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Comment by antisthenes | Hacker News Reader

The amount of cognitive dissonance required to say "we want to limit impact" on one hand, and to run a 400Amp electrical connection to heat your hot tub and pool in Canada, is staggering.

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If it’s cheap hydro power driven (like much of Canada), it isn’t absurd.

A lot of hydro power is ‘use it or lose it’, since the dams also provide flood control and MUST keep extra capacity free to absorb sudden water surges. They can’t just store everything they get.

"low impact" for North Americans, maybe... No wonder that we're at the begining of a climat change disaster.

I doubt most North Americans need a 400A connection. (How much wattage is that? 48kW?) I live in an ordinary single house in a boring suburb in the bay area, and on hottest days, if I have to use the A/C, the oven, and the dryer at the same time, maybe it would push it over ~10kW. Maybe once in a year.

> Bay Area

Most places in the US experience much harsher seasons than the Bay Area.

There are places where we waste energy because we're doing dumb stuff: in northern parts of the country, your house should be well insulated and designed for cold temperatures.

Then there are places like Nevada, which are just not suitable for large-scale habitation. "Can we make this monument to our hubris more energy efficient" is kind of missing the point, right?

True, most places would need to run A/C or heater much more often than California, but I doubt they need three times as powerful an A/C at any given moment.

400A @ 240v is 96kW

Do you really believe the average North American has a heated pool AND hot tub in a frigid northern climate?

I'll not defend our wasteful habits -- we really are screwing up the world over here -- but still, most North Americans don't have electrical outdoor heated pools. In a rural, fairly chilly area... that's really something.

The lack of self awareness of people is staggering. How is it even possible to be this blind to it?

Greenwashing is a state of mind.

Their contractor talked them into building it without a fixed budget. That's a pretty good financial incentive to just say "can do!" to every suggestion the owner makes.

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