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ziq wrote

I think the article is making false assumptions. A battery needs to be hooked up to an inverter. A set up like that isn't very portable.

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ziq wrote

The batteries weight a ton btw, and you need a lot of them. 6 batteries for 4 panels minimum.

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celebratedrecluse wrote

Yeah, true, for cooking you would need a lot of fucking panels, and it would drain batteries really quickly. However, as far as inverters go, I think there are batteries you can buy online at Amazon or Walmart where the inverter is built in, so you just connect a DC solar panel to the battery, and there are AC ports to plug into. they are also pretty portable and small, although definitely heavy for their size.

I agree, this article is probably not very reliable, and I also agree with tequila & you that there is something critique-able about this technopositive narrative that the author is pushing. However, I also think there are some positive outcomes from this. If not helping people cook, I can see how having access to mobile phones, internet media, and stuff like that would be pretty nice if you're living a nomadic lifestyle. Surely the technology will change things, and there's a colonial lens you can look at this with, but I don't think the changes will be all bad. For example, it will allow people who otherwise would not be in touch with each other due to distance, to contact each other. Not just over random anonymous forums like us rn, but with their friends and family and people they love from real life too. Plus, in moderation, consuming digital media is rather fun in my opinion

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