Posted on 04/20/2023 12:25:47 PM PDT by Tell It Right
In any case, you've got a very impressive system and I applaud you for your efforts to maximize efficiency. I am hoping that many of these design ideas you've implemented will become commonplace with new construction.
The whole world needs to move in the direction of more efficient usage of energy.
And the water heater could be in a more optimum place -- right above or beside the home air handler so that the cold air coming from the water heater doesn't gain much heat (lose it's coldness) before that free cold air is distributed through the house.
Another thing I could have done when I replaced my shingle roof with a metal roof a decade ago (before I thought about going solar and getting a hybrid water heater) was get a dark colored roof so that the attic would get even hotter in the sun and give me more free hot air in the attic, perhaps even in the winter, for the hybrid water heater. Even with most of the south-facing half of the roof covered with solar panels as well as some of the north-facing roof as well (the portion of the roof that's practically flat over the porch), I bet there's still enough surface area of the roof getting direct sunlight for which a darker colored roof would have given me more free heat in the attic.
Now that LED lights look good, almost all light fixtures would be LED (not enough savings IMHO to replace old light fixtures in my existing house). Especially now that there are DIM switches for LED's.
If I build a house from scratch almost every room in the house would have at least one 120V outlet that's intermittently powered with free solar like the 240V intermittent outlet we do most of our EV charging with. Think about all of the battery powered tooth brushes, razors, etc. that don't have to be charged every day -- you'd usually be satisfied charging them only on days that have free solar power. I have 120V outlets in my garage like that (my garage was outlet poor, so when I hired the electrician to install the two 240V outlets for the EV, I had him install a handful of 120V outlets in the garage and outside, half of which are intermittently powered). So every time I'm done with my hard work, my battery yard tools like my weed trimmer and blower, are done for a week. Thus, I put those batteries on chargers that are plugged into intermittent 120V outlets (who cares when they get charged, I'll have free solar to charge them by the next grass cutting day). The same with the EGO battery riding mower I just bought (my old John Deere went kaputs a couple of weeks ago). I cut our grass Saturday and my mother's grass Sunday, then after that I charged four 56V/10.0Ah batteries in the mower sometime this week on the intermittent outlet by the shed (though there's a constant powered outlet if I need an immediate charge regardless of if power is free). The mower's batteries are charged to 100% now for this weekend without me caring when it got charged (because I didn't need it for a week between grass cuts). Those random charging of battery powered tools aren't enough to warrant the expense of adding intermittent outlets unless you don't have outlets in those places anyway and are spending the expense to install the usual constant powered ones (might as well spend a little extra while the electrician is there for the intermittent ones). Thus it'd be optimum to do that at construction time, and do it throughout much of the house for our ever increasing battery powered devices.
42 posts and the oversized electric golf cart fanbois have not shown up to straighten y’all out?
Our crossover EV (not Tesla LOL) works well for my wife and me, as does our old ICE pickup. But before buying an EV I suggest doing your homework to make sure an EV is good for your situation.
I wouldn't get one unless you're about to spend money to replace a car anyway, you need two cars anyway (i.e. married, having both an EV car and an ICE pickup gives my wife and me the best of both worlds to choose from each day), don't live in a climate that's bitterly cold for months, have dependable power, don't live in a state with tons of people moving in (creating more demand for power), and don't live in a state where the regulators are making your power utility make power with undependable "green" energy. My wife and I check off all those boxes and that's why an EV works for us. Members of my extended family who live elseewhere are saying they want one and I almost always suggest to them that they don't.
I think Toyota is going hybrid due to the lack of electrification to stabilize charging.
I like them and Tesla. Looking for a good entry point for Tesla, maybe 145? Any thoughts.
I have a lot of military equities:
Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon...looking to diversify and I think Tesla is a good long term investment.
However, the 4 tech funds I like to invest in are tempting to jump back into because they're down 49% to 67% from their ATH's. I'm hesitant to jump into anything while the S&P 500 is down only 14% from its ATH. In the past few decades, long time bears in the S&P 500 from ATH's (lasting more than a few months) result in the S&P 500 going down 56% (like the 1.5 year bear from 2007-2009) or 49% (like the 2.5 years bear from 2000-2002). The quick bears in 1987 and 2020 lasted only a few months each and the S&P 500 went down "only" 30-ish% before bouncing back. A lot of time other asset classes don't go up much while the S&P 500 has downward trajectory. So I'll stay out assuming that if I miss out on gains, it's not much I'm missing out.
I hear you in that regard. I got lucky and put my entire 401k into cash in Jan 22, so I did well. Currently 80 percent Bonds of different maturities including 20 percent of that in 30 yrs, so I’m thinking much as you are.
Only about 10 percent equities, and I’m looking to build up to 20 percent, while we struggle through this market.
Sounds like good ideas. Unfortunately, many people have to simply do the best they can with retrofitting, and they can only go as far as is practical.
The big difference... rare earth metals or the lack there of. There is simply not enough rare earth minerals to support the massive chemical based batteries solution.
It is about to fall of a cliff. It has run its course.
Especially when supply chain problems arise during a world war.
I think there is still a little downside for TSLA stock, but long term it’s great investment.
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