Fiat energy like wind and solar only subsidize more rent-seeking. It's a grand social experiment to suspend reality.
Discussion
Small scale solar I find good, would install some panels myself if lived in house not flat, just because of increased independency from power grid.
This is the way. Solar is a great prepping tool where it belongs: behind the meter, reducing grid dependency. We have it, love it.
Supply-side renewables however are a logical and logistical embarrassment born of free money and (most charitably) misanthropic climate myopia.
Yup. Great option if you're far from the grid, or if the the grid is unreliable and you need to have some backup plans (solar, generator).
Theoretically, if you had access to a reliable grid with a free electricity market with no regulation obstacles or subsidies, the power from the grid would be always cheaper than what you can obtain yourself.
The problem of the subsidies and free market obstacles is that it shifts the incentives of profit maximizatiin away from builduing and maintaining reliable grids with cheap energy inch by inch towards milking the subsidies.
Interesting debate would be whether it would be hypocrisy to use the subsidy to build solar for your house while knowing and arguing that the system is net worse for everyone.
I would argue that operating under the fact of these market regulations, it would be ineffective use of capital for you to not use those subsidies.
It's potentially potentially a delicate battle between staying morally uncorrupted and truthful vs surviving.
- Reminds me of the old communist saying in CZ which perfectly describes how this corruption of market incentives breeds corruption of morals - the saying was "Who's not stealing (from the public), is stealing from his family"
I dont think its hipocrisy, these are the rules of the game we live in, play to your advantage while trying to build something better. Every home loan is creating money out of thin air, I wouldnt advise anyone stand on principle and not buy a house just because of the immoral incentives around it.
I agree here with these house examples.
But it can be a slippery slope, and there is a time and place for choosing the principled approach over playing the game becomes too corrupt.
It's a scale with slippery slope.
Especially because *they* won't start actively penalizing the wrong behaviors, they will just keep increasingly subsidizing the pre-approved behaviors (while making alternative choices too costly for most of the people).
I dont prescribe this in how you deal with others, its why for all the shit people talk about amazon IDGAF, every other company in the area was firing the unvaccinated, amazon kept the bills paid in the most stressful time of my life. All im saying is when the government is dropping helicopter money, so long as you arent selling your own soul for it, dont waste the opportunity.
It is incredibly disappointing to see how eagerly western society has embraced this climate / energy propaganda campaign.
Energy density is one of the most important metrics we have to measure human advancement and flourishing. Our political and business leaders now have conditioned an entire generation of “educated” people to think that somehow being less energy efficient with capital is somehow a good thing.
Just like “they” can’t taper a Ponzi in our financial system, “they” cannot regulate away the Laws of Thermodynamics. There will be financial, geopolitical, and cultural repercussions at both macro and personal levels.
Aside: I think the climate fight is about spurring “innovative” investment in a new tech heavy industry - equity AND debt denominated in dollars. The oil and gas industry is becoming somewhat commoditized, putting at risk the need for those contracts to continue to be priced using dollars and funded using dollars. My impression is that “they” need new industries to saturate with “their” monetary policy…unfortunately for them, the Laws of Thermodynamics will punish this destruction of capital. There is an alternative they didn’t think could exist 50+ years ago. Thank God for bitcoin’s absolute scarcity, POW consensus, decentralization, difficulty adjustment, FOSS, P2P, etc. technologies that will save us from the tyranny “they” are forcing upon us.
Can't understand it. The sun and wind are real. They are not here due to some order or decree.