Hacker News Reader

Comment by tensor | Hacker News Reader

The entire thread started with a comment claiming that the cold ruins everything and the province is mismanaged so that's that there is no solution.

But that's not that, clearly there is a solution, and that's to start improving the grid and increase the use of EVs. When every house has a battery backup system and charging infrastructure, and they build more power generation capabilities, nuclear or green, then you will see a hugely more robust grid and cars that will actually work well in even the coldest months.

View on HN

> that's to start improving the grid and increase the use of EVs.

Notably, one of these needs to occur before the other.

They can happen at the same time. Especially with programs encouraging people to build their own solar. I did that and at least in the summer months cover 90% of my power usage. Winter is more of an issue but this doesn't need to be in a bunch of discrete ordered steps.

> They can happen at the same time.

Ok, maybe I should have said "one of these depends on the other"

Yes, but they are not milestone events. They are trends in ongoing processes. You don’t need to finish A to 100% before you start B. They can run in parallel.

Is anyone denying this? You seem to be the only person introducing complications into the electrification of Calgary by having a weird polemic about EV cars you can't articulate.

"JeffSnazz 5 days ago | root | parent | next [–]

> that's to start improving the grid and increase the use of EVs. Notably, one of these needs to occur before the other."

The point was that while they are related, you don't need to wait for the grid to increase to also increase the number of EVs. They can happen in conjunction.

Solar is least effective when (in this case) demand is the highest - winter, especially during a big storm.

Cities are also the least effective place (in general) for solar, with lots of obstructions, higher density of demand, etc,

Sure, but, we're responding to someone in Calgary describing an overloaded electrical system in a relatively poor province, exceeding capacity during the coldest weeks of the year, as gas pumps freeze. Today.

On a long enough timeline, setting aside money, sure, we can add:

- add a backup battery to each house

- add charging infrastructure to each house

- build more power generation (nuclear or green)

I don't think that's in dispute, and I'm not sure what to call it. Not off-topic, but...just sort of ramming forward describing something obvious, but as if it addresses something topical.

Just a note that Alberta is not a poor province, and in fact has the highest GDP per capita of all the Canadian provinces. (Nunavut and the NWT have higher GDPs due to their large mining sector combined with tiny populations.)

We also have the highest electricity bills of any Canadian province.

The issue in Alberta is corporate grift and a hegemonic government that has a revolving-door arrangement with oil and gas companies.

With the way prices are dropping for solar and batteries. As well as how many electric grid monopolists are not willing to pay much too home owners for electricity we are not far from huge influx of home batteries.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com