Thanks, I was beginning to think noone liked me USB house lighting idea. I too noticed it in data centers. Now folks are retrofitting USB to outlets and power strips which is far more expensive than one transformer and wiring during installation / construction.

Thank you for you comments. When we moved to our place 15 years ago, a house built in the early 50s, we did a heavy up (old panel was 60 amps, but the service lines from the pole was only 40 … Odd) to 200 amps, and replaced the old oil furnace (which had a cracked plenum) with a heat pump. The only AC had been a 1980s vintage through wall unit. It also had an old Sears central air unit, but that had stopped working many years before. At the time there was no concept of solar, so your second point wasn’t even something we thought of, but we did put in a generator outlet / disconnect. I really like quad outlets, and have been doing them for many years, whenever possible. It has saved me many power strips and weird adapters. I don’t know why they aren’t done more, or why the electricians I have dealt with don’t like or recommend them. They are definitely more of a pain to install. Regarding your comment about USB lighting, Datacenters moved to DC power years ago. Instead of having a power supply in every chassis in the rack (so hundreds of power supplies, with the added heat and inefficiencies of each) they now have a large power supply for the needed DC, which is fed to each blade. It has saved a ton of money up front as well as in utility costs and cooling costs. I don’t know if the smaller scale of residential (or even light commercial) will ever be a market, but the idea is sound.

I wired outlets that way when we put an addition on the house. Yes, it’s very convenient in those places where three or four plugs compete for space. However, I would do it differently if there’s a next time, because adaptors (similar to what I used to call octopuses) are available to plug into a dual receptacles, providing space for six plugs. Where I need more than two, I would plug in an adaptor. Wiring one dual receptacle avoids the extra jumpers needed for a quad receptacle.

All those converters getting warm tells you how much energy you are wasting.

Have you looked into the microgrid enabling process now collecting 600,000 signatures for the most important ballot initiative ever.
California
Renewable
Energy
Acceleration
Law

Oh, wanted to add that we just had a -20 night with the following day in the single digits. At -14 my heat pump was still putting out 102.9 degrees of heat. All three kept the house in the high 60’s and we had no need for additional heat. That was an unexpected, pleasant surprise.

Jim, The hot tub is mentioned because my wife “had to have it” and I did not plan that in my plan. Hence the 3 additional panels (easilty added with micro inverters) to my original 40. I have not specifically measured the energy to it, but it is out on the deck exposed to the Maine winter. So I think it is worth mentioning to the engineer that will look at my usage and wonder why it is at 19.7 Mwh. I forgot to add my hotwater heat pump. Just installed Step Warmfloor in my Mbath and soon will put it in my shower floor, seat, and back wall for the Mrs. Low voltage, great product and energy efficient. Maybe next year the kitchen will get a new tile floor and be nice and warm also. EV Silverado may be the next move. Cheers. Kurt

I’m totally home energy independent with solar but yet on the grid net metering , thank God, because I don’t need an expensive ( nasty carbon foot print) battery array and I’m never without power thanks to the grid and I still give some free KW Hours back to the grid at the end of the year, you’re welcome.

The math is simple but many refuse to look at it.
Below is the link to reality.
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/images/outlet-graph-large.jpg

Anyone looked at the carbon footprint of those nasty batteries everyone wants in their car or the carbon footprint of a wind turbine and the generator it takes to operate it or the environmental waste left when it needs new blades or new generators. We choose to ignore those realities because it upsets our bubble.
Not sure those dreamers are ready to conclude the Flintstones had it right and then follow that path.

We have a ground source heat pump, 2 ton capacity in a fairly tight and fairly well insulated 2200 sq. ft. older home in northern Delaware. It has no problem keeping the temp at 70 when it’s 5 outside ( personal experience last December), same when it’s 100 ( like last summer). It’s a long term investment but the incentive money helps.

Very nice, Kurt! I’m pursuing a similar approach here in Maryland with a somewhat challenging ~4k sq. ft. split level built in 1973. Energy audit, insulation, 400A heavy-up, 5-ton air source heat pump HVAC and water heater, family trained to dry clothes outside :-), 9.69 kW array on the house feeding a 7.6 kW inverter (morning shade), 9.12 kW array on the barn feeding another 7.6 kW inverter (afternoon shade), annual production averaging 15 MWh with consumption marginally less (net metering with price parity typically nets tiny reimbursement from utility plus SRECs). Fun!

The Bolt sounds like an ideal commuter car, but we recently FIREd with plans to spend time on the road (heading west for a month in late March!) so will continue trading efficiency for convenience until battery technology and charging infrastructure evolves a bit further before replacing our older but bulletproof RAV4 with a PHEV or BEV.

Curious: why does your hot tub deserve a mention? Ours has a relatively new cover but a typical 1700W resistance heater maintaining 104°F in an enclosed but non-conditioned space. Heat pump heater alternatives are available but very pricey!