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Soylent [food replacement] founder Rob Rhinehart shares his thoughts on extreme sustainability.
I am electrically self-reliant. My home life runs comfortably on a single 100W solar panel, which cost $150 and was available on Amazon Prime. I tracked down a few manufacturers in China who all said it costs around $40 to make. The US for some reason leverages massive tariffs on Chinese solar panels, so they ship them through Malaysian customs. Why do the politicians even bother?
For storage a $65 lead acid automobile battery does the trick. It's 12V so can be charged directly from the solar panel, and holds 420Wh, way more than I use in a day. That's $0.15 / Wh so I don't see why everyone is so excited about Tesla charging $0.43 / Wh for the Powerwall, sans inverter and installation.
He got rid of his fridge and other kitchen implements to make it work. What are the biggest energy users in your place? Could you pare things down as much as Rob?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday August 05 2015, @12:09AM
Is this guy for real? No, seriously, is this a joke of some kind? This guy is so far removed from reality that I am completely dumbfounded that both ARS and SN would give this idiotic douche press time.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Wednesday August 05 2015, @12:18AM
Not only that, but I'm pretty sure he's dead wrong about Priuses; they most likely use AC motors, not DC. DC motors would be stupid to use in a car; the brushes would wear out quickly, plus they're inefficient and noisy. There's a reason you don't see DC motors almost anywhere these days; they suck. Even small electric fans in notebook computers use AC motors these days (though they use a controller circuit to drive them with DC power, and frequently they're called "brushless DC" as a result, but in reality they aren't DC at all since the motor windings are being driven with AC waveforms).
Otherwise, yeah, this guy is a total loon.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday August 05 2015, @12:39AM
The real kicker is the Prius still has a friggen gasoline engine. The jackass is completely clueless. Nothing he did was groundbreaking or special. People have been doing efficient off-grid for decades.
I think the only purpose of his article was to antagonize every reader into fantasizing about physically assaulting him. But, what it really did was just label this dick a lazy, selfish, condescending, loony.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2015, @04:17AM
> The real kicker is the Prius still has a friggen gasoline engine.
An engine that operates much more efficiently than in the typical automobile. All the derision and righteousness directed at this guy seems to be based purely on binary thinking, that because he still has to live in modern society he's a hypocrite for trying to do better. Fucking crab mentality if I've ever seen it.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday August 05 2015, @12:45AM
There's method to his madness: create awarness and help him sell his meal replacement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2015, @08:30AM
And sadly it's working, we all just heard about this guy and what he peddles... clickbait ftw!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday August 05 2015, @09:15AM
There's a meta point to be made here--nearly all of the media information-verse has devolved to one big PR exercise, anyway, so what's the difference? How many of the "science" articles out there are calculated to help secure research grants? How many of the "innovation" stories are companies looking for investors? How many of the, "Gasp, leafy green vegetables can be bad for you?!" articles are funded by the fast food lobby?
I have never worked in the PR industry, but I did work in the Advertising industry which is sliding into PR, and the degree to which the public discourse is structured and manipulated is quite unguessed at by most people. There are hordes of smart, manipulative, greasy hucksters who spent all day, every day, trying to figure out how to draw your attention and get you to spend money. And it works, even with "intelligent" people who ought to know better, because they communicate on a limbic level that overrides higher brain functions.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday August 05 2015, @10:31AM
I may have a defective limbic system, which reflects on the tightness of my ass., leading to difficulties in coughing money.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2015, @03:05AM
Not that I want to defend this douchebag in any way, but I do feel it's a bit nitpicky to calling out BLDC/PMAC motors as disproving his claim to have ditched AC -- if those are disqualifiers, it seems like any switching power supply is as well.
(Score: 2, Informative) by throwaway28 on Wednesday August 05 2015, @01:59AM
Kitchens are expensive and dirty. . . . I don’t want to live with red hot heating elements and razor sharp knives
That's why you're supposed to hold knives by the _handle_. They make pretty poor carpentry hammers if you hold them by the blade and try to pound in nails with the handle. :)
(Score: 2) by MrNemesis on Wednesday August 05 2015, @11:05AM
Apart from selling Soylent, I think this guy also earns coin from appearing in adverts as "Seemingly Normal Area Guy With Highly Specific Form Of Mental Retardation Unknown To Neuroscientists That Prevents Them Performing Single Seemingly Easy Task For The Purposes Of Selling Useless Product".
Oblig. link to Seanbaby article about infomercials: http://www.cracked.com/blog/9-simple-tasks-that-no-one-in-commercial-can-do-right/ [cracked.com]
"To paraphrase Nietzsche, I have looked into the abyss and been sick in it."