Let's do this.
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> six solar systems installed between 1987 and 1993 that have been in continuous operation since, and found most panels still producing more than 80% of their original output after nearly four decades.
https://electrek.co/2026/01/28/how-long-do-solar-panels-last-new-study-shows-its-longer-than-you-think/
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@TechConnectify
This video is a great example of why YouTube remains valuable despite its problematic corporate ownership. Now you just need a condensed version for the people who can't manage the (gulp) feature-film-length runtime. -
Solar is way too cheap to be ignored.
'Mining' oil for one time use is stupid compared to mining minerals and using them again and again forever.
Fuck ice.
@Madagascar_Sky @utf_7 @TechConnectify you had me at hello
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@TechConnectify Absolute banger of an episode!
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@rexi @TechConnectify perhaps https://freetubeapp.io/#download helps?
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@TechConnectify thank you
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@TechConnectify The entire length is so good! It resonates with me so much and honestly it's amazing how much everything connects.
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@rexi @TechConnectify looks like a mass report by the chuds that are mad that Alex is speaking out
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@TechConnectify It's really refreshing to see a US youtuber addressing what's going on outside their windows with a call to action to his fellow citizens.
The solar part was cool too.
@makdaam @TechConnectify The journey from affordability of solar panels to the poem on the Statue of Liberty may seem surprising to some, but Alec really presented it in a way that highlighted the obviousness of their Connection
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@TechConnectify I still think it's absolutely crazy how cheap solar panels are
I got my 500w panels, new and unused, for 50-60 a piece, without buying in bulk.
That's cheaper than standard plywood. It's literally CHEAPER to build a house out of SOLAR PANELS than it is to build out of low grade PLYWOOD.
They've gone up a little bit in price since but not much, you can still get 500w panels for around 70 euros a piece, example here: https://www.solar-outlet.nl/zonnepanelen/
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@balkonsolar Yikes! How are you preventing backfeed to the grid and not defeating the whole point of a breaker box? Backfeeding from an outlet kills people!
@BalooUriza @balkonsolar a grid tie inverter is synchronized to the grid and has to stop if the grid goes down, because otherwise it would loose sync and suddenly supply 100% of the load.
These imverters are designed to inject current in your home mains by using a voltage slightly higher than the grid, so it is consumed first.
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@TechConnectify Just happened onto this on YT, had no idea you're here.
Making great points throughout the entire video there and it's nice to see people active in ostensibly far-removed fields to find such clear words.
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@vogelchr @TechConnectify hallo from your neighborhood country (Tschechien), i hope that by "us" you mean whole Europe, that's what is getting weaker, because you have bot much to complain
. It started in Hungary and we have now ultra-populists party leading too in CZ - this time with two true fascist parties in coalition. Germany is far more stable and better! 
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@TechConnectify Amazing video. Absolute aces all around. Some meandering thoughts:
1- The starting discussion around Midwestern values around frugality and investing wisely kept echoing as a corollary of the Vimes Boots Theory of Socieoeconomic Unfairness that I expected it to get mentioned. I'm assuming you know what that is, but that leads right into my next thought...
2- Building off your statement "I kind of already assumed everyone knew what we were trying to do", plainly stating assumptions is one of the most useful tools for solving problems I have found in the past ten years. My day job is supporting some niche technology infrastructure, and when I get pulled into a problem it's because things are seriously, seriously weird. I've had multiple occasions where I've "walked the stack" out loud, and someone else chimed in to correct some component of pile which led to figuring out what was wrong and how to solve it.
I think there's a more advanced theory of mind issue around understanding and addressing the inherent assumptions other people make. I have no idea how that realization will help make better videos, but I'm excited to see it happen.
2a- While I agree that there's a massive capitalist interest in misleading people, my gut says the bigger challenge is people just... not reexamining assumptions that are years or decades out-of-date. Either because it's cognitively expensive (taking time and mental focus off of day-to-day work, which is also an opportunity capitalist interests are happy to exploit), or because they straight up lack the tools to approach the subject. Maybe that's wrong, and fraud/deception are really the impetus behind wasting time and money on disposable energy.
But I really think the Overestimate Short Term & Underestimate Long Term problem does a lot more heavy lifting in that regard. Humans in survival mode (as so many of us have been for the past 10-40 years) need to focus on the short term, and thinking about the long term is an unaffordable luxury.
3- Tangentially related to cognitive expense/load, I process information better with my eyes than my ears. Showing more of the math when you were running the numbers would have made that easier for me to grasp and process.
Yes, Excel is one of my most-used applications of all time. How did you know?
4- There was a dark, gallows laugh when you talked about the First Amendment rights and the press being declared enemies of the people as Donald Trump is racistly arresting four black journalists. (I'm not laughing because it's funny, I'm laughing because it's an easier emotional outlet than crying)
5- We've lost so much from caring too much about what billionaires and cult leaders say, and caring too little for our own neighbors. I don't know how we solve the big problem. I'll do my part with my skills, like the repair café I'm volunteering at next weekend. We need to build more, better fucking community, damnit.
(sorry for spammy edit/reposting. markdown is being an asshole with list formating)
@drsbaitso @TechConnectify We need to reclaim “conservative”, because frugality used to be a byword, and even a synonym.
“Stitch in time saves nine” is a whole ethic and way of life
A “Conserve” movement would target the radical conservatism — radical rebellionists in a conservative constitutionalist trenchcoat
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@TechConnectify Fuck. Yes.
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@TechConnectify Thank you.
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@drsbaitso @TechConnectify We need to reclaim “conservative”, because frugality used to be a byword, and even a synonym.
“Stitch in time saves nine” is a whole ethic and way of life
A “Conserve” movement would target the radical conservatism — radical rebellionists in a conservative constitutionalist trenchcoat
> But I really think the Overestimate Short Term & Underestimate Long Term problem does a lot more heavy lifting in that regard. Humans in survival mode (as so many of us have been for the past 10-40 years) need to focus on the short term, and thinking about the long term is an unaffordable luxury.
Really feeling this. Looking after your sustainability is totally a thing. But having had some major wins, politically, this decade in Australia, it gives light to the maxim “you underestimate what you can do in a decade”.
We replaced a string of the safest conservative House of Reps politicians with pro-environment pro-integrity conservatives, really rattling the establishment and rejecting post-truth, putting civility back on the floor of the house. It’s the sort of thing 12-year-olds on a school tour can actually watch without cringing (and dying) inside.
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@TechConnectify The first 3/4 or whatever was mostly stuff I kind of knew - not the specific figures and examples you give - exactly how much more energy would be available just from converting fields growing corn for ethanol fuel into solar fields, for example.
And then the second part. Fantastic. Blistering. Thank you and from Canada I wish you and all Americans of good conscience success and safety.
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@TechConnectify I watched about half of this while eating lunch. I gotta say, not only is this one of your best videos ever, this is the clearest explanation of the renewables value proposition I have ever heard.
@chrismerkel @TechConnectify Worth finding time to watch the second half.
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@TechConnectify Thank you.
