# Free Electricity From the Sun **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 30, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054 "2001-03-30T02:17:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fatherjohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@fatherjohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fatherjohn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/1 "2001-03-30T02:17:49Z")
Yes, I’m talking about “solar power.” I’m talking about those “solar collectors” you use to generate “current.” Think you’re getting free electricity? Think again, Einstein. Add in the cost of those collectors. Capital costs? Depreciation? (they won’t last 4eva you know) batteries? wiring? other miscellaneous junk? Hello McFly! Your “free electricity from the sun” is rather expensive . . . ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/2 "2001-03-30T02:29:11Z")
I get free electricity from my SUV. If you weren’t so pissy about them I’d tell you how. ---
**Author:** ![fatherjohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@fatherjohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fatherjohn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/3 "2001-03-30T02:41:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zette \* > \*\*I get free electricity from my SUV. If you weren’t so pissy about them I’d tell you how. \*\* (1) Go to the following link: [http://arstechnica.com/reviews/3q00/honda/insight-4.html](http://arstechnica.com/reviews/3q00/honda/insight-4.html) (2) Scroll down to the picture besides the word “windmill.” (3) If this is how you get electricity from your SUV, then **fatherjohn** is not interested. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/4 "2001-03-30T02:46:34Z")
WHOOSH!! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/5 "2001-03-30T03:03:52Z")
Okay, I could kinda (put a big ol’ emphasis on “kinda” there) see the point about SUV drivers, but people who use solar collectors? But… but… why? What kind of hideous misanthrope do you have to be to get angry at people who use solar collectors? So its not an economically effective method of saving energy. How on Earth does that at all impact YOUR life? Are you a board member of Mobil Oil? No, because then you ought to love SUVs. Are you just drawing name out of a hat? (“Man, I hate those \ ‘People who like fresh ground pepper!’ Those jerks!”) Is this part of some elaborate Swiftian satire? Are people who butter the top of their bread next in line? Do the orderlies know you’ve gotten out of your cell? Are you going to shut up any time soon? Is there some sort of threshold of humiliation that, once passed, will keep your sorry ass out of these message boards? I kinda hope not, because you’re a slow and easy target, and I’m just cruel enough to enjoy watching you go down in flames again and again and again. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/6 "2001-03-30T03:19:40Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by fatherjohn \* \*\* [QUOTE}(3) If this is how you get electricity from your SUV, then **fatherjohn** is not interested. \*\*[/QUOTE] Fenris is still curious why fatherjohn refers to itself in the third person? Fenris ---
**Author:** ![bunnymom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@bunnymom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bunnymom)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/7 "2001-03-30T03:49:49Z")
Ahh, yes. I just love a good stream-of-conciousness rant. The less coherent and the more ridiculous - the better. Nimune, love that mental image of fatherjohn and his hat! 3Bmama knows just what Fenris means. Too bad no one can figure out what fatherjohn means, even (apparently) fatherjohn itself. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/8 "2001-03-30T04:07:56Z")
Well, technically speaking the electricity itself they’re getting from the Sun is free. It’s just the getting it that costs money. I know what you mean fatherjohn. I get unreasonalby pissed off at sanctimonious idiots who think they’re saving the world by driving a Civic. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/9 "2001-03-30T04:14:36Z")
Is this a momentous occasion? Is this the first fatherjohn link that didn’t go to the “poseur” site? I’m stunned. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/10 "2001-03-30T04:33:46Z")
The most interesting thing about the OP is that it has the tone of a response. To whom, I have no idea. I’m afraid to imagine the idiot that **fatherjohn** can feel intellectually superior to. Whoever it is, I can only assume these conversations transpire in between hits. (toke) Dumb guy #1: Man, I don’t see why we don’t just use free electricity from the _sun_, man! It’s fuckin’ free! (toke) fatherjohn: (silence) (toke) Dumb guy #1: (silence) (toke) fatherjohn: (silence) (toke) Dumb guy #1: yeah… (toke) fatherjohn: No, man. You still gotta buy the solar panels and wires and shit, man. So it’s not free! (toke) Dumb guy #1: (falls asleep) ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/11 "2001-03-30T07:05:11Z")
The birds, man…the birds…electricity is like the birds. The Man can’t keep us down. You can’t jail the birds, man. The Man may have gotten to some of these guys man, but The Man won’t get to me…no way man…no FUCKING way. I’m not going to jail for you, or for anybody. Man…it’s just not cool man…they’re taking away our freedom, man…The Man is charging us for the sun, man…they’re trying to chain down the FREAKING sun…it’s not cool man…just not fucking cool. You can’t do that, man. The sun wants to be free, man. Like the birds. The birds are free man, and so is the sun, man. The Man can’t take that away from us, man. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/12 "2001-03-30T07:05:55Z")
It’s early yet, **thedoors**. Give him time. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/13 "2001-03-30T08:20:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zette \* > \*\*WHOOSH!! > > \*\* BWAHAHAHAHA! No shit, huh? Hey fatherjohn, you want I should send you a picture of my solar oven I made out of a cardboard box and AOL disks? Didn’t cost squat aside from the thrift store mirror. 😉 (No this does not translate into electric current…or as fatherjohn would say “electric” “current” …but it will cook a meal without using a commercial power source, thereby expanding the pool of available electricity for others. Nyah!) ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/14 "2001-03-30T08:27:15Z")
I think it might be **fatherdougal**. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/15 "2001-03-30T08:36:05Z")
Dougal… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! anyone else reminded of the line “it puts the lotion in the basket” from Silence of the Lambs? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/16 "2001-03-30T09:11:20Z")
This is a rant? WTF? OK, an example here. In the Netherlands, we have this thing called “Green Current”. You can decide which percentage of your power supply you wish to be generated by environmentally safe means. I, for example, use 50% normal energy (in my country this means it’s generated by steam turbine facilities), and 50% “green” energy. The green energy is about 15% more expensive. Of course, there’s only one power supply coming into the house. What happens is, that the power company is obliged to spend 50% (or whichever percentage I chose to have “greenified”) of a predetermined and regulated percentage of what I pay them, and invest it in environmentally sound energy solutions such as solar arrays, wind mills, et cetera. So, I’m deliberately paying (on average) 7.5% more for my energy supply in order to make sure it is generated -at least partially- in a “green” way. Yes, in essence, that makes it more expensive. So? It’s a personal choice. What about all those people that use solar arrays to heat their outdoor pools, e.g.? You’d rather have them use conventional current, putting another strain on energy supplies, whereas the sun equivalent is always there as well? With people like **fatherjohn** , it’s no wonder the US is having a major problem managing its power supplies. Oh, and Dubya? Sign the fucking Kyoto Protocol already, you weasel. ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/17 "2001-03-30T14:05:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > **Fenris is still curious why fatherjohn refers to itself in the third person?** Shit, **Alphagene** is also amused that he’s not even consistent with it. His first sentence in the OP uses “I” yet he goes third person on us in his second post. johnnie, if you want to promote yourself from twit to self-important twit, you really need to put a little more energy into it. You can probably harness solar energy using your tinfoil hat. Just remember to put the shiny side out. And I agree with Nim. Usually anti-SUV nuts are ecofreaks who get hard just _thinking_ about solar power. No, john’s got something deeper and much more intricate working here. Perhaps as a spry youth, fj was sodomized with a photocell in the back of a Land Rover or something. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/18 "2001-03-30T14:30:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Alphagene \* > You can probably harness solar energy using your tinfoil hat. Just remember to put the shiny side out. **Alphagene** , we’re trying to fight ignorance here. As Cecil [firmly established](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_172.html), it doesn’t matter which side is out: > [@](#): > > Shiny shminy. Put the foil on any way you want. (I realize that Cecil was dealing with baked potatoes, but **fatherjohn** ’s head would seem to be very similar.) ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/19 "2001-03-30T14:34:30Z")
Flymaster, can I have a toke of that? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054/20 "2001-03-30T14:57:00Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Alphagene \* > Shit, **Alphagene** is also amused that he’s not even consistent with it. His first sentence in the OP uses “I” yet he goes third person on us in his second post_\* Alphagene, We have decided that refering to Ourselves in third person is gauche. In the future We shall refer to Ourselves in second-person plural (aka the Royal “we”.) We urge you to consider doing the same thing. HRM, Fenris [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-electricity-from-the-sun/60054.md?page=2)