I mean an old Nissan leaf was $6k before the crazy spike

Is it that they are losing money to get you in the ecosystem.

So you have Alexa connected washing machine, Roomba, lights etc?

The plan was to lose money and get people in the ecosystem but the ecosystem seems niche. I'm interested in some of this stuff but also IDK what the numbers look like but 60% of people hate them listening which if you are a couple that means you aren't adding that many more.

Literally all I want from those machines are to turn the bedroom light down or off and occasionally the weather.

Having the consistent connection with my light bulb was a huge upgrade, my wi-fi connected one always disconnected every couple of months.

I've thought about more lights and automation but most of it doesn't seem like it's worth it.

I still think we should focus more on getting away from the car while moving towards EVs. EVs aren't as good at longer commutes and such but decreasing vehicle miles driven is key.

It's also automated electric busses are the real killer thing here. A lot of the problems with automated vehicles are because they aren't mapped or they have things in their path. This would make it a lot simpler.

Cities are wildly more efficient and people are willing to pay the premium, we should just build more and not subsidize the suburbs as much.

Batteries are plummeting in price are a falling% of the product. This will get below 25k.

I mean east Henrico is broke so that doesn't seem to be a slam dunk. The worst schools in the metro area are in Henrico...

Edit: source

8/45 schools in Henrico are a 2/10

Most are on the east end...

https://www.greatschools.org/virginia/henrico/henrico-county-public-schools/schools/?gradeLevels%5B%5D=e&page=2&st%5B%5D=public_charter&st%5B%5D=public

The answer to take a bite out of the homeless population is SROs. As well as building more housing.

I've heard it's the most solidly democratic seat in Virginia...

But the USPS was profitable and asked to be partially spun off is the difference maker here. The USPS was profitable and wanted to pay workers more but was stuck to federal government salaries but they wanted to spin off. Now the situation has changed and they need to be a government service at some point soon enough. That or they operate a bank which I think is personally a better option.

Well actually the post office was a service that cost a lot of money. (They actually had arguments because in rural areas the postal service only delivered to town and when people came into town they would buy something at the store next door but it would go to urban houses because it was far easier, this was a huge cost and a significant portion of the federal budget)

Anyway then people started sending a lot more mail back and forth. The post office then generates a profit, they decide they want to semi-break off from the government. Now less letters to and from people are falling and they are looking at downsizing in real ways. Since they made a profit they increased pay and pensions and such and at some point it's just another normal government position which is why the Republicans asked to prepay their pension because the post office finances look to be decreasing profitability. Which pushes them to look insolvent sooner but also makes the transition easier to when they go back as a full government agency.

But back to the topic, I mean think about all the land used for parking or driving that could be sold. I mean I heard there was a plan for 64 to be closed and I was just trying to quantify how much that would be worth. I mean nobody bats an eye when we increase parking in land that would otherwise sell for hundreds of thousands and then generate tax revenue.

Yeah I think it's underrated that white flight happened because racists didn't want to live next to another race...

Yeah with a density around 10,000 per square mile a frequent bus would be popular. It's just you gotta have a lot of people and destinations.

I know Richmond copied the Houston bus reformatting when the pulse was proposed. Less bus routes but more frequent was the idea.

I went there like a month ago and they did it. I only found out about it because my power was out and it was either a movie or being in the dark.

Cinebistro does cheaper movies as well.

Bowtie is a steal on Tuesdays for $7 movie and I think like $5 any size popcorn.

Also I've done Cinebistro which is a "fine dining" and movie experience.

I think the science museum has some stuff sometimes, plus I hear about the VMFA and history museum showing some stuff.

I think it will happen in some places.

Electric cars have been doubling in production worldwide for awhile and are projected to be cheaper than new gas cars on initial price in the next few years. The batteries needed to cross the $100/KWH mark and they are at $120. Battery prices have been plummeting for decades and renewables when they are on are turning into basically free energy with how much they have plummeted in cost.

Right now it's hard to see but projections show this is peak demand of oil because 10% of new cars worldwide are electric. The US lags in the electric car market.

It's also in America the average purchase price for a new vehicle is $47k so price isn't as big of a concern in the aggregate so this has runway before it gets cheaper.

Tesla has to use CCS in Europe soon enough.

https://insideevs.com/news/343728/most-tesla-superchargers-now-retrofitted-with-ccs-plugs-in-europe-video/

I think trickle chargers in a couple of spots but the best way to be green is density and less personal motorized vehicles.

In Richmond this probably looks like living close to work and a grocery store and going to a 1 car household as a couple.

Edit: they did a study and the average American moving to NYC cuts their carbon emissions in half.

Electric cars are becoming rather popular and have been doubling and as long as battery price do decently they will expand rapidly.

Disagree on 10 years gas cars last 15 years. They won't be selling basically any new gas cars but how to figure that out is probably hooking up to city power in those spots

Wow that makes me realize I was getting a deal. Over the summer at azalea flea market there was a guy selling eggs. I think it was $3 for a dozen but he hasn't been there for a month.

The cheapest local produce was at Azalea flea market.

I really do think it's underrated how much of the pollution killing rivers and poisoning our air (other than CO2 and GHG) is generally on an improving trend.

Yeah that was fun and now my car is clean.

Population projections for most of the world are rising too high. They keep projecting the natural amount of kids people will have is replacement level which is ~2 but from what I've seen the answer seems to be quite a bit lower. I don't think the world population crosses 9 billion but basically all the growth is in Africa.

I mean having a massive desert how far away to put up some solar panels and transmission lines for basically free electricity 12 hours a day.

I mean Germany kinda was and in the 1870s they made fun of Germany as little Germany because they weren't united with the Austrians.

I think we need to look at language and cultural barriers falling over decades. Getting Africans on the internet probably kills a lot of the tribalism at least in the current system.