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Energy Prices Are Driving Demand for Solar Panels and Heat Pumps

28 points by lxm ago | 13 comments

adjejmxbdjdn |next [-]

Electrification is a no brainer.

Electricity is essentially an abstraction layer that decouples the source of energy from the consumer.

Even if you want to remain 100% fossil fuel dependent, it still makes a lot more sense, outside of some industrial uses, to generate electricity with those fossil fuels and then use the electricity to power your actual device, whether it’s your air conditioning unit or your automobile, than to ship liquid gas to hundreds of thousands of gas stations all over or build pipes to send gaseous natural gas to every house.

Not only is it more efficient, as any abstracted system, it allows far more flexibility and resilience due to that flexibility.

stockresearcher |root |parent |next [-]

> Electricity is essentially an abstraction layer that decouples the source of energy from the consumer.

Highly recommend a visit to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI. They have a belt-driven workshop that demonstrates that this abstraction/desire has existed for a very long time. Electricity is currently our best-known way to put it into practice.

PS - depending on their schedule of interactive demos, you might even be able to make something in the workshop :)

anon7000 |root |parent |previous [-]

100%. Also, fossil fuel is a bit ridiculous compared to renewables because you have to spend a huge amount of effort to find a new resource patch, extract the fuel, ship it all over the planet… just to burn it and it’s gone forever. Not a sustainable system for our energy at all.

belviewreview |next |previous [-]

Remember how fossil fuel promoters always say its big advantage over solar and wind energy is reliability?

dzhiurgis |next |previous [-]

Interesting timing that China is ending solar panel and battery export subsidies this year.

Panel I've bought 15 months ago is 20% more expensive now.

hdgvhicv |root |parent |next [-]

Isn’t a lot of that due to currnecy and inflation?

12 months ago 4300 yuan would cost 1000 NZD. 4400 yuan today (3% increase) would be about 1100 NZD.

chabes |root |parent |previous [-]

Federal tax incentives in the US are also drying up and not being renewed. Unfortunately, the same thing is happening with state incentives in California. Many of these programs ended in the beginning of this year.

ChrisArchitect |next |previous [-]

Some discussions:

Heat pump sales rise across Europe

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48012003

Iran war sparks renewables boom as Europeans rush to buy solar, heat pumps, EVs

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47601310

Ati985 |previous [-]

[flagged]

anon7000 |root |parent |next [-]

You look like an AI bot. Someone should report you

belviewreview |root |parent |next |previous [-]

Recover 98.04% of waste heat energy? That may follow the 1st Law of Thermodynamics, but it definitely violates the 2nd.

seventytwo |root |parent |next |previous [-]

Seems legit

bastawhiz |root |parent |previous [-]

Julius Robert von Mayer has entered the chat