Things you can't believe exist in modern America
1. 3% cuts for real estate agents
Honestly, I'm glad water and electricity aren't ungodly expensive like maybe it could be
The way most homes in the US are built people who live in areas with cold winters and/or hot summers couldn't afford to pay electricity prices like in some other parts of the developed world.
In 2023 my average kWh price in the US was roughly 1/3 of that in Germany. Since then prices went down a bit in Germany but I think it's still >2.5x.
Water - give it a few years. A lot of predictions are the next coming wars will be over water, not oil.
Electricity - I’m in California and it’s ridiculously expensive here. Before we got solar on the house about five years ago, we were paying anywhere between $700-$900/month in the months from April to October.
It’s hot where I live so the A/C needs to be on a lot and it just drives the cost up to insane levels. Plus, we have a pool and the pool pump is an energy suck.
Got 38 solar panels on the house and our bill is now $0/month and at true-up time, the electric company usually owes us a couple hundred.
Water - give it a few years. A lot of predictions are the next coming wars will be over water, not oil.
With desalination getting cheaper and cheaper, I doubt this is true.
I hope you’re right but I haven’t heard of desalination getting cheaper and cheaper. Is there recent new tech I’m not aware of? We’ve been pushing for this for years in California but it’s always the same “cost prohibitive” excuse. That and wildlife concerns.
cheaper than waging wars over water
unless ulterior motives are itching for an excuse to deploy the navy
I hope you’re right but I haven’t heard of desalination getting cheaper and cheaper. Is there recent new tech I’m not aware of? We’ve been pushing for this for years in California but it’s always the same “cost prohibitive” excuse. That and wildlife concerns.
Not exactly new tech, but membranes for reverse-osmosis are getting better and cheaper to manufacture. Also, the "acceptable cost" is tied heavily to the cost and availability of fresh groundwater. As the price of water goes up, and the price of desalination comes down, at some point there's a crossover where desal is no longer cost prohibitive. That's already happening in some areas. Israel uses a ton of desal, and Saudi Arabia even more. California uses the most in USA#X, but its a way smaller percentage of total use than those two.
Furries.
That the average person has almost all of the information ever available at their fingertips but continues to take what idiots say on Twitter at face value, even if it makes no sense, because it fits their world view.
