Then why not offer a "dash-cam discount" to the subset of customers that the insurer believes _are_ better drivers, like those with a long history of having no accidents or tickets and tons of miles?
Hidden behind all these words, the guy installs an air conditioner and then starts using it frequently and then complains that his energy usage is higher than before when he didn't have an air conditioner.
Using a heat pump in cooling + heating mode is not a drop-in replacement for a furnace like the author seems to imply, it's also an AC that comes along for the ride!
The actual title is "I made my home fossil-fuel-free. Why did my utility bills nearly double?", and the heat pump is part of making a home fossil-fuel-free.
That's why the OP is commenting that replacing a heater, with a heater _and_ an a/c, is a big part of why the bill will double.
heating + cooling > heating alone
That said, its also important to point out, that the author is in Berkeley, and electricity costs in California are among the highest in the US.
Three major utilities service pretty much the whole state (1/8th of the US population). Regulating them has been a major failure of the California democratic party controlled state governance. The CPUC is a major rant rabbit hole, industry capture is rampant.
Disclaimer: I say this being registered "no party" and considering myself left of most people.
Gavin's administration in particular has been extremely industry friendly, with a steady reduction in citizen/consumer protection in the face of ever increasing utility profits.
Ever since first seeing this article yesterday, I felt it was clickbait. This outcome was 100% known in advance. It's not new news in California that electric heating is more expensive than gas heating.
The conversion to heat pump was a great first step (and should also include increased insulation). The next step is battery and solar, in that order. Part of the affordability erosion in CA is the removal of net-metering credit for solar generation.
A battery that charges _from_the_utility_ off-peak, and is available to consume during the day, pays for itself faster than solar now! But adding solar in addition to the battery, completes an investment that pays for itself in about 1/2 to 1/3 of it's service lifetime.
I know several modest sized homes that generate all of their own electricity consumption, including charging EVs. In comparison, I don't know anyone with their own on-site natural gas production.
Electrification is the straightest path to energy independence, and from utility price gouging.
Rejection of electrification by the US right is one of it's biggest self-inflicted wounds (except for those that own petroleum companies).
Without a strong theory for why anti-Elon sentiment can't get worse, it's quite plausible we haven't actually hit the "peak" of it.
Personally I think it quite likely that Musk will catch significant blame for whatever bad things related to American government happen in the coming year, deserved or otherwise.
Those tests are faster now, however what remains entirely untested is simple sickness like colds. That's why you're supposed to call them if you get a cold within a few days of donating, they have no other way of knowing.
I think the most likely political effect is from media consumption. There have been anecdotal reports of the drug helping people avoid doomscrolling compulsions, which likely means less exposure to various political social media.
The article warns about impending future inequality:
> Imagine two employees. One can afford these medications, the other cannot. One has regulated impulses, higher energy, better focus, and lower healthcare costs. The other doesn't. In a few years, data shows the first is three times more likely to be promoted.
> Scale that across society.
I'm not sure this is a reasonable worry. Ozempic is going out of patent in less than a year's time. There will be cheap generics all over the place. Purportedly the drug has a very low unit cost and uncomplicated manufacturing process, and every potential generic manufacturer knows it'll be a huge hit. That means we should expect it to rapidly become a commodity that's quite available.
If it really does cut food, alcohol, and cigarette costs so dramatically then I suspect a decent amount of poorer people would budget for the drug even if it didn't become cheap. It's not like poor people don't buy food, alcohol, or cigarettes today -- if it's a net savings and health/life improvement, it's even more worth buying than the alternative.
when semaglutide and tirzepatide first came out, they were being synthesized in labs across the world for pennies per milligram, as with all compounds.
Sorry a bit late here, but both Tirzepatide and Semaglutide are off the shortage list, and the promise to not seek legal action that is currently allowing some compounders to operate freely will likely end sometime soon.
Literally, the only reason any compounder today (that is brave enough) can produce Tirzepatide or Semaglutide is because the FDA has promised to not pursue legal action for a short period to enable people to find other solutions.
Prices are about to go back up/a bunch of options are about to leave the market. See: Novo Nordisk's share price/related news.
Again this is not great news but if you zoom out it’s amazing that obesity might be a solved problem basically completely in like 10 years.
Obviously GLP1s don’t work for everyone but they work for a lot of people, maybe we can focus the remaining resources on a smaller group of people with greater struggles
Somewhat halfway would be a slightly delayed version of the game using much better-in-hindsight decisions about which camera angles to show during a play.
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