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Comment by foolfoolz | Hacker News Reader

for decades we have seen planned communities with common assets paid for by hoa such as a pool and parks. i bet we will see in the future a neighborhood that “comes with” a 40 acre solar installation and storage as a perk. maybe even just storage. and if everyone feeds into it and draws from it you can get away from the grid power sharing changing requirements and host your own micro grid

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We already have those future neighbourhoods, but they are powered by 4,000 acre solar installations, operated by entities we call 'utilities'.

Economies of scale greatly benefit them, for the same reason that economies of scale benefit industrial-scale smelters over the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backyard_furnace garbage that was pushed by 'great visionaries' of the last century.

There's no universe where someone driving for an hour, then climbing onto your roof to install a solar panel is cheaper than doing it at scale. There is no universe where an HOA wasting 40 acres of expensive urban or suburban land is more economic than a utility deploying 40 acres of solar panels, 15 miles out of town.

Makes sense here is community geothermal....

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/01/geothermal-powered-housing-d...

Also wished I could convince my community to run is own ISP.

This works, but it isn't nearly as efficient as getting people to create and consume their own power: it creates a level of awareness that is much higher than it would ever be if it is part of some larger pool.

I remember watching something about a planned community in Florida.

Here it is: https://babcockranch.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7TrBu_uEhI

Florida may be called the Sunshine State, but it is no stranger to the damaging impacts of climate change. Miles O'Brien profiles one small Florida community that is trying to take advantage of all that sunshine, billed as the country's first solar-powered town.

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