Coverup

I recently finished reading Walter Isaacson's massive biography of Elon Musk.  I plan to give a longer review but for now will just relate one anecdote from the book.   Musk is trying to cut the cost of installing a solar roof.  So according to the book (p. 370-371) Musk advised his people that "... they should question the requirement that installers must work around every vent and chimney sticking up from a house.  The pipes for dryers and ventilator fans should simply be sheared off and the solar roof tiles placed on top of them, he suggested.  The air would still be able to vent under the tiles .."

This is of course idiotic advice.  The air won't vent efficiently if at all.  And more importantly in the case of a dryer exhaust the lint won't find its way out.  It will get hung up and block what little air flow is left.  Which could cause the dryer to overheat and start a fire.  Since lint is extremely flammable this is not good.  

Also even if this solution wasn't dangerous it isn't code which means Musk's company is likely to be eventually forced to fix any solar roofs installed in this way.  Which will cost them far more than if they had done it right in the first place.

In fairness to Musk it isn't clear that this method was ever actually used.  Sometimes his people were able to ignore his stupider suggestions.  And if it was used I expect the additional costs of being forced to redo installations in a code compliant way would have quickly caused the method to be dropped.  Musk in fact expected some of his cost cutting ideas to prove impractical when tried and have to be reversed.

Still this episode shows why some people find Musk easy to dislike.  And also why many people are reluctant to buy houses with solar installations on the roof.  Who knows what problems are lurking.

Leave a Light On

 I got my monthly gas and electric bill a few days ago and was wondering why my electric use was up 64.6%.  Eventually I thought to check my basement.  It wasn't obvious from the top of the stairs (although it was night) but as I started down it became apparent that there was a light on.  Which I eventually located in a far corner.  I don't go down in my basement much so it could have been burning for months.  This was a little annoying as I have done this before.  I believe I actually checked a few times but only from the top of the stairs.

Assuming a 100 watt bulb this is 2.4 KwH a day.  Which amounts to about $.50 a day which isn't a huge amount amount but does add up.  This by itself doesn't explain the full increase in my bill.  Another factor is the billing period was 33 days this year as opposed to 29 days last year which the utility didn't adjust for.  This still doesn't account for the entire increase so possibly there was some other factor.      

 Anyway if you have an attic or basement or closet that you don't use much and that has lights in it it seems to be a good idea to check every so often that you haven't left a light on.