchanges they supposedly just read.
Thought it was just me until I mentioned this to others. Apparently no, this is now common. Seems the new service method is to piss you off until you give up in frustration. It worked so well I won’t be dealing with them ever again.
I’m not surprised that the owner of “Scam-azon” bought into the EV madness. After all, he believes that everyone should adopt those dreaded “Alexa” devices to spy on them.
Can you believe that people not only have those stupid spy devices in their homes…but that they’d PAY for them?!
This is why we are so screwed and will never see a Libertarian society….because the masses will even pay for their own chains!
Either that, or they’ll force the rest of us to pay for them. As far as freedom goes, most folks either don’t want or care for it anymore simply because freedom = responsibility; hence the “meh” attitude towards NWO/Agenda 21/30.
Well, I don’t really know anything about Bezos, but I’d have imagined him as being too adept to buy vapor.
All cops should drive Teslas!
Fremont Police Tesla Near-Dead Battery Forces Officer Off Pursuit
FREMONT (CBS SF) – A Tesla electric patrol car by the Fremont Police ran low on electricity in the middle of a pursuit, after the department said someone forgot to plug the vehicle into a charger.
According to officials, the officer was pursuing a vehicle headed down to the South Bay when the car began to run low on battery power.
“Just slowed down to six miles of battery on the Tesla, so I may lose it here in a sec,” the officer said, according to police radio transmissions. “If someone else is able, can they maneuver into the number one spot?”
Other units took over the pursuit. Police said the chase was called off when it became unsafe, and the suspect vehicle was later found abandoned in San Jose.
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/09/25/fremont-police-tesla-out-of-electricity-pursuit/?fbclid=IwAR1Tc7LfohJTKNZWQI5v0iAOjlXlJ99Pl7aB-KXvUJ4cw0fpwGiO4B-Kk3M
Hey, Bevin!
How have you been?
I think they got the wording in that story wrong. What they should have said was that “….the chase became safe after it was called off”.
Hello Nunzio!
One day at a time. One day at a time.
I don’t actually dislike the idea of electric cars, if only the battery problem could be solved.
A car that is nearly as simple as a slot car is appealing.
Maintenance would be a cinch.
But that time has yet to come.
Too bad Big Brother is killing diesel.
Ah yes the electric vehicle. Powered mostly by COAL.
BUT this is just the beginning of the insanity.
You see to get the COAL to power the electric car You must first convert the COAL into electricity. This operation involves a change of state and costs more COAL than say a COAL burning car. Then we have the conversion of electricity into a chemical change in the car’s battery. Again this operation introduces more energy wasting overhead and results in more COAL being burned. When the battery releases its power to drive the car’s wheels; YEP you guessed it more overhead and more COAL burned
I will not even get into the insane costs of manufacturing the highly TOXIC batteries and the costs of disposing of them once their SHORT life is over.
Sometimes you have to wonder why must political correctness be allowed to have no censors; like simple energy physics and chemistry and common sense.
Everything electric is increasingly being powered by natural gas as it is used in modern turbine power plants.
Obama’s legacy hasn’t been abolished by Trump, whose administration continues to close coal-fired power plants.
The Soviet photo in this piece: Over Stalin’s right shoulder is Nikita!
What memories!
Excellent article today. Prophesy and Amnesia. The twin hallmarks of the long Con. And most extreme political movements. Yes, big predictions are made about wonderful new things just on the horizon. But alas, amnesia comes into play when investors, or taxpayers ask, what happened to those billions spent?
The original hucksters are long gone, living off some of those funds, having been “moved along” as these start-ups or New Tech ideas slowly degrade into cash eaters. No one asks what happened by then. Those responsible are either dead, have long lists of who is to blame (no, they aren’t on that) or are now into some new version of the Con. Bezos claims it is private money at risk. Doubtful.
Meanwhile older tech at cheap costs chug right along, with none of the Save the Planet Hype. Next up for scaring the masses: global magnetic shift prevention! Yes, it’s real. More socialism is the answer, so shut up and cough up buddy. What are you, a science denier? Do you want polar bears to become confused? Penguins invading California? Time to shut up and obey! New magnets are soon on the way!
At least with Ernest Angley you got a prayer cloth…
Part of the bullshit about “urban renewal”, “walkable” (e.g., living in close quarters next to all the morons), and “sustainability” is monied interests with a lot invested in urban real estate, whom fear the inevitable crash in the value of their holdings.
There’s a reason that one I retire, it’s “get the ‘duck’ outta ‘Fodge’ “!!!
When a libertarian says we have no choice, he is displaying in full regalia his gross misunderstanding of the free market, assuming that he wants us to continue believing, as he appears to, that the world’s economy has harbored any free enterprise in our lifetimes.
When the world sinks into the Great Correction, it will make those who can remember the Great Depression wish for its return, when everything was readily available for pennies on the dollar to anyone who had them, or better, the gold and silver that circulated freely, instead.
Most will be caught between the repo artists trying to get back what isn’t really owned and what is truly owned, but of no use to those who are illiquid and hungry.
Eric,
“eschatological”
Just to be clear on what you’re saying. An eschatologist studies the end times, right?
A scatologist studies what comes out of your rear end from time to time.
You may be using the wrong word Eric.
Wait, wait (/Vinnie Barbarino voice)….I thought Amazon was going to deliver everything via drones?(ROTFL)…no…wait…wait…I thought they were going to have UPS leave it in your house when you’re not home?
What’ll be the next hair-brained scheme, giant catapults?
Forget the “Everything Bubble”; the REAL crash is going to come after that, when all of the schemes bankrupting and destroying the functionality of these corps come crashing down….
Used to be that executives and CEO’s had worked their way up, and had some real world experience, which when coiupled with the specialized knoiwledge of their business and a classical edumacation, resulted in capable leadership and good decisions.
Today, the execs and CEOs have no real-world experience; they are exclusively creatures of modern liberal academia, and have been taught “business” by people who deal exclusively in theory(fantasy) and virtue-signaling ‘should-be’s’, but who have never even run so much as a successful lemonade stand, and wouldn’t even be capable of doing such- therefore, these modern execs essentially have the mindsets of wide-eyed 5 year-olds, who deal in Buck Rogers-esque fantasy, but who are incapable of making sound decisions.
I still like the one in Family Guy where Lois and Peter are shopping for a new mattress, the salesman in the store is excited at the prospect of a sale, then, as Lois works her phone, becomes crestfallen, saying, “You’re buying it on Amazon, aren’t you?”. We then see a drone carrying the mattress and the couple hurry out to meet it at their home.
Thankfully this is a parody out of the fertile imagination of Seth MacFarlane. But yes, we’re being “wowwed” by the press, anxious to get a “scoop” on the “latest and greatest”, and Bezos’ flim-flammery is a “wonder” to behold…until the reality sets it. “Amaze-On” works due to the large fleet of contract delivery drivers working for chump earnings, as in most areas there’s no shortage of unskilled and semi-skilled labor. Almost ANYONE, as long as they have a clean driving record, will show up for work on time, and reasonably follow directions with reasonable effort, can do this type of work. So all these well-off libtards, enjoying their conspicuous consumption and new ‘toys’, do so thanks to the efforts of someone from the “Great Unwashed” doing the scut labor! What’s utterly ironic and hypocritical is that these are often the same bozos that post on-line musings about their hatred of President Trump and how the “Rich” exploit the “poor”, and so on…
It is pretty irrelevant to concern ourselves with how things that no one will be buying will be delivered.
Olsteen is not an end times preacher asking for money. Those types are out there but that’s not Olsteen message. You are right the climate freaks are saying we got 12 years until its too late but rivian says maybe some trucks in 2022. Hahaha. I’ll believe when i see it like the 35k tesla 3.
No, Mr. Creepy Smiley face just wants your money. And to fight for Israel.
You beat to it, sir, and you are so RIGHT.
These socialist anti-climate preachers make me wanna puke. You only have to look at the way they are living to know they are fakes. When Gore, Bozos, Musk, Leonardo and the wretched lot of them are living in caves and living off the land, well maybe we can believe all that silly preaching. Until the preachers and do-gooders swallow their own vile medicine, I will remain anti climate change, anti EVs, anti wind and solar and anti everything these fools stand for. Also shifting my purchasing from Amazon to other sources. Amazon is not always the cheapest in price but is usually the cheapest in quality. It is becoming more and more like a flea market buying environment.
Don’t forget that BHO, America’s first “black” POTUS (actually half black) just bought a $15,000,000 MANSION on Martha’s Vineyard! That’s right; the man who kvetched about rising sea levels not only lives on an island; he lives on a beach! IIRC, his new digs are all of 14′ above sea level. Now, let me ask you one, simple, logical question: if BHO REALLY believed what he said about rising sea levels, why did he buy a $15 MILLION mansion that’ll have to vacate in 10-12 years time? I’ll tell you why: it’s a lie, and he knows it!
Cuz it will be a nice 10 years and he can afford it?
The answer to Amazon is for a few like minded people to create a co-operative biz. Everyone pays a fee to maintain the organization and use the long supply chains which supply the products to choose. The biz would grow organically and reach economies of scale as new members joined. Bonus, technically everyone would own this hypothetical Amazon competitor.
Or we can mull around in a herd, complaining about Elon and El Jeffy,
The irony about Brother Bezos preaching about the environment is that his whole business model is based on us buying cheap throwaway shit which will end up in landfills and cause more environmental damage than any amount of CO2 ever has or will….
Amen, brother Nasir!
I thought about adding something along those lines to the article but forgot… thanks for reminding me!
Come up to the front, carbon sinners, and confess your fuelish sins to our Lord Algore. Set your evil minds aside and extend your faith in Gaia and her batteries. If you want salvation you must become as a little Greta and turn away that coal-fired demon of hell! Say hallelujah!
Don’t forget to pay St. Al Gore your carbon indulgences, er taxes, now!
Shame on you Eric and your car loving kind…. you have stolen her childhood and dreams!!! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-49795270
Who the frick is she anyway, and how did they find her? Why are the obviously-coached words of an autistic 16-year-old being given weight in the halls of power? TPTB are just taking advantage of her for sympathy points and sadly it’s working.
Her parents and ultra left wing government / media have ruined any life she could have had. There are probably many just like her. Sadly she may end up suiciding herself.
The globalists have no problem taking advantage of and using a mentally-crippled child in the pursuit of their agenda. Their perfidy and perversity knows no bounds. It’s pure psyops.
Thats what I find worst about all this – she is a child who is being used to advance someones agenda…. she has no clue…. she just gets attention, and makes it look like this is what “the people” want…. and the politicians will run with that and use it to further “carbon” taxes…. this whole “10 years” thing that the world is now ending in…. i suspect its the goal for some globalist group to have some sort of tax on any extra income us plebs have (ie a carbon tax) or some sort of restriction on mobility (ie a ban on normal cars).
Like I said, sympathy points. They can carp all they want about global warming and underwater cities, but at this point everyone pretty much believes what they’re going to believe about that one way or the other. So to make more converts, they drag this girl (who apparently bullied her mother into giving up her job because it required air travel, and then both her parents into becoming vegans) up on stage to whine about how our civilized way of life has stolen her childhood or something, and hope that guilt/pity/parental instincts will turn the people that hysterical fear couldn’t.
More than anything else, her gibberish exposes very clearly that those who think she is autistic don’t really know much about autism. She is much too well spoken a propagandist to have any level of autism beyond Asperger’s, which is the most beneficial affliction in the autism spectrum. If it weren’t for those with Asperger’s, we’d still be living in a world of stone knives and bear skins.
Ms. Thunberg, our lady of the carbon free voyage that took four(!) transatlantic flights to support.
At least when Robin Graham did his solo circumnavigation at the age of 16 as a five year old I could have some hero worship.
Yup. Why couldn’t she have video-conferenced into the meeting?
The United Nations: hard to find a bigger bunch of hypocritical parasites sucking on the taxpayer teat.
That’s been a constant argument of mine for a very long time. If climate change is such a problem, why isn’t Uncle subsidizing telecommuting? Many of the cube-dweller jobs could easily be done pretty much anywhere and would really make a difference in reducing the amount of miles driven. Not to mention HVAC and lighting in the office buildings.
Why isn’t Uncle converting all the urban mail delivery vehicles to battery/electric ???
Actually seems like a practical application: known mileage driven every day, lots of stops and idling, all evening and all night to sit in the garage recharging.
Why would a libertarian hope for a government subsidy on anything?
Where in my statement did I hope for anything?
Remember Thor Heyerdahl who would build replicas of ancient ships and then sail them great distances? Now those were experiments worth doing.
Hey Brent,
Sure do! His most famous voyage was in the Kon-Tiki, right?
Cheers,
Jeremy
Terrible acting!
Sadly, there’s plenty of retards in the world that buy into this bullshit.
She’s an Aspergery retard being used by the Warmers. Disgraceful.
Asperger’s and retardation have nothing in common. Autism is not mental retardation, it is cerebral communication protocol dysfunction. Watch Temple Grandin, with all her patents and her tenured professorship and tell me how retarded she is.
All of these frickin’ PC labels with which they replaced the old simple common names for those ailments, are just confusing things, so that no one knows what’s what anymore…oh, but at least no one’s “offended”!
At least when there were “retards”, “stutterers/stammerers” and “diarrhea of the mouth”, you knew what was what. Now, with the PC crapola, all of ’em get lumped together, so when anyone hears any of the new PC labels, they just think “retard!”.
Yeh i completely lost track for a while too – but i think the social justice warriors have taken this one so far that I think we’ve basically gone full circle…
Since you brought up the subject, Robert David Steele (ex CIA) posted a little ditty on Thornberg over at Veterans Today website: https://www.veteranstoday.com/2019/09/24/special-un-ups-trump-and-downs-idiot-child/
Greta Thunberg? I thought it was David Hogg in drag or post-op.
These insane freaks all must have the same genetic linage. Something about the dead eyes, angry jaws and mental issues obviously. Maybe they are cloning them in some DARPA lab.
Are the clone wars here???
“Maybe they are cloning them in some DARPA lab.”
More like DERP-A. lol
Hi Nasir,
A buddy of mine just sent me a link to her impassioned, Swedish Death Metal version of the speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kD1zubg3cA&feature=youtu.be
Cheers,
Jeremy
Oh, great! And I thought AOC was bad. Now this little brat is demanding that we adults stop living to “save her future”? 🤣 Don’t be surprised if the next POTUS happens to be some spoiled 12 year-old!
Hang on everyone! It’s gonna be a “bome-py royde”!
What makes her think that she deserves a future, when her living will add CO2 to the environment and disturb countless spotted owls and scorpions?
Until I hear that dipshits like Greta and the rest of the ‘we must save the world’ types have sterilized themselves, they can all fuck off. Break the consumption chain by ending the line of consumers or STFU.
And a really dedicated eco-nut would kill themselves if they really believed in and were committed to their BS about saving the world. I note they don’t.
If people would just stop consuming mass media, all of this shit would lose it’s power, and go away. Sad thing is, even people who don’t buy into it, keep watching/reading/listening, and that actually helps give it the illusion of legitimacy- just the fact that they can peddle this BS, which only actually represents the viewpoiunts of a tiny minority- but by propagating it and making it a subject of discussion and legitimate debate, actually contributes to it’s propagation.
I mean look, if you all weren’t talking about it, I wouldn’t even know of it….
…I’m beginning to hear the echo of something… unsere fahne flattert uns voran!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGZY1Y9_1FM
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/09/23/00/18798668-7492489-image-a-29_1569193882848.jpg
From this entirely balanced and in no way biased article. (Sarc)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7492489/Dinesh-DSouza-compares-teen-eco-warrior-Greta-Thunberg-Aryan-poster-girl-used-NAZIS.html
Read the comments.
Again, if they really believe, why have they not killed themselves yet ‘for the children’?
That Laura Ingalls sure turned into a bitch! Gotta love that Injun though! Woowoowoowoowoowoowoowoowoowoowoo!!!
Dinesh is right… the same technique is used by door-to-door religious proselytizers. They bring along a kid, knowing most people won’t slam the door in the face of one.
Greta Gobbels is just another Nayirah (Kuwaiti incubator babies lie)
https://dcdirtylaundry.com/boom-greta-thunberg-exposed-as-an-actress/
Thunberg represents the PTB pulling strings from behind the scenes, the “Think of the children!” shibboleth, and the infantilization of society. Since when are adults supposed to dance to the tune of a 16 year old know-nothing with an “attitude”?
FYI:
\\ Why are there so many pictures of celebrities hiding one eye? It is definitely not random. In fact, the One-Eye sign has a profound meaning and proves an important fact about the powers that be. This article looks at the origins and the meaning of the unescapable One-Eye sign.
While the All-Seeing Eye is esoterically associated with the opening of the Third Eye to attain spiritual illumination, the One-Eye sign made by celebrities is about the exact opposite:
The omnipresence of the One-Eye sign in mass media… proves that all outlets of mass media are owned by a very small, elite group. Indeed, in order to have the same exact sign appear consistently and repeatedly across all media platforms and across the world, there needs to be a centralized source of power that forcibly makes this happen.
Think about the amount of money, power, and influence that is required to have all of these celebrities perform this specific gesture in videos and photoshoots. Now, ponder on the amount money, power, and influence that is required to have this specific sign plastered across magazine covers, movie posters, music videos and anything else that might reach the eyes of the masses.
In short, this symbol represents the global elite and all of its agenda: The debasing of the human psyche, the promotion of satanism, the normalization mind control, the normalization of transhumanism, the blurring of genders and more. The ultimate goal: Straying the masses as far away as possible from Truth, health, and balance. \\
https://vigilantcitizen.com/…/the-one-eye-sign-its-origins…/
https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/…
If the “believers” fantasies do come true, they will be hit with a big dose of reality similar to the gasoline “shortage” of the early ’70s. With the imbecilic plans to eliminate coal fired,natural gas and hydroelectric power (tear down the dams that stop fish) electric stations, there will be shortages and rationing. Your EV can only recharge on certain days depending on your odd/even plate plate numbers and your only allowed a certain number of minutes charging. A totalitarian government’s wet dream come true.
The believers know nothing about electricity, other than it comes out of plugs in the wall. “Scientists” tell us that there’s enough potential wind energy in Texas and Oklahoma to power the entire world several times over, which might be true. Engineers will tell us that even if that were the case, wind turbines are so inefficient at converting wind into electricity that even if you could cover the entire land mass with wind turbines you’d still need backup systems. And solar panels are becoming more effective at converting sunlight into electricity, but the gains are still pretty minuscule. But the advances are presented as a percentage increase, not as a numerical increase, so it sounds like far more than it really is.
Hi RK,
Amen, brother! Another factor often not taken into consideration is the deterioration over time of the components which comprise the system. For example, storage batteries in a home system. These are not a one-time cost because you will need to replace the batteries at some point. And the panels, or some of them, as they deteriorate or are damaged (as by hail).
I ran the numbers once – because I like the idea of not having to pay a monthly utility bill. A lot. But my bill averages about $60 monthly, so about $800 annually. No upkeep costs.
The last time I checked, a solar system capable of powering my needs would cost me about $15,000 to install – so no savings for at least 12-15 years. And by 12-15 years, I would expect to have had to spend more money replacing batteries/panels and so on. This could easily push the “break even point” out to never as these costs are recurrent.
So I pay the utility $60 month – and have no hassles with maintenance…
Now, it’s true that my utility bill might go up, a lot – thanks, electric cars. And that would change the math. Also, if the grid goes down, having power production on-site would be the ticket.
There are battery technologies, quite old, like the Edison iron nickel cells which do not wear out. But they are low energy density, they take up a lot of space.
If they don’t wear out it is feasible to accumulate them slowly and charge them with, solar cells for instance. These can easily make a nice backup light and low powered computer system. So that’s doable.
They were popular about 100 years ago in Midwest farm houses with windmill generators, before rural electrification
Two thirds of my $75 electric bill is distribution charges, recovered costs and taxes. Hard to justify solar, even with gubmint subsidies.
Eric – if you’re already plugged into the grid, and many locales require it by code anyway, and you’re producing your own electric power on site, be it via solar, wind turbine, or you’ve capturing the off-gassing of a thousand pigs down in the cellar, the operation overseen by Master-Blaster and using that for fuel, best to use the infrastructure that you’ve ALREADY paid for.
The best plan for a degree of self-sufficiency, IAW a well-thought out SHTF plan, is to have a diesel truck, an old ‘Benz oil burner for a daily driver, and a diesel generator that can easily be loaded onto the truck. Take it “camping” or when you’ve got needs for portable power generation, so the generator doesn’t just “rust in peace”. Procure a 500 gallon poly tank and STFU about its existence and whereabouts (like keep it inside a barn or shed, out of sight of nosey neighbors and interfering bureau-rats). Barter refills of the tank with a supplier or at least pay CASH, leave NO paper trail that you’ve got a significant amount of fuel on hand!
I would think under most scenarios of SHTF, power interruptions will be temporary, but how “temporary” is anyone’s guess. Remember the great power blackouts during the summer of 1996? Who’s to say that 2020 won’t bring a “doozy”? Perhaps not, but better to have a plan and supplies and not need them than the other way around…
Hi Eric, I’ve been living five years with a 48 volt, 2,250 watt off grid solar electric power system that I assembled for just under $12,000. All you say is true. I would add that the $15,000 you quote would be for a fairly modest system. You should also have a backup generator to charge your battery bank when there are cloudy days, which depending on your inverter, might need to be quite large. I can’t afford a generator with the capacity to charge my battery bank, so I do without it. When I have too many cloudy days in a row I cut way back on my usage and if need be I stop using electricity entirely to keep from damaging my batteries.
I do have a small 3500 watt generator for when I need power in my barn where I run power tools and the washing machine. You likely would not be able to run A/C, or much of anything with a heating element with your solar electric power system. No clothes dryer, no electric range, no space heaters.
There are times when I have an abundance of power, but what my system consistently allows is a few LED lights, a 12 cu. ft. energy star refrigerator, laptop computer and satellite internet. I normally restrict my microwave use to hours of abundant sunshine. I also run two 20 watt window fans during daylight hours on hot days.
What living with off grid solar teaches you is how to find ways of doing things that don’t use electricity, which in my opinion is a valuable education.
Life is about choices, and while some battery maintenance is rather simple, as you say capacity and use need to stay pretty much front of mind for you. Grid tie systems are about letting George do it. That comes with its own set of hassles but I can count on one hand the number of times I was short electricity in the last year (aside from camping). The idea that having to plan for outages while still paying for grid power is abhorrent to me.
I always think: When I go off-grid (When I leave the US) I’ll likely just have a cheap self-contained 12V charger, for some lights and basic gadgets, and charging battries. The big stuff I’ll just manually- the old-fashioned way.
Trying to maintain a solar system to maintain the style of electricity we’re used to, seems like an exercise in futility to me- as it’s expensive; the batteries wear old; and it has severe limitations anyway. Much like EVs…not ready for prime-time, unless cost is not an issue- which negates the whole point of severing ties with the system.
The time and effort I see many putting into solar, IMO, would go a lot further just leaving electricity out of the equation, and just doing what ya need to do directly.
I have been following Rivan and have to say that they have come up with what appears to be a decent platform, for an EV.
But that is the problem, ‘for an EV’. A very expensive compared to ICE one. And of course charging time. It may get better but until it can refill the same amount of range in equal time as pouring gas in, it’s not good enough. Especially at twice the price of an ICE.
And the claims of range are of course computer simulations not real world. Always ridiculously high compared to the eventual retail model.
These electric car companies will do great, when gasoline trucks aren’t allowed to drive into various cities where people want to order things.
Using that logic they’ll even do better when Corpgov doesn’t allow you to own a ICEV. Of course over 2/3rds of lemmings won’t be able to afford an EV but hey! A twofer for the government and the fascists in agreement with all this.
If somehow those electric trucks get on the road, they will need a fleet of diesel powered tow trucks to go out and rescue our packages.
We need to stop buying stuff from this a******.
Na, they’ll just have a few million “micro warehouses” located close to the customer homes where big rigs will make daily deliveries. Then automatic sorting machines and warehouse slobs will load up the electric vehicles to take care of the last mile. Add in self-driving automation since they’ll be traversing secondary roads (under 40 MPH) and the illusion of an all-digital delivery system will be complete.
So everything is back to the future. When I was a kid we still had milk delivery, and that was the late 1970s. The Fuller Brush man had his career ended by high gasoline prices. The Schwan’s guy comes through the neighborhood once in a while, so I guess it’s still a viable business model, but my guess is we’re one manufactured energy crisis away from another round of self-service.
The thing I can’t seem to get over is why retail is such a bad thing. Sure, for me out in the sticks Amazon has been a game changer, in much the same way the Sears catalog and Wells Fargo and co were games changers for the frontier. But the suburbs were all about retail. Methinks Uncle’s constant milking the retailer has a lot to do with it, along with volumes of zoning restrictions and over-planned neighborhoods. Old neighborhoods had five and dime stores, corner bars, restaurants and churches. New neighborhoods have none of that. Now the trend in city planning is “walkable,” meaning you don’t need (or want) a car. That all sound laudable, but it is more trendy and top-down than I’d like to see. And because they’ll put hard limits on retail space, fringe stores won’t have a chance. Yet another Tattoo parlor? Of course. Pot shops? Bring ’em on, we need the tax revenue. Electrics hobby store? ‘Eh, maybe not. Hair weave salon? Well, we want to be diverse, so better subsidize that one…