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wbruce098 t1_j1ir7k8 wrote

Reply to comment by S-Kunst in Eastern grid operator asking consumers to conserve electric use by Ghoghogol

> As we know the surrounding counties are building building building, homes and stores, but no infrastructure. Every new housing development and strip shopping center add additional burden to the electric grid.

Seems like a good incentive to pass some sort of new construction tax that goes toward building new green power generation. Make exceptions like for affordable housing.

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S-Kunst t1_j1lrb8n wrote

Yes. There is public land laying fallow which could be converted to solar farms. Many possibilities, but the private sector seems uninterested in getting involved unless there is immediate pay off, and the public sector is so insulated from the citizens, and entrenched in what they are doing that no new ideas are being sought.

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wbruce098 t1_j1lu07b wrote

What in proposing is a little different. Since you basically said infrastructure doesn’t scale with construction, in proposing a tax on new construction that will be used to help fund more infrastructure. This could help solve that problem.

I figure there’s a bunch of “but what about xyz” pushbacks to this suggestion, so a carve out for affordable housing (so the same bill could also serve as part of a financial incentive to build more of it), and maybe a very few additional exceptions might be effective, but definitely applies to commercial and industrial spaces, who use the most electricity by far, and maybe anything that fits the all-too-easily thrown around “luxury” housing term.

Make it green because there’s no reason our tax dollars should be used to build coal plants. Solar & wind are the typical responses there, but probably also things like battery capacity, general electrical infrastructure, and charging stations. And creativity about placement can make a big difference from simply finding fallow land: Ranchers often lease their land out for solar farms, with the panels built high enough that cattle/etc can take shelter under them. Seems a nice 2-for-1. My rooftop will never be big enough for whole home power from solar, but could house a couple panels that contribute to a collective run by the city or my neighborhood and/or a solar water heating system, which is much smaller.

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