Would love to encourage a pod with Michael Ellison (Seattle architect who has lived/worked in Europe and has written a book, has lots to add about livable, urban housing developments in the vein of Vienna.
The recent pod about second-life uses for EV battery packs reminded me of a similar topic. Forgive me if it's been covered, but: third party battery refurbishment and third party whole pack replacements.
I've heard of businesses that specialize in replacing problem cells in Nissan Leaf batteries. I've also heard of businesses that offer whole battery pack replacements, often with a significant capacity boost over the original pack (e.g. replacing a 32kWh battery with a 55kWh battery.
I have about a million logistical questions as to how this actually works. And I'm aware that in general, a functional EV pack should outlast the car. But is it possible that there's a viable business to be had here in giving more life to aging EVs, without it being prohibitively expensive, or inviting a bunch of safety, ownership, and liability headaches?
Interesting company here in CO, trying to make HP design easier for contractors, hence making HP purchases easier for everyone. Oddly, I heard about it from an interview on the HP Pod, not any local news. They have an phone app you use to survey your house, then they use that data to get the certified Manual J heat loads and provide a guaranteed design, inc. electrical, to contractor(s) of your choosing, though they may need to go through some certification. Then they also handle the multiple tiers of utility and tax incentives.
They already seem to have agreements with some major utilities. Tri-State, here.
Probably not as fast as getting a burrito delivered (https://flytrex.com/), but seems to remove a major pain point for the contractor, which is the time for both a home visit and HP design, when you might not even buy the thing.
David, any thoughts on what your ideal energy policy would look like? Specifically curious about the following:
-the possibility of some sort of carbon tax
-the future of tax credits for residential solar / battery storage
Also, Spain has way too much jamon. Was there earlier this year as a vegetarian, and I ate a plate of tomatoes for dinner like 3 nights in a row… que pena. Overrated cuisine, imo. But absolutely a pleasure to visit nonetheless!
Random pod topic request: The state of the grid in California generally, the cost of electricity, the backsliding on DERS, the backsliding on solar, Death Spiral possibilities, all the recent WTFs. Ultimately, what is the defense of the recent policy choices in a Dem trifecta state? (Is it really just presidential positioning for Gavin?) The collective rant on Open Circuit's recent pod about Distributed Energy captured much of my personal frustrations with CA, but I'd like to understand it better.
Get more clean energy news, takes, deep-dives, explainers, and fun illustrations by subscribing to my weekly newsletter, Green Juice (greenjuice.wtf). Inspired by my love of Volts!
My HOA denied my request to add solar panels. They said that panels should not be visible from the street. (I live in Georgia. The front of my house is south-facing and the back of the house is shaded, so street-facing panels are the way to go.)
I'm looking for materials I could use in a presentation to the HOA about solar. It seems like there has to be some prior art out there.
Right now, I'm planning to address a couple of potential concerns:
**Concern 1: Solar panels might reduce neighboring property values**
There are several studies that have shown that at worst, panels don't lower property values, and at best they increase them.
**Concern 2: Solar panels are ugly and detract from the aesthetics of the neighborhood**
I think most people think of the blue, poly-crystalline silicon panels, but black panels on black racks blend in pretty well with black asphalt shingled roofs.
Can anyone recommend any resources I could use to help me craft my presentation and talking points?
Many of us are annoyed by the relentless flood of fundraising emails and text messages, but want to do our part by donating to difference-making campaigns and organizations. How can we home in on the best places to donate?
With the CaPA Connector interactive database from Clean & Prosperous America, you proactively decide where to direct your donations. You filter by location, constituencies, and activities, and the Connector distills results that allow you to discover hyper-local, deeply-rooted organizations, many of which are climate-focused. These grassroots groups may be small, under-the-radar, and volunteer-powered, but they are trusted messengers working year-round to build civic power.
It was so cool meeting you in person in NYC for Climate Week, David! If you haven't covered this yet, can you do something about solar panel recycling? Just saw this article that got me concerned, but besides state and local actions, someone told me that they can be retrofitted/reused for new solar panels now, and I'm curious.
Just got Bill McKibben's recent book Here Comes The Sun from rhe library/lobby as an audiobook. There's a great section in there on recycling. A couple points that stood out to me:
* we've become much more efficient in our material use over time. The rare materials (silver, copper, etc.) in an early gen panel might be enough to make 5-10 current gen panels
* old panels are like little mines in themselves. We are (or perhaps capitalism is) unlikely to mine dilute natural deposits when the materials we need are pre-concentrated in old panels.
* early gen panels are lasting much longer in practice on average than anticipated, meaning the turnover is simply less than we though it would be.
* even if we did mine new materials (and also the first time we mine them during this buildup period), solar provides SO much more power per mined material. A shipping container of solar panels will produce 500x the lifetime power of a shipping container of coal. We'll simply need a lot less mining in a solar future.
If anyone else is going to visit the Alhambra, I highly recommend, either before or after you visit the palace, walk up the hill _past_ the palace, all the way to the top. There is a gorgeous centuries-old olive orchard, and expansive cemetery grounds with Christian, Muslim, and Jewish sections.
My other top Spain recommendations are further east. The Almoina in Valencia is the best history museum I've ever seen, with archaeological excavations preserved in-place, spiralling down through the history of the city, all the way back to the Roman foundation, more than 2000 years ago. The Romans founded the city and put a pagan temple on the site. Then later Constantine's Christians burned down the pagan temple and built a Romanesque cathedral. Then the Andalusian Muslims invaded, burned down the cathedral, and built a mosque. Then the Reconquista came through, burned down the mosque, and built the Gothic cathedral that still stands to this day. Whenever people talk about "historical preservation" in the US, I want to just laugh. It's like the Crocodile Dundee "that's not a knife... _that's_ a knife" scene. "We don't have history.... _that's_ history."
El Celler de Can Roca in Girona is one of the best restaurants in the world. It's a day trip out of Barcelona.
And the castle and salt mine in Cardona are amazing -- the Duke of Cardona was the power behind the throne for a large slice of Spanish history, because the castle was built defending a literal mountain of salt, at a time when salt traded 1:1 by weight with gold. (This is also a big part of how Catalonia retained an identity that is relatively independent of Madrid / Castille, compared to the rest of Spain.) Stay in the Parador in the castle, and make sure to book a time for the tour of the mine. Back when I went, they gave the tour in Castellano (standard Spanish) and in Catalan. If you're moderately fluent in Spanish, and accidentally book a Catalan time, that's... an interesting experience. :-|
Probably not as much fun as the agri-voltaics farmers folks, but they can hike. Interesting to read past proceedings; University or State wildlife PhD biologists go and count dead birds at solar farm (5 per acre/yr typical). Developer eco consultants, also with PhDs ask, "um..., did you count dead birds on the site before the panels or nearby as a control? They might be living and dying there anyway." "Um no..."
Anyway, good to know there are lots of motivated biologists and botanists figuring out solar farm design with better fencing options, less land compaction, increased pollinator and small wildlife habitat, dividing large solar farms with "permeable" passages for large 4-leggeds.
As one of your Spanish subscribers I’m so sad to hear that the food was subpar. Next time please reach out! We have so much vegetarian food but it’s mostly in local places. The tempura eggplant dish is not even a Spanish dish it’s just a gentrified tapa to tourists. Reach out if you ever need recommendations 🍴
Love the comment about plazas. They are indeed what make euro cities so great. A friend was lucky to live in a large apartment surrounding one in St Etienne, which was glorious.
I couldn’t agree more about Spanish Food!! Only to add that there is entirely too much mayonnaise plus nothing is seasoned properly. They do have beautiful vegetables in markets if you have a place to cook.
Love this. From description of trip to Spain and Dog wanting to play. I can eat all food, but I'd have struggled mightily. I went into store in Switzerland where we were hiking for a week and bought family sized bag of salad greens and a bottle of dressing. Went to hotel room and ate entire thing. My body was demanding it.
--- QUESTIONS ---
Would love to encourage a pod with Michael Ellison (Seattle architect who has lived/worked in Europe and has written a book, has lots to add about livable, urban housing developments in the vein of Vienna.
The recent pod about second-life uses for EV battery packs reminded me of a similar topic. Forgive me if it's been covered, but: third party battery refurbishment and third party whole pack replacements.
I've heard of businesses that specialize in replacing problem cells in Nissan Leaf batteries. I've also heard of businesses that offer whole battery pack replacements, often with a significant capacity boost over the original pack (e.g. replacing a 32kWh battery with a 55kWh battery.
I have about a million logistical questions as to how this actually works. And I'm aware that in general, a functional EV pack should outlast the car. But is it possible that there's a viable business to be had here in giving more life to aging EVs, without it being prohibitively expensive, or inviting a bunch of safety, ownership, and liability headaches?
Interesting company here in CO, trying to make HP design easier for contractors, hence making HP purchases easier for everyone. Oddly, I heard about it from an interview on the HP Pod, not any local news. They have an phone app you use to survey your house, then they use that data to get the certified Manual J heat loads and provide a guaranteed design, inc. electrical, to contractor(s) of your choosing, though they may need to go through some certification. Then they also handle the multiple tiers of utility and tax incentives.
https://www.zerohomes.io/
They already seem to have agreements with some major utilities. Tri-State, here.
Probably not as fast as getting a burrito delivered (https://flytrex.com/), but seems to remove a major pain point for the contractor, which is the time for both a home visit and HP design, when you might not even buy the thing.
David, any thoughts on what your ideal energy policy would look like? Specifically curious about the following:
-the possibility of some sort of carbon tax
-the future of tax credits for residential solar / battery storage
Also, Spain has way too much jamon. Was there earlier this year as a vegetarian, and I ate a plate of tomatoes for dinner like 3 nights in a row… que pena. Overrated cuisine, imo. But absolutely a pleasure to visit nonetheless!
Random pod topic request: The state of the grid in California generally, the cost of electricity, the backsliding on DERS, the backsliding on solar, Death Spiral possibilities, all the recent WTFs. Ultimately, what is the defense of the recent policy choices in a Dem trifecta state? (Is it really just presidential positioning for Gavin?) The collective rant on Open Circuit's recent pod about Distributed Energy captured much of my personal frustrations with CA, but I'd like to understand it better.
--- SHARE WORK, ASK FOR HELP, FIND COLLABORATORS ---
Get more clean energy news, takes, deep-dives, explainers, and fun illustrations by subscribing to my weekly newsletter, Green Juice (greenjuice.wtf). Inspired by my love of Volts!
My HOA denied my request to add solar panels. They said that panels should not be visible from the street. (I live in Georgia. The front of my house is south-facing and the back of the house is shaded, so street-facing panels are the way to go.)
I'm looking for materials I could use in a presentation to the HOA about solar. It seems like there has to be some prior art out there.
Right now, I'm planning to address a couple of potential concerns:
**Concern 1: Solar panels might reduce neighboring property values**
There are several studies that have shown that at worst, panels don't lower property values, and at best they increase them.
**Concern 2: Solar panels are ugly and detract from the aesthetics of the neighborhood**
I think most people think of the blue, poly-crystalline silicon panels, but black panels on black racks blend in pretty well with black asphalt shingled roofs.
Can anyone recommend any resources I could use to help me craft my presentation and talking points?
Thanks!
TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR POLITICAL DONATIONS.
Many of us are annoyed by the relentless flood of fundraising emails and text messages, but want to do our part by donating to difference-making campaigns and organizations. How can we home in on the best places to donate?
With the CaPA Connector interactive database from Clean & Prosperous America, you proactively decide where to direct your donations. You filter by location, constituencies, and activities, and the Connector distills results that allow you to discover hyper-local, deeply-rooted organizations, many of which are climate-focused. These grassroots groups may be small, under-the-radar, and volunteer-powered, but they are trusted messengers working year-round to build civic power.
Try the CaPA Connector for yourself, and see how easy it is to take control of your political donations: https://cleanprosperousamerica.org/organizations/
--- CLIMATE JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES ---
--- EVERYTHING ELSE ---
It was so cool meeting you in person in NYC for Climate Week, David! If you haven't covered this yet, can you do something about solar panel recycling? Just saw this article that got me concerned, but besides state and local actions, someone told me that they can be retrofitted/reused for new solar panels now, and I'm curious.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18102025/epa-solar-panel-waste/
Just got Bill McKibben's recent book Here Comes The Sun from rhe library/lobby as an audiobook. There's a great section in there on recycling. A couple points that stood out to me:
* we've become much more efficient in our material use over time. The rare materials (silver, copper, etc.) in an early gen panel might be enough to make 5-10 current gen panels
* old panels are like little mines in themselves. We are (or perhaps capitalism is) unlikely to mine dilute natural deposits when the materials we need are pre-concentrated in old panels.
* early gen panels are lasting much longer in practice on average than anticipated, meaning the turnover is simply less than we though it would be.
* even if we did mine new materials (and also the first time we mine them during this buildup period), solar provides SO much more power per mined material. A shipping container of solar panels will produce 500x the lifetime power of a shipping container of coal. We'll simply need a lot less mining in a solar future.
Big Fan of the Rondo announcement, too. Some irony in that it is apparently being used for enhanced oil recovery by Holmes Western Oil Corporation.
If anyone else is going to visit the Alhambra, I highly recommend, either before or after you visit the palace, walk up the hill _past_ the palace, all the way to the top. There is a gorgeous centuries-old olive orchard, and expansive cemetery grounds with Christian, Muslim, and Jewish sections.
My other top Spain recommendations are further east. The Almoina in Valencia is the best history museum I've ever seen, with archaeological excavations preserved in-place, spiralling down through the history of the city, all the way back to the Roman foundation, more than 2000 years ago. The Romans founded the city and put a pagan temple on the site. Then later Constantine's Christians burned down the pagan temple and built a Romanesque cathedral. Then the Andalusian Muslims invaded, burned down the cathedral, and built a mosque. Then the Reconquista came through, burned down the mosque, and built the Gothic cathedral that still stands to this day. Whenever people talk about "historical preservation" in the US, I want to just laugh. It's like the Crocodile Dundee "that's not a knife... _that's_ a knife" scene. "We don't have history.... _that's_ history."
El Celler de Can Roca in Girona is one of the best restaurants in the world. It's a day trip out of Barcelona.
And the castle and salt mine in Cardona are amazing -- the Duke of Cardona was the power behind the throne for a large slice of Spanish history, because the castle was built defending a literal mountain of salt, at a time when salt traded 1:1 by weight with gold. (This is also a big part of how Catalonia retained an identity that is relatively independent of Madrid / Castille, compared to the rest of Spain.) Stay in the Parador in the castle, and make sure to book a time for the tour of the mine. Back when I went, they gave the tour in Castellano (standard Spanish) and in Catalan. If you're moderately fluent in Spanish, and accidentally book a Catalan time, that's... an interesting experience. :-|
--- CLIMATE EVENTS & MEETUPS ---
3rd biannual Solar Wildlife and Ecosystems Meeting in Scottsdale on Nov 17-20.
https://rewi.org/news-events/swerm/
Probably not as much fun as the agri-voltaics farmers folks, but they can hike. Interesting to read past proceedings; University or State wildlife PhD biologists go and count dead birds at solar farm (5 per acre/yr typical). Developer eco consultants, also with PhDs ask, "um..., did you count dead birds on the site before the panels or nearby as a control? They might be living and dying there anyway." "Um no..."
Anyway, good to know there are lots of motivated biologists and botanists figuring out solar farm design with better fencing options, less land compaction, increased pollinator and small wildlife habitat, dividing large solar farms with "permeable" passages for large 4-leggeds.
Solar Farms ARE Farms!
Eh, as a vegetarian, I did fine in Spain 25 years ago. You have to be prepared and seek places out. I ate well and enjoyed it.
As one of your Spanish subscribers I’m so sad to hear that the food was subpar. Next time please reach out! We have so much vegetarian food but it’s mostly in local places. The tempura eggplant dish is not even a Spanish dish it’s just a gentrified tapa to tourists. Reach out if you ever need recommendations 🍴
Love the comment about plazas. They are indeed what make euro cities so great. A friend was lucky to live in a large apartment surrounding one in St Etienne, which was glorious.
David, when you have time. What are your thoughts on Climate Week in NYC? Other than the podcasts you did, what did you enjoy about it?
How is the problem dog working out these days?
Not only Big Gav. Mean while in the colonial outpost called Australia the very same phenomonomomom has occured.
Strange how Australia, USA, Canada & UK all have the same issue at the sametime.
The scam of buying the above building has started here, what about you??
I've not done this before, so I'll hope to be forgiven for any protocol violations or similar blah blah blah. I had to share.
I've recently written about one of the 'founders of climatology,' Milutin Milosevic, the great <https://hickeyj.substack.com/i/159505150/odd-beginnings-new-endingsfetishizing-the-weather> Serbian scientist with the unbelievably amazing life story.
That's all. I have lots of interesting content in the Big Tent Review.
I couldn’t agree more about Spanish Food!! Only to add that there is entirely too much mayonnaise plus nothing is seasoned properly. They do have beautiful vegetables in markets if you have a place to cook.
Love this. From description of trip to Spain and Dog wanting to play. I can eat all food, but I'd have struggled mightily. I went into store in Switzerland where we were hiking for a week and bought family sized bag of salad greens and a bottle of dressing. Went to hotel room and ate entire thing. My body was demanding it.
Looking forward to seeing you again... at the November 6 Canary Live event!