Comments (23) (Please sign in to comment)

1. 

   Clark Kent said, 7 months ago

   Good idea. Skrew the power companies.
2. 

   Jase99 said, 7 months ago

   We can’t rely on fossil fuels forever. A grid where houses generate at least some of their own power makes more sense. Where’s that sense of self reliance “conservatives” are always talking about? How ironic Larry Hagman, the actor who played the evil oil baron on Dallas, uses solar to generate power for his home.
3. 

   ARodney said, 7 months ago

   Interesting how it’s the private sector that’s doing the slowest job of recovery after the storm… the last train line is up and running today. When I got my solar panels I didn’t add the option that keeps the house going in a blackout (that requires a bank of batteries and extra expense), but after a series of blackouts last summer, I’m kind of wishing I had.
4. 

   Ionizer said, 7 months ago

   @ARodney

   “Interesting how it’s the private sector that’s doing the slowest job of recovery after the storm”
   
   They have to spend their own money, or wait for the insurance. The feds can just push a button, and a whole bunch of “money” becomes available.
5. 

   comicsssfan said, 7 months ago

   If we need more oil we know where to get it. Americans know how to deal with those oil-rich countries. The bigger the trucks are, the better for all.
6. 

   Adam Sperry said, 7 months ago

   Only an idiot would turn down free energy from the sun and the wind. Who doesn’t lie free energy?
7. 

   hanmari said, 7 months ago

   How come all this “free” energy costs so much? Answer: because it is not cost effective. Take out a twenty-year loan to put solar panels on your house, and you’ll pay yourself back on cost savings in your electric bill by the time the loan is paid off. After that, the panels will be down to 20% of their initial efficiency and will need to be replaced. In the end, you’ll have moved your energy dollars from paying wealthy Saudis for their oil to paying Communist Chinese for their solar panels.
8. 

   Respectful Troll said, 7 months ago

   The cartoon may be pointing to the future. Insurance companies are almost universally stating they will be reassessing how they insure, or even if they’ll insure, homes along coastal regions. In places where the ocean crossed the sands and created ‘inlets" to the bay between the mainland and outerbanks, There is much discussion on whether a state should invest in infrastructure that encourages people to live in such vulnerable places. It may well be that over the next decade, more and more owners of beachside homes will have to have independent power sources in order to live in such a beautiful place. And many will have to do so in homes for which they cannot buy insurance.
   There are many things we can do to combat climate change, but we must do something. Our nation can not continue to suffer the droughts, firestorms, hurricanes, tornados, and hurricanes costing our nation billions each year. We simply can’t afford it.
   Respectfully,
   C.
9. 

   MortyForTyrant said, 7 months ago

   @Jase99

   One of the problems in the U.S. is that the “grid” is not actually a grid, it’s more like the spokes of a wheel. There is little or no redundancy build into the system. Why build in something that cost’s money and doesn’t make any? Capitalists credo of the day :-)

   -

   I worked in a German power-plant and was privy to see the “Netzplan”, the graphical representation of the grid. Boy oh boy! No wonder they switched to computers as early as the 70’s, managing such a complex structure by hand is very hard. I remember that power outages due to lightning-strikes took about a minute or two to compensate back then. Today you barely see the lights flicker…
10. 

    onguard said, 7 months ago

    Meaningful Green Energy in the foreseeable future, is a myth.
11. 

    Radish said, 7 months ago

    And so castles made of sand melts into the sea, eventually…
    .
    J Hendrix
12. 

    Joe said, 7 months ago

    @Adam Sperry

    Florida seems not to. Strange…but then the State Legislature is still bright red, and the Governor ain’t too bright, either..
13. 

    Ionizer said, 7 months ago

    @Adam Sperry

    “Only an idiot would turn down free energy from the sun and the wind. Who doesn’t lie free energy?”
    
    TANSTAAFL.
14. 

    Night-Gaunt49 said, 7 months ago

    @comicsssfan

    We need to get away from all carbon based fuels. We still have 5X the amount in gigatons of carbon to burn than would pass the final threshold to Extreme Hot House Earth. Should the oil, gas and coal companies get their money over all our lives on this planet? There is no profit for us to be so suicidal.
15. 

    Night-Gaunt49 said, 7 months ago

    @hanmari

    Add up all the hidden costs for conventional energy and it doesn’t look so cost effective.
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