[ExI] solargate

[Kelly Anderson]

2011/9/19 Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com>:
> I think this depends on how it evolves. One can easily imagine all of the
> above issues as invitations to inventors and entrepreneurs to find
> solutions. For instance, if it's hard to fix these things, try to make them
> cheap and modular -- e.g., so cheap and easy to install that people replace
> rather than fix (you don't, I take it, fix light bulbs or socks with holes
> in them; you chuck them and get new ones). Or make them so durable, they
> rarely break down -- as is the case with stoves, refrigerators, and
> dishwashers.

Dan, it's going to take a long time, if ever for this to happen.
Remember the bad old days with computers, installing device drivers,
serial and parallel ports, cards, etc. and now we have USB. Well, it's
going to take something like that level of standardization to make
solar and wind turn key, and I don't expect it any time soon. It took
20 years to get USB, it really requires getting to the point where
differentiation will not gain further profitability. Then
standardization makes sense, only when it becomes a commodity. We have
a long way to go before solar is a commodity.

I type this on my qwerty keyboard... still... sigh.

-Kelly