[hannob]

I cook a lot. I don't even have a very efficient stove (it's on my todo-list to get an induction stove, but we're in a rented flat, so it's a bit complicated). I still have a really, really tiny electricity bill.

Cooking isn't a major issue in electricity use. It's the devices you buy and some basic behavior sanity (switch off what you don't use etc.).

[zbrozek]

My refrigerator, which is from 2020 and replaced a failed 1979 unit, uses about as much electricity as your flat. So does the pool pump. So does the network equipment. And if I were to run the heating system, it would too.

Using a toaster oven to bake a meal for two would consume roughly 15-30% of your home's daily energy budget.

I used 18.85 KWh yesterday, which includes running a load of laundry through a resistively heated dryer. 14.07 KWh of that came from my solar panels.

[zaroth]

Sounds totally reasonable to me. I don’t understand the theory of trying to strangle household energy usage.

Increasing household energy use is not the problem, it’s actually the solution to a huge productivity and standard of living increase for your population.

Energy is the lifeblood of the entire economy. Limiting energy use disproportionately hurts the poorest of the population and drives up the poverty rate.

That 18.85kWh of energy at utility scale is roughly $0.25 USD in energy cost. You figure you got a quarter’s worth of value from everything that energy accomplished for you that day? Probably more like 100x that value.

What’s the opportunity cost of trying to halve your energy bill and save about a dime a day?

The solution is cheap, abundant, clean energy. The featured article shows that’s actually where most of our new production is coming from already. Although in truth that’s more indicative of how overly constrained our energy production growth is, but things are rapidly moving in the right direction due to technology maturation and a supportive tax structure.

Funny that’s all it takes to align incentives and let human ingenuity and the manufacturing learning curve run its course. The problem is the doomsdayers who can only extrapolate linear outcomes from past performance and entirely discount the obvious technological paradigm shifts which are occurring.

[zbrozek]

Right, but it's $5.66 to me. So the utility has driven me away from the globally efficient solution.

[zaroth]

You would need about 6kW of solar to fully cover that usage right? So about $15k-$20k over 20 years financed at 0% would be about $2-$2.75 a day.

If we could get a 6kW solar plus a 40kWh battery all packaged and installed with a 20 year life for $10k then we’re at $1.35 a day. I think we’ll get there in the next 10-15 years (inflation adjusted).

In this case you almost don’t need an electric grid for residential use — and actually it gets very hard to even support one once enough people transition. So it’s a radical departure from the current model.

[zbrozek]

I currently have 4 KWp installed and aimed badly, but also a 10 KWh battery pack. My total expenditure to achieve that was <$5000 and it's supplying the majority of my needs. I have plenty of panels remaining to put up as soon as my re-roofing is done. I need to increase the battery capacity. I bought used and installed myself.

[zaroth]

Super impressive, that’s a lot of installed energy capacity for < $5k!

Is the $5.66 / 18.85kWh = $0.30 per kWh factoring in how much was your own supply?

$0.30 is about what I pay in MA for Generation plus Supply plus Taxes & Fees all together, and MA is on the higher side for energy costs in the US. Still very happy to be driving a Tesla right now though.