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Comment by krapht | Hacker News Reader

If anything I think my estimate is too conservative. Electrical storage must be adequate to meet demand in the worst case. The minute somebody's grandmother freezes to death because of brownouts due to wintry, overcast skies in December, and there will be riots in the state legislature.

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One could argue that, if people freeze to death because of brownouts due to wintry overcast skies in December (weeks of freezing weather probably would be something different), there's something wrong with the way houses are built.

Getting rid of oil addiction doesn't solely mean replacing oil with wind and solar; it also means thinking rationally about why we need so much energy.

Even the most energy efficient home needs a heater in freezing conditions.

Passive solar homes with heat storage may not.

A modern passive house could keep you warm in the winter with a heat source as minor as a candle. It's actually amazing how poorly our homes are insulated.

Don't you need souther exposure too?

Once you're talking about tearing down all existing houses and rebuilding them based on new and alien philosophies, your plan is starting to become a bit impractical.

> Getting rid of oil addiction doesn't solely mean replacing oil with wind and solar; it also means thinking rationally about why we need so much energy.

The prominent people who say this sort of thing usually have enormous mansions with heated pools and fly private jets everywhere.

No, we are long over designing systems for the worst case. This is what got us where we are today. The smart grid is about keeping grandmother alive tonight while drying your clothes during the light cycle tomorrow.

And pray that worst case scenarios don't happen.

Most people work during the light cycle.

Would this smart grid require that people only ever wash clothes on days they don't work?

The desire to be able to do whatever you what, when you want, is part of how we got to this climate-changing situation in the first place.

Good luck winning elections with that.

You can wash clothes while you're not there. It's even possible to schedule the washing so that it's done near the end of the light cycle so they don't sit in the machine for long after they are clean.

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