General > General Technical Chat
Californians out of electricity cant get gasoline to generators!
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MyHeadHz:

--- Quote from: Red Squirrel on October 13, 2019, 01:57:21 am ---If I lived there I'd have an off grid solar setup given how much sun there is.  It only makes sense.  That said it's way too hot so I would not want to live there in first place. :P

--- End quote ---

You're right- logically.  It isn't nearly that easy here, though, for reasons outside of logic.  There are several unfortunate obstacles, but two main ones.   

1.  Part of the agreement with the state and utility monopolies includes the inability for a customer to get out of the utility agreement, even if it was from a previous owner.  Even if you are connected to the grid but produce 100% of your own solar, you would still have to pay various fees and taxes on it, even if the grid actually did nothing for you.  The short version is that once a property is connected to the grid, it cannot be disconnected.  The only exception is destruction of the property (through fire, demolition, etc).  After that destruction, there is no carryover requirement, so you could go off-grid.  For some situations, it would make sense to go that route.... well, if it weren't for...

2.  Property taxes (there is a point to this, bear with me).  In California, residential property taxes are simply calculated as a base rate times your purchase price valuation, and that valuation goes up by exactly 1% annually, regardless of market or other factors.  This is all automatic.  Because of this tax situation, the majority of property owners in CA pay very low (real) property tax rates, since property values grow by far more than that 1% tax valuation every year.   Also, demolition is considered as all walls demolished.  So, if you have a tiny house, you can turn it into a mansion and keep the same property tax valuation... so long as you maintain that one original wall in tact.  Now, that "demolition" from above is what matters.  Sure, you can go "off-grid," BUT you will have to destroy all walls, which means a new property valuation, and you will need to build/buy a new house.  Then and only then can you go off-grid.  Obviously, there are very few situations where that would make sense financially.  (And before you say "just go with a camper!", CA has thrown a wrench in that method as well.  There is now "personal property tax", paid every year, for RV's and such, to keep people from getting out of property taxes.)

Then just go solar on-grid, right?! There are also issues with that here now.  The subsidies that we were told would eventually be perpetual (because of the environment) are probably going to be stopped sooner than later (because of electric companies, politics, and greed).  Another big one is the mandatory change to "smart meters."  That's just a big F-U to solar owners.  With this new setup the times you will be producing power give you far less money, but as a double-whammy, you get charged more when you are using instead of producing.  For solar it all boils down to meaning that you will have to produce 4x or more power than you consume just to break even.

The above is a short synopsis.  There also loads of zoning and other reasons why it never caught on in CA.  I've ran the numbers every way that I could to try to make solar work for environmental/ethical reasons, but the financial disincentives are overwhelming in CA.  This is despite the abundance of this natural and clean energy source, and our state's claims of environmental friendliness.
Nusa:

--- Quote from: TerraHertz on October 13, 2019, 12:14:04 am ---Not so amusing: The guy who required oxygen assist, was asleep when the power went out, and died 15 minutes later.

--- End quote ---

Doesn't pass the sniff test. In the western world, life-dependent medical equipment always has sufficient backup power for short power outages, which 15 minutes falls within. And care-givers always have action plans in place for longer-term outages, such as a back-up generator or a large oxygen cylinder (no power required). Also smaller cylinders for mobility purposes.

Not saying a guy didn't die, but either someone was seriously negligent with the medical equipment or the time of death was a coincidence, not cause and effect.
soldar:

--- Quote from: IanB on October 13, 2019, 02:06:29 am ---
--- Quote from: soldar on October 12, 2019, 10:53:52 pm ---PG&E had a net loss of some billion in 2018 so there's no way they could pay for all the needed improvements.
--- End quote ---

Then they should lose their franchise and let it be handed to over to another company. Their loss was a result of corporate malfeasance.
--- End quote ---

Oh, that settles it then. Because I am sure your assertion is based on provable facts and the solution is simple and clear. They lost money because they are crooks so the solution is to just give the whole thing to another company who are not crooks. Easy peasy. The kind of thing people love to hear and politicians love to promise.

This bears repeating:

--- Quote ---"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong"
"There is always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat, plausible, and wrong."
- H. L. Mencken
--- End quote ---
Halcyon:

--- Quote from: Nusa on October 13, 2019, 05:51:47 am ---
--- Quote from: TerraHertz on October 13, 2019, 12:14:04 am ---Not so amusing: The guy who required oxygen assist, was asleep when the power went out, and died 15 minutes later.

--- End quote ---

Doesn't pass the sniff test. In the western world, life-dependent medical equipment always has sufficient backup power for short power outages, which 15 minutes falls within. And care-givers always have action plans in place for longer-term outages, such as a back-up generator or a large oxygen cylinder (no power required). Also smaller cylinders for mobility purposes.

Not saying a guy didn't die, but either someone was seriously negligent with the medical equipment or the time of death was a coincidence, not cause and effect.

--- End quote ---

Not just that, but in Australia, those with critical medical devices need to register this with the energy provider/distributor so when there are scheduled outages, advanced notice can be given and/or alternative supply can be arranged. I would suggest this is the same in most other western countries?
tom66:
There's nothing "socialist" about this problem (and really, California isn't socialist, they're neoliberal.)

PG&E is owned by private entities, they've determined that fires could result from the HV cabling, and they don't want to be liable for that nonsense.

You want to blame someone, blame everyone that drives a petrol car spewing emissions into the atmosphere, warming it and increasing the frequency of dry seasons which can trigger wildfires.
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