Thursday shorts – Solar roof, drag shows, Oil Reserve

| July 20, 2023

If you own a house, you probably read Elon Musk’s claim that Tesla was developing a home roof: each shingle is a little solar panel and he claimed the roof  costs would be comparable to a shingle roof. Uh, no.

At first glance, the Solar Roof looks like a fairly normal roof, but if you look closely, you can see it’s a combination of glass solar tiles and steel roofing tiles.

The Powerwall is an integrated battery system that stores solar and other energy for later use. When paired with the Solar Roof, the dynamic duo captures all the sun’s energy during the day and keeps it for you to use at night.

The homeowner is part of the Swell Energy Home Battery Rewards Program, which takes energy collected by the Solar Roof and sends it back to the power grid. The program will earn the homeowner about $350 a month for five years — totaling $21,000.

But before you start ripping shingles off your roof, you should know that this is an expensive option. It’s difficult to nail down a price for the Solar Roof due to many variables, but one estimate done by Forbes has a 2,000-square-foot, two-story house costing around $64,000.  theCoolDown

I’m OK at simple math – they are saying a roof over 1,000 square feet cost $64,000? And in five years you can make back $21,000, so this will cost several times a normal roof and in exchange you get a 30 year payback (unless you live someplace where the electric company doesn’t buy back.) Sounds a heck of a lot higher than a standard roof to me.

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At a an air show at Joint Base Lewis McChord last weekend, spectators questioned (on Instagram, of course) that some of the exhibitors has scantily-clad wimmen in their AOs.  Hetero girls dancing and associated with cars and planes… how unacceptable  Drag queens… well, drag queens.  I know the historical, and my, choice.

In the midst of ongoing controversy over a Pentagon decision to limit drag shows on bases after some critics complained of alleged adult content, the models and the racy musical performances over the weekend raised questions from LGBTQ+ advocates about what criteria Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is using to stop some performances associated with the gay community while allowing other provocative acts.

Jennifer Dane, an LGBTQ+ advocate and an Air Force veteran who was one of the last to be investigated under the Pentagon’s old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, told Military.com that allowing the models at Joint Base Lewis-McChord appears to point to a double standard.

“It just sends a message that that’s OK, assuming that’s heteronormative,” Dane said. “But if it’s homosexual-based or anything else, that’s not OK.” Military.com

Ermigawd….think she might have actually gotten a clue. FYI, Ms. Dane is the blonde, the “scantily clad” Asian lady is one of the women targeted, and one of the outfits complained about. I’ve seen scantier at high schools nowadays.

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Last but not least – remember when the Biden administration sold off part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? It was supposed to “drive gas prices down” (which it did, byt something like $0.12/gallon) but they were gonna repay it – real soon – so fast we would never notice – like the kid who lifts a $20 from is Dad’s wallet on the dresser.

But buried deep beneath the surface are storage caverns so massive they’re tall enough to house the Empire State Building with plenty of room to spare.

These reserve sites are supposed to hold enough backup supply to ensure the US never runs short of oil. Right now, they’re sitting half empty.

It only took about six months for the Biden administration to sell off 180 million barrels from the federal stash in the fastest withdrawal on record. But refilling it to capacity will likely take decades, if it happens at all.

Oil prices are now much higher than when most of the inventory was originally bought — the average price paid for oil in the reserve was $29.70 per barrel, which compares with the current benchmark cost for US crude futures at about $75.  Bloomberg

From what I read, much of the oil was originally bought relatively cheaply compared to now and we don’t want to pay updated prices. (Yeah, I want a $5000Corvette like they were when Sniffy Joe got his, too.) And apparently there are standards and testing required which didn’t used to exist… so in simple terms, they pulled cheap oil out, there ain’t no oil as cheap to put back – and the American taxpayer is on the hook.

Category: Economy, LGBTQWERTY, Society, The Stupid is Strong

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11B-Mailclerk

Bidenomics! Sell low, buy high! Print what you don’t have. Squirrel!

Anonymous

Sharply rising prices, sluggishly rising (if at all) wages!

Anonymous

P.S. I know this will be unrealistic for defense contractors but overall it works out: If the people who earn/spend their money can’t afford to buy the products they make, eventually the economy will stop.

Money substitutes for barter, so people who make toasters don’t have to swap will people who make food. Gov’t is just a drain on the economy, too. If whatever money’s left stays stuck in products people can’t buy, the flow of money ceases and the economy ends.

Let’s raise prices without raising pay to keep up– that’ll make us money! (Uh, why is nobody buying stuff like they used to?)

Anonymous

P.P.S. Much the same happened in socialist Venezuela (an OPEC member, mind you). They looted their oil industry for Free Sh*t (blown on Consumption, as one might expect) and didn’t invest in said oil industry (those evil Capitalist exploiters have too much already) which paid the bills. Oil industry collapsed, money stopped flowing…

5JC

You had to bring up the Strategic Reserve. I’m still pissed at our idiot 2018 congress. During Covid they could have filled up the whole damn thing for practically free (oil companies were actually paying you to take oil) but the Democrats voted down Trump’s proposal because it was a “gift” to oil companies. It would have been like buying Bitcoins at $1 each. They all have the business sense of a dead squirrel sitting out rotting in the sun. Back then it was at about 80% full, so if they had filled it, it would have been about 55% now.

Biden had to unharness some of the oil production so that he could pursue his war in the Ukraine so we are back to cheaper gas for the moment. No telling how long that will last.

poetrooper

An article in the West Texas oil patch’s Odessa American recently said that petroleum economists are fairly sure West Texas Intermediate is heading back up to $100 a barrel this fall.

Anonymous

And, of course, we’re not even trying to re-fill the petroleum reserve before that happens.

AW1Ed

Moral equivalence bullshit.

5JC

Fair and balanced news from China owned Forbes Magazine with ties to the CCP. You all need to work on your sources.

Let’s think this through here real quick. An asphalt roof is indeed much cheaper. And why wouldn’t it be? A three tab shingle has a service life of 10-15 years in the South.

A Tesla solar roof has a 25 year guarantee, just on the power levels alone. The roof itself will likely last around 50 years. Even though powers levels will degrade, they level off after 25 years at about 50% of the new production level. It might actually outlive your house.

(In best Ronco Voice) But wait there is more! If you act now and just pay shipping and handling charges, you can get a 25 year Power Wall and blackouts will be a thing of the past! Even if the power company never buys a single kilowatt from you, the powerwall will provide the electricity you need while using zero from the company and provide days of electrical power in the event of a blackout with full service!

So yes, a roof that lasts 2-5X longer, pays some to all of your electric bills for the rest of your life and gives you UPS peace of mind costs more than having Gary the roofer and his 8 Venezuelan workers fresh off the boat slap another coat of asphalt shingles up there.

Anonymous

Interesting, but when tangerine-sized hail in Tornado Alley hits it that might get expensive. (Rare, I admit– hail don’t get above nickle or quarter-sized too often– but solar panels don’t take well to getting hit by solid things.)

KoB

To each his own for roofing. I put metal roofs on they’ll all 3 outlast me. Solar panels are nice but how do they hold up in hail storms…or tornados?

Ms Dane is appropriately named…as in Great Dane. Instead of cologne, wear a pork chop necklace if you want her affections. Ms Scantily clad Asian Thang? She can lub me long time. Remeber when freaks and weirdos were turned away at the induction center? How about when someone mentioned a blown tranny meant they were having car problems? Pepper Ridge Farms remembers.

We really got to quit asking how stupid can politicians get. They’re taking it as a challenge. Our forefathers tossed tea in a harbor, then pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor over a 3% tax. Now we’re having 40+% confiscated from our earnings and are happy that they’re not taking more.

Prepare.

Anonymous

I prefer Ms Scantily clad Asian Thang there as eye candy for grown folk to a fat bearded drag queen actively trying to appeal to little kids, let me tell youm.

Last edited 11 months ago by Anonymous
5JC

I don’t know of any house (or roof) that will withstand a tornado strike unless it is earth bermed or solid concrete. Even a near miss will be catastrophic.

Too W Kone

My solar system is rated to 2 1/2” hail and has shrugged off 1” hail a few times. The mounts are rated for 90 mph sustained and 120 gusts. We have had 70 with gusts up to 80. (Near Ft. Knox)

Our panels are rated to 92.5% efficient at 25 years and should produce over 40.

It is not connected to a battery (yet) and is not part of the roof. The Tesla system was over $120k just six years ago. Our solar was $28,500 before rebates and tax credits. With batteries it would have pushed over $55k

Things are improving and the costs are coming down while efficiency is going up.

A Proud Infidel®️™️

“Scantily Clad Women “ – *GASP!*, promoting heterosexuality?

Anonymous

Normalcy– how dare they encourage it?! /sarc

Anonymous

Also… Dude in Hawaii gets Soldier’s Medal for defending a woman (being a Blue State liberal area I’m surprised he wasn’t prosecuted):
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-soldier-receive-highest-peacetime-210857541.html

Last edited 11 months ago by Anonymous
jeff LPH 3 63-66

Am sure that some peeps who go into these solar roofs will have a roof time with the costs and possible damage due to roof weather, weather they can weather it or not and for some peeps not a roof time with the above I mentioned. Would be a roof time for some if these panels were installed on a commercial building and an employee was put up on the roof because she/he wanted to start at a higher level.

Anonymous

Not to mention bird crap is probably corrosive to them, etc.

MarineDad61

PHONY ALERT – REPEAT PHONY.
Here we go again.

Outed by VG/TAH in 2021,
after Erie, PA newspaper reports….
Brenton Davis is at it AGAIN,
running AGAIN for Erie County Executive.

CPT Davis has changed his campaign webpage over 20 times
(per the WayBack Machine),
and his CURRENT page (link at VG article) is making NEW questionable claims.

(paste) Decorated Combat Veteran
Brenton enlisted in the U.S. Navy at 17,
trained in search and rescue,
then served in the Iraq War,
saving the lives of fellow servicemen in multiple rescue missions.
He later joined the U.S. Army Reserves,
rising through the ranks in a 21-year career in our nation’s uniform.
Currently, Brenton is a Captain and serves as an
Assistant Professor of Military Science at Edinboro University.
(end paste)

Politician’s Military Service Called Into Question
Steve Balm | October 28, 2021

Last edited 11 months ago by MarineDad61
MarineDad61

NOTE –
After being contacted on the Book of the Fake
by someone in Erie County,
I am now awaiting a CURRENT photo of CPT Davis
wearing his (new?) medals and ribbons in public.

More soon.
Stay tuned.
Same Bat Time.
Same Bat Channel.

E.Conboy

Accidentally voted. Rory. Can it be deleted?

rgr769

Lesbianism. Some say it was created by God so ugly women could find partners and get laid.

Anonymous

Just in… Anheiser-Busch CEO insists folk upset with Bud Light over Dylan Mulvaney are “confused”:
https://www.thestreet.com/restaurants/anheuser-busch-ceo-blames-misinformation-for-bud-light-woes?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

Last edited 11 months ago by Anonymous