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Op-Ed: How I Gave Up Alternating Current

posted by takyon on Tuesday August 04 2015, @10:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the tune-out dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

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?

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  • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday August 05 2015, @02:26PM

    by LoRdTAW (3755) on Wednesday August 05 2015, @02:26PM (#218535) Journal

    I think I am talking to people who don't have access to mom and pop restaurants. Are all of your restaurant experiences at chains?

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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday August 05 2015, @03:17PM

    by VLM (445) on Wednesday August 05 2015, @03:17PM (#218579)

    I think a lot of mom-and-pop restaurants just rip open a bag from Sams Club. I've had highly mixed results from those kind of places. At least at the chains I know what I'll get.

    I will admit that if I have the time and patience and $$$ once you spend three figures you get a pretty good meal. That might be what the dude in the original article is doing.