News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Balcony solar taking off: 1.5M Germans have them there must be something in it. Parent comment

Re:Balcony solar taking off: 1.5M Germans have them there mu... by cogman10 on Monday February 10, 2025 @05:39PM (#43006206)
Cars will last for 10->15 years roughly before getting switch out. Apartments hang around for anywhere from 100 to 1000 years.

The cost of retrofitting energy efficiency is massive compared to the cost of building an apartment with energy efficiency in mind in the first place. That's why striking on new builds is so important.

For vehicles, bad gas milage sucks and it should be regulated to keep it down. However, we are talking about products with somewhat short lifecycles destine to be melted down and turned into a new car in the next 20 years.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Balcony solar taking off: 1.5M Germans have them there mu... by jeffbee on Monday February 10, 2025 @07:45PM (#43007425)
The median car in service in the USA is 13 years old, so I think your mental model of car lifetime is pretty outdated. For cars made today you should figure 22-25 years.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Balcony solar taking off: 1.5M Germans have them there mu... by cogman10 on Monday February 10, 2025 @07:57PM (#43007566)
This says 16->18 [1]

Where are you getting 22+?

Definitely an update to my mental model though.

[1] https://autorecyclingworld.com/what-is-the-lifespan-of-a-veh...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Balcony solar taking off: 1.5M Germans have them there mu... by jeffbee on Monday February 10, 2025 @08:01PM (#43007614)
See recent paper, noting the trend and that the rightmost point of the trend is already 8 years ago. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-024-01698-1/figures/4
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Balcony solar taking off: 1.5M Germans have them there mu... by cogman10 on Monday February 10, 2025 @08:28PM (#43007842)
Very interesting. I wonder why there's an apparent discrepancy between UK and US life expectancy. The UK has more stop and go traffic, I'd have thought that'd be harder on vehicles.
[ Parent | on HN ]