[Aurornis]

> It astounds me that these things do not catch on.

Basements are very common throughout the country. Once you've built a basement, you might as well put a house on the next floor up.

Modern insulation technology is very effective. It's much cheaper to put a lot of insulation in the above-ground portion of a house than to try to build the equivalent area entirely below the grade.

Building entirely below the surface without putting anything on top would be massively expensive compared to the same square footage in a traditional home, even if you accounted for equivalent insulation and cooling costs. It's not even close.

[dicroce]

I lived in Fresno for 15 years. I spent north of $400 bucks a month on AC in the summertime (starts in June and goes till early November). I lived in a new home with modern insulation.

I now live in NY and I have a basement. It's generally about 10 degrees cooler. I would have loved that in Fresno.

[dbetteridge]

Is power just very expensive in Fresno?

$400pm just for aircon seems crazy high to me.

Living in Perth, Western Australia id use that over a 2-3mth period over the summer running aircon 24/7

[oceanplexian]

Electricity in California is the most expensive in the country. When I lived there I spent between 20-35c/kWh. I moved to Utah and now pay approx 9c/kWh, cheaper by a factor of about 3. I live in the Southwest part of the state where the temperatures regularly hit 46c and my electric bill comes out to about $100.

[dbetteridge]

9c per hour is insanely cheap :o

For comparison I'm paying 31.6c/kwh and 113c/per day supply charge. (prices in AUD cents)

Think that's about 21c USD

[kragen]

9¢ per kilowatt hour is insanely expensive

typical wholesale prices are 2½¢ per kilowatt hour

solar panels are 8¢/peak watt https://www.solarserver.de/photovoltaik-preis-pv-modul-preis... which works out to 40¢ per average watt assuming a 20% capacity factor. at 7% yearly interest, that's 2.8 cents per watt, and since a year has 8.766 kilohours, it's 0.3¢ per kilowatt hour. for ac inverter systems, balance of system costs typically triple this, and in the us, import tariffs double it again to 1.8¢ per kilowatt hour

the future is already here; it just isn't widely distributed. and that's why you're getting scammed

[dbetteridge]

I mean I can get solar on my roof for about $4000Aud and then I pay nothing unless it's particularly cloudy.

But for grid electricity even if the generation is dirt cheap the power company in WA is responsible for covering an area the size of a chunk of Europe with a total population of under 3million.

There are significant distribution costs involved and I suspect even at the prices we pay its subsidised by the government.

[GuardianCaveman]

It's 3-4 times more expensive to use electricity in california than it is in Texas. sometimes 5 times more for peak usage hours during the summer.

[vondur]

Fresno is in earthquake country, so they don't really build them here. However, it looks like this place has held up just fine over the years.