Texas power outages and Ted Cruz travel agency

From a friend on Facebook.

Speaking of capitalism, there are going to be a lot of people in Texas wanting off-grid solar. Iā€™m doing a set of plans for a system built into a container today for a friend who makes them in NV.

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Since Iā€™m broke I definitely donā€™t put myself in the same class!

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I get to avoid having a boss or having to boss other people around.

Oh, yeah, that reminds me, Iā€™ve got business in the moderation threads.

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what do container systems like that cost in general? are the panels usually on top of containers or another structure?

Halle-fuckijng-lujah!

Microbet: Can a solar system be designed to patch in to your existing breaker box in such a way that only circuits switch over in the event of a power outage? HVAC might be too big a draw for what Iā€™m contemplating, but maybe like smaller draw needs? Iā€™m in Texas by the way. :slight_smile:

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I can get you a price from my friend if you want. Seems like containers are about $2k for a good one. My friend is just putting them flat on the top for this one anyway. Heā€™s done some more complicated things, but keeping this one simpler and less expensive. The solar equipment costs about $1.50/watt if youā€™re shopping well (that includes batteries). How many watts you want or need is very much ā€œit dependsā€, but a roof of a 40ā€™ container can hold about 5kw if they are just flat on the roof with no slideout or anything.

Work putting it together is not included.

If anyone wants one of these Iā€™d certainly help. If I like you I might come to your property and help you build it even.

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Yes. Thatā€™s exactly what most people do who set up solar with battery back-up.

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Yeah I am trying to think why but itā€™s just something that might be needed once every 5-7 years here so itā€™s purchased and then sitting around.

Plus I am originally from Chicago so I think my parents had tended to have it due to having lived so long there and maybe I followed suit.

I canā€™t really pinpoint the last time I needed it and it is entirely possible I am mixing up antifreeze and coolant.

Ha. I knew I was confused but still correct.

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The problem is how everything works here.

There are an endless number of sales companies selling electricity and they use different gimmicks for pricing. One company only sells people electricity based on market rate. This particular company is urging all their customers to temporarily switch before their bill gets any bigger.

I was reading an article yesterday and it was just covering traditional aid for dealing with electrical bills like charity and such. I just canā€™t imagine these bills standing but then again it is Texas and I donā€™t see much will from those in charge to address it.

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Yep, just add a new trigger for bankruptcy alongside medical bills. Oh, you got a bill for $10k from the gas company? Too bad, nothing we can do, better work out a payment plan.

yeah i will hit you up when i get serious about getting some land. my wife wants a container home or a tiny home, but i am thinking getting a container with solar/battery, and possibly water storage and heating first, then hooking up a living space to that.

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Great idea and something I think about. You could set up a container that provided power and stored energy and water and where you could store construction materials while you built a tiny house or cabin and you could camp there in a van/trailer or whatever during construction. Or just have a storage/energy/etc place there along with a tiny home if youā€™re buying one thatā€™s already built.

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Payment plans were one of the suggested remedies.

In Texas, though, itā€™s extremely hard to collect on a debt. You canā€™t garnish, you canā€™t put liens (except for work done).

The one downside would be they could potentially keep a person from switching energy companies but if they switched already probably be fine. Going to have to deal with the credit hit

Obviously this should not be a conversation but it is and itā€™s going to be messy because nobody in Texas with any authority is going to stand up and correct the situation.

ā€œI know your electric bill is usually only $40 and since you are a good customer we can offer you a simple payment plan. Just 9 payments of $1325.43 and you will be all caught up!ā€

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It needs to become way more socially acceptable to tell creditors to fuck off. Rich people do it all the time.

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Corporations/LLCs whatever instruments people who can afford to set up so that failures to pay or bankruptcies donā€™t mean that they canā€™t even rent an apartment tell creditors to fuck off.

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