this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2026
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Not true. Modern solar tech no longer needs direct sunlight and will still generate a good amount of power in overcast conditions.
That does mean you need more panels for the same output, yup. Good news is panels have become so cheap that it's not remotely a deal breaker.
Shit has been bleak out there but the advances in solar tech are incredible and legit one of the most positive and exciting things going on right now.
I agree in general but as someone who lives in a place that's grey much of the year and have evaluated solar for my location, the ROI is not amazing, and it's pretty useless during winter. Even at current prices.
Ha! I have done the same evaluation for my location (also grey much of the year) and came to the opposite conclusion. I do have reservations about winter, but they're more about the duration of the day. Thankfully that's also when we get a lot of wind.
You gonna do home wind turbines?
I mean, you gonna do home nuclear?
They do have home wind turbines but they don't look that practical.
Yeah. Wind (plus batteries) will likely have to remain a grid thing for the days when the sun just won't cut it. I'd like to get to full autonomy mostly for peace of mind reasons but I don't see that happening, barring storage advances that would allow storing power across seasons.
Still, mostly full solar with a wind-powered grid as backup would already be amazing, and it's just plain fantastic that we're making good progress in that direction.
Your place is not the world. In general PV is working fine.
Depends on geography but yes it works fine in many places.
It's even better than you think. Organic and semi-organic solar panels are improving fast, so even disposing of the toxic metals involved in their manufacturing is likely to become a problem of the past.