Germans Combat Climate Change From Their Balconies
www.nytimes.com
Plug-and-play solar panels are popping up in yards and on balcony railings across Germany, driven by bargain prices and looser regulations.
      • TitanLaGrange@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        FTA:

        The so-called plug-in systems involve routing the direct current generated by the panels to an inverter, which converts it to an alternating current. They can then be plugged into a conventional wall socket to feed power to a home.

        So, yeah, almost certainly illegal in pretty much any grid-powered home in the US.

        The basic problem is that if the grid power goes down the inverter can back-feed the grid enough to electrocute the people who are working to fix it.

        Utilities require an approved isolation system of some kind that prevents that happening. They are pretty strict about this for various other technical and political reasons too, but evidently it is mostly a safety concern.

        I’ve got some good locations at home for panels, and about 500W in panels that I use for camping, but the equipment I’d need to handle easily and safely consuming the power at home is kind of expensive (just running an inverter and a battery for an isolated system is easy enough, I’ve got all that, but it’s not cheap to seamlessly connect it to my home power system). Would love to have a safe and approved system like what is described in the article.

        • BastingChemina@slrpnk.netEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          Houses in Europe are connected to the grid too.

          These systems are approved in Europe by utilities because they have failsafes implemented to prevent back feeding electricity in the grid.

          The fact that these systems are still illegal in the US is a political issue, not a technical one.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
            01·
            3 months ago

            These systems are approved in Europe by utilities because they have failsafes implemented to prevent back feeding electricity in the grid.

            Sounds like Big Government Regulation of my God Damned Rights to do something on my house as I see fit! Europe’s full o’ damn communists and their stupid sun grabbin’ electro-gibbits. That’s why they’ll never be the Greatest Bestest Country on da face a dis here Earf.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      01·
      3 months ago

      Largely illegal by way of import. The Americans don’t want cheap foreign panels dominating their still-nascent domestic solar industry.

  • Media Bias Fact Checker@lemmy.worldBEnglish
    01·
    3 months ago
    New York Times Media Bias Fact Check Credibility: [High] (Click to view Full Report)

    New York Times is rated with High Creditability by Media Bias Fact Check.

    Bias: Left-Center
    Factual Reporting: High
    Country: United States of America
    Full Report: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-times/

    Check the bias and credibility of this article on Ground.News:
    - https://ground.news/find?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F07%2F29%2Fbusiness%2Fgermany-solar-panels-climate-change.html%3Funlocked_article_code%3D1.-00.0349.cWTL1gUdvaMj%26smid%3Dem-share

    Media Bias Fact Check is a fact-checking website that rates the bias and credibility of news sources. They are known for their comprehensive and detailed reports.

    Thanks to Media Bias Fact Check for their access to the API.
    Please consider supporting them by donating.

    Beep boop. This action was performed automatically. If you dont like me then please block me.💔
    If you have any questions or comments about me, you can make a post to LW Support lemmy community.