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If a given free, clean energy was piped into your city and home, how would you use it? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Knowing that this would likely put a strain on other resources such as water and create light pollution, I am not sure what effects this would have on the planet.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (3 children)

My question was sparked by wondering if I should wait to run the washing machine until I have a bigger load and momentarily thought it would be nice to not worry about it, but then realised it’s not just the electricity but the water too. So I now it’s unclear to me how to govern use if not through artificial scarcity.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 years ago (2 children)

i would say governing use is difficult to do because different households have different needs. a two-bedroom apartment housing 5 people will need more electricity than a two-bedroom with 2 occupants. they will also need more water. but you can't govern by number of occupants either: 3 healthy adults may need less than 2 healthy adults and 1 disabled child.

i think education on energy use, better renewable energy sources, and forbidding people from doing things like mining cryptocurrency in their home would help regulate individual energy use without being restrictive.

as a whole though, it is important to remember that it is industry that is so wasteful. energy needs to be looked at on a global level because the amount of strain on the environment by an individual is completely insignificant in comparison.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 years ago (1 children)

education on energy use, better renewable energy sources, and forbidding people from doing things like mining cryptocurrency

Hopefully, but how do you avoid a household running A/C, the dryer, washer, etc even some amount more that seems reasonable but on aggregate is a major burden? It would be ironic to me if magic free energy machines made water and freon more expensive.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 years ago

offending households' use could then be examined. if it is found to be excessive, reasonable limits could be placed. limits could be things like the household only gets 15 dryer cycles a month but can still use the washer without limit and hang dry.

if things are pooled, there will always be people who use less and people who use more. perhaps incentives could be given to those who use less water than average.

anecdotally: i know of people who have "free" (technically negative cost) energy (the energy companies approached them to install solar panels on their roofs to help put more energy into the grid). their use has not changed.