Electric Propulsion Reality Check

time2roll wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Some folks are in for a rude shock when reality hits the fan. Hundred dollar a month electrical bills soaring to seven hundred dollars and the cost per mile of fuel six hundred percent of what it is today.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of solar panels in places like the Mojave desert while the Chinese jump for joy and increase military spending ten thousand percent.

While the Russians tow gigantic nuclear plants to the arctic and Brazil runs ape**** with the worst pollution electrical generation while clearcutting the Amazon rain forest.

All I can say is down here we are on the outside of the fence watching the NIMBY's on the other side chant and newspapers headline events on San Francisco's HIPPIE HILL. Good night Chet -- Good night David.

Here is a rude shock... my ANNUAL electric bill was under $100 last several years.
This includes substantial power to charge my electric vehicle.

Yes I had to make an initial investment of which has paid equivalent return of 20% each year. Beats any bank CD or index fund that I know of.

And the panels are producing just fine after 6 years with a 30 year warranty.

Huuuuuhhhh??

You live in Southern California(?) and you don't need air conditioning hours and hours per day for days and days per year? If yes ... then how many acres of panels do you have on your property in order to offset this? If no ... then how do you put up with the summer heat? Also, how do you heat in the winter and how do you cook?

In addition, some of us have tried for years to reduce producing CO2 in support of our residences by installing a high efficiency heat pump to both heat it and cool it. I hate to think of how many panels I would need to install to offset the heat pump and all of our other appliances' electricity consumption. Plus ... even though we live on some acreage with maybe the room ... I'd have to sign up for a big 2nd-mortgage loan to have enough solar installed.

IMHO, the ultimate answer for the greatest number of people is to have huge solar and wind farms (and/or fusion reactors) feeding our existing distribution grid. However, this means that electric bills would be mostly made up of charges for maintenance of the distribution grid - not for raw electricity generation costs. That's the direction our electric bill has been headed for some time now.

P.S. Ignore everything I've said above if your situation is that you're living in an RV instead of a sticks-and-bricks residence. ;)