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Past_Cartographer230 t1_j1kq10w wrote

Our entire countries grid is in dire need of an upgrade. With more people driving electric cars it is only going to get worse.

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NoREEEEEEtilBrooklyn t1_j1kr08r wrote

Need to start building Nuclear, moving all above ground wires underground, and upgrading utility infrastructure asap.

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Is_that_your_wow- t1_j1kuz7q wrote

Here's an idea. Why not put gears like a grandfather clock inside skyscrapers. Have the lobby gym wind it up, or hire people. Let it drop and crank energy all day.

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Cloaked42m t1_j1lris4 wrote

I actually find the idea of human hamster wheels amusing. But it doesn't generate that much energy.

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MajorNoodles t1_j1m4pok wrote

There's an episode of Black Mirror that you would love.

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rushrhees t1_j1m2nrn wrote

I know that and Soylent green would theoretically solve a lot of issues but margins and logistics I guess

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NoREEEEEEtilBrooklyn t1_j1kvh0c wrote

I’m down for that. Pay the homeless in food to power society. Win win.

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clickstops t1_j1ky53y wrote

Pay our most marginalized citizens in soup kitchen allowance to be human hamsters on the energy wheel?

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largeroastbeef t1_j1l8cxn wrote

It kinda sounds like the beginning of the matrix where the robots make people their energy source

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NoREEEEEEtilBrooklyn t1_j1l2fhu wrote

Not soup kitchen allowance. Really good food. And they’re free to leave whenever. Completely voluntary.

Also, in case people can’t tell, I’m joking. We should just have nuclear energy plants with supplemental solar/wind. Human hamsters would be too weird.

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Is_that_your_wow- t1_j1kvtox wrote

Gravity powered LED lights already are replacing oil lamps in places that use them. I'm just surprised no ones designed this along an elevator shaft.

Hiring homeless in food sounds like a good idea, but not sure if that's the best incentive or most productive workforce. Philly doesn't have absolute poverty. No one is starving to death, and the homeless mostly are addicts or mentally ill. Although paying people money usually works well, even for our poorer Philadelphian friends.

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Frummage t1_j1mqfdv wrote

Most homeless in Philly are families with children, and most are not on the street but in shelters or moving from temporary accommodation to temporary accommodation. The visibly homeless are a minority.

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owenhinton98 t1_j1mxn8f wrote

A good chunk (pretty sure it’s a majority) of “visible homeless” aren’t even homeless at all, just looking to score…you can tell because the ones that ask for change to “get a bite to eat” will decline food offerings and clearly only wanna score

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Past_Cartographer230 t1_j1m2fnk wrote

The fact that our city still has tons of above ground electrical wires baffles me.

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youlleatitandlikeit t1_j1m7mhj wrote

Yes it reduces the amount of potential damage from storms but the added complexity in repairing and installing new lines might balance out in terms of loss of service

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JDowling88 t1_j1mno2i wrote

Especially in CA, the utilities are ramping up fire hardening (going ug when they can, replacing wood poles with metal where they can't) and, especially in Southern CA, have been doing this for years. PGE is well behind, and they've paid dearly for it.

But even in places that don't see widespread outages from weather, electric lines should be underground. This protects from local outages; and while initial costs are high, long-term cost is a fraction of the overall cost of replacing above-grade lines when things go bad.

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lordredsnake t1_j1l2jsw wrote

Electric cars are still a tiny share of the demand. On the other hand, more buildings are switching to heat pumps or being built with heat pumps from the get go. They're very efficient, but it's still electrical demand that wasn't there before. The price of natural gas is going up (and will continue to as we liquify and export it, which is accelerating that trend toward electric.

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nderhjs t1_j1kv6h9 wrote

Someone make those crystals from Glass Onion

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stonkautist69 t1_j1o4qkd wrote

Ah yes it does. Which components need replacement? You seem to be an expert

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