throwtheacctawy

The same that happens in medicine happens in college textbooks - and other forms of high margin, but relatively fixed/finite initial investment and stable cost to produce.

American scholars write some of the most respected textbooks in the world, they are then sold in US colleges for $100-400/each. The same book is then sold in SE Asia and Africa for $10-40/each.

China residential construction growth is slowing. Their rates of urbanization have almost reached levels seen in developed countries. People are paying close attention to where China goes from here.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-22/china-hou...

Smart move. Ohio has a well diversified economy and they really standout among rust belt states.

I read semiconductor plants need a lot of freshwater. It is confusing why Arizona is receiving so much investment in fabs. The entire west is lacking in water. With the exception of the Seattle area; there isn't a city out West that doesn't have a major water concern.

Meanwhile the Great Lakes have the largest bodies of freshwater in the world.

Texas is ridiculously pro-energy. It doesn't matter what type of energy, either. Just look at west Texas oil fields - thousands of rigs pepper the landscape for tens of thousands of miles.

NIMBY attitudes are not as popular in Texas.They really don't care what the world looks like. As a result, Texas has a massive amount of solar / wind production. They beat their own production goals, repeatedly.

It would seem like a good idea to just sprinkle in solar and wind farms all throughout west Texas. Then setup high voltage lines to run the power to Albuquerque, El Paso, Waco, Odessa, Midland, etc.

For perspective at the extent of oil production (and their lack of care over the landscape), look on Google Maps at Andrews, TX

I own a solar array. I heard an argument against solar owners participating in net metering that was interesting. The argument is: net metering doesn't account for the cost of transmission and maintenance of the energy credit that is consumed.

Basically, we mooch off the grid. We're supposedly freeloaders, using the grid as our giant battery - only when we need it, and we're not paying to maintain the grid*.

This argument was new to me. The state I live in doesn't credit me 1:1 per kWh, per se.

Each kWh of power I pay for has 3 components; when added together, consumers pay a rate per kWh anywhere from 7-15cents. Each credit of power I produce can only offset 2 of the 3 components (like 95% of the cost)

Tldr - it sounds like some utility providers do not require solar owners to pay for transmission costs, or break their bill up in such a way that the credit can only be applied toward the power, but not the transmission.

Net metering sounds like a topic that needs to be defined. Some states definition of net metering could be very advantageous to solar owners, while other states have reasonable net metering rules that still incentivize residential solar.

Ford does not understand infotainment or charging experience.

Tesla literally ship with AMD Ryzen CPUs, while other manufacturers still can't even get CPUs. They got 8 cameras, 4 of which you can watch live....anytime on your mobile phone. The supercharger experience sets a standard that no 3rd party comes close to reaching. The supercharger network itself gives Tesla customers the ability to confidently travel and easily charge - fast.

I actually test drove a Mach-E and a Model Y. Ford was straight up trying to rip me off, and made the whole experience really off-putting. On top of that, the Ford dealers literally had no idea what they were doing, or any of the facts. There is no passion in it.

Tesla is all passion. Every Tesla employee wakes up to do one thing; make the world's best EV. Ford (and every other legacy) is trying to change engines in an airplane midflight while trying to learn how to build EV's.

It isn't for the lack of trying - in any area, that Tesla isn't the best at something. Tesla has the smartest people in the room/industry. Their energy and focus is on AI, scaling up manufacturing, battery tech, charging tech, etc. They spend nothing on marketing, and get more free press and word of mouth than any brand but Apple.

Marketing like legacy car companies comes off as desperate and thirsty. Just listen to the two CEO; Ford CEO will play buzzword bingo and talk high level corporate empty-speak. Elon Musk will talk to you about the challenges in battery manufacturing, the nuances of the minutia of building these amazing vehicles. Elon Musk will sleep on the factory floor to get it done. What other CEO has slept on the factory floor?

The man is not without his defects, but literally consider his life accomplishments; PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, tunnel digging because why not, solar panels, residential utility scale battery storage, 30000 "gas stations" around the world.

Literally Ford can't even build vehicles right now. Like production down. Assembly stopped. Tesla is pumping out EV faster than ever before. And Elon Musk is trying to fly rockets to Mars in his spare time.

I respect the history of the legacy's; but they are simply not in a strong position. Musk won. His cars are the cool ones everyone wants.

It isn't that Ford has crazy demand; they have no production. Same as Rivian, etc. It markets well to say Ford/Rivian deliveries of EV are way out to 2024 - but has to be taken in context that they are struggling to produce 50k EV a year.

Tesla has the proven product. Literally no one knows how well a Rivian or Lucid will hold up, or what defects will haunt their early buyers. There isn't enough data out there yet. Same for the Mach-E. Tesla has 10yrs of data for customers to look at; and Tesla has what feels like a 100yr head start...

I live in Michigan. I have a 5.9kwh solar array. Spring/fall, I can produce over 40kwh/day. Summer heat lowers my production to upper 30-40kwh.

January 2021, I produced 197kwh the entire month.

I know this discussion is focused on heating. But from an electric vehicle perspective; 197kwh is not that much. In the winter, I don't think it would be enough electricity for a homes electric needs + EV or electric heat.

I can make 1MWh over 1 month in the summer. Basically, Michigan has short days in the winter. Snow does sit on top of the solar array until it melts, which robs me of production during sunny winter days.

It wouldn't be impossible to use solar to replace heating oil in Michigan, and the over capacity installed to satisfy winter demand could serve as a "peaker plant" during the warm summer months.

While I know renewables have decreased in costs, I think the costs related to building overcapacity is a hindrance.

Have there been any studies that disprove the correlation between petro-chemical production/usage and the rise in cancer?

I've seen countless stats that plots petro-chemical use over years, and cancer rates. The charts are identical.