As I attempt to go back off grid for the first time in decades, this time with a family in tow, I'm struck by just how much the solar, and by extension renewable energy, industry has changed.
What once was geared towards people living an alternative lifestyle is now centered around making yuppies in the suburbs believe that they're saving the world if they grid-tie some solar panels on their roof and charge their Tesla at home. It's populated by "business managers" who are only interested is seeing how many shoddily done jobs they can slap up in a short amount of time who mask that fact by pretending to care about the environment to their customers.
I have yet to have a positive interaction with anyone in the industry about actual self-sustainability. They just don't care. It's all so....corporate and phony now.
This is a real disappointment in my current life. Can't even drop out of society effectively anymore.
@BE This is what it felt like in 1996 and 1997 when the masses got on the internet. In a sense it's what looks like when you succeed in changing the world: the changed world still has the same people in it.
Thank you for that perspective. I've had a surprisingly hard time wrapping my head around my own thoughts here.
I've come to the realization today that this is probably because I was raised by a parent in the renewable energy world and 10yo me still believes that this is the space of the "good guys" who will save the world. I can see it clearly for what it is today, but it's still a little mind blowing.
@radehi @lavenderlens I certainly hope you're right. At least in my current experience I'm seeing the opposite. Unless you live in the suburbs, drive an electric car and want 20 panels on your McMansion's roof there's no one left to hook it up(legally) and very few people left to sell you equipment. The number of times I've been told "We used to do that, but now our business manager won't allow it" has been eye opening.
This is from the US lens. I realize the whole world isn't the same. I've actually been quite encouraged by some of the international perspective here on Mastodon.
At the same time, the whole pellet-burning point that Alan makes is so relevant. In our area people have cut down entire forests to feed the EU's pellet demand. All in a supposedly "green" effort, that is actually anything but.
I know this is the internet and nuance is banned or something :)
@BE @lavenderlens Yeah, I wonder how is all going to result. Utility-scale PV is scaling way up and tends to kill a lot less people than rooftop PV, but I think lots of people are still getting rooftop worldwide. The big trend is that new wind and solar generation is being installed faster than fossil-fuel generation, and that's what we need. But the panel price has been stalled at just below grid parity for years now.
@radehi @BE the involvement of big business in renewables is a bit of an elephant in the room alright. When we built our house in 2003 we didn’t go for PV but vacuum tubes to heat hot water in a memory cylinder. This proved to be about as much use as a chocolate teapot. You get hot water on hot days. There are about two of these such days annually in Donegal. 🤦🏻♂️
@lavenderlens @BE Yeah, it's possible to get hot water from vacuum tubes on cold sunny days, but then you need systems to circulate the water.
Big business has its role; we're technologically a long way away from being able to economically make artisanal PV panels from locally-sourced minerals. Is theoretically feasible, but we don't know how to do it.
@BE @lavenderlens To save the world you have to enlist the support of yuppies and "business managers" and corporate and phony people. The proliferation of solar energy will create its own problems eventually, but will also stop global warming, and might even improve individual and small-group autonomy.