explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3226: Home Solar

2026-03-31T06:17:02Z

2603:8000:5E00:2913:9D9C:E9:C38C:F709: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 3226
| date = March 30, 2026
| title = Home Solar
| image = home_solar_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x258px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "While I try to do my part to destroy the environment, I try not to focus too much on individual responsibility. By pushing for broad policy changes, we can collectively do far more damage to the biosphere than any of us could on our own."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently by HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] are outside Black Hat's house (presumably) discussing the solar panels he has recently installed on the roof. Being a [[72: Classhole|classhole]], Black Hat is attempting to live in a way as to maximize his negative impact on the environment. Cueball asks why he has installed solar panels, as he claims Black Hat has described himself as anti-renewable. Black Hat responds that, as much as he'd prefer an option that harmed the planet more, solar power is simply the cheapest option and his budget is incapable of supporting anything else.

Black Hat's words that "the technology just isn't there and the cost is too high", in panel 3, is an oft-repeated excuse for those sticking with fossil fuel use on the potential deployment of renewable energy technology, such as solar panels. When solar panel technologies were in their infancy, their costs were very high, pricing out most uses of them; but now solar panels are mass-produced, and it has become affordable for households to put solar panels on their rooftops{{Actual citation needed}}, so the excuse has lost most of its validity. Nowadays this excuse is commonly used to justify technological inertia.

Black Hat in the end claims that he can try to 'make up for this' by buying industrial waste with the saved money and burning it in his backyard. Cueball responds with a knowing comment about 'carbon onsets'. This is a play on carbon ''offsets'', certificates used for lowering one's carbon footprint. Carbon offsets represent emission reductions or captures happening elsewhere, and therefore can be used to ''offset'' emissions caused by the user of the credit. Black Hat does the reverse, causing extra environmental harm to offset (or "onset", as he calls it) the good done by him using solar panels instead of an oil furnace.

The title text is a spin on standard environmentalist slogans from the perspective of Black Hat, showing how excited he is for systematic change for the worse. Black Hat believes (and is correct in that) policy change can make a bigger difference than just him burning industrial waste.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Black Hat and Cueball stand next to a house with solar panels on the roof.]
:Cueball: Wait, you got solar panels?
:Cueball: I thought you were against renewables.

:[Zoom to show only Cueball and Black Hat.]
:Black Hat: Oh, definitely. I hate the environment and want to harm it as much as possible.
:Black Hat: I'd '''''love''''' to have an oil furnace.

:[Zoom in on Black Hat; only his head and shoulders are visible.]
:Black Hat: But the technology just isn't there and the cost is too high.
:Black Hat: I despise solar, but it makes more financial sense in my situation.

:[Zoom out to show Cueball and Black Hat again.]
:Black Hat: But with the money I'm saving, I can buy and burn industrial waste in my yard to try to make up for it.
:Cueball: Ah, yeah, carbon onsets.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

3226: Home Solar

2026-03-31T06:15:37Z

2603:8000:5E00:2913:9D9C:E9:C38C:F709: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3226
| date = March 30, 2026
| title = Home Solar
| image = home_solar_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x258px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "While I try to do my part to destroy the environment, I try not to focus too much on individual responsibility. By pushing for broad policy changes, we can collectively do far more damage to the biosphere than any of us could on our own."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently by HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] are outside Black Hat's house (presumably) discussing the solar panels he has recently installed on the roof. Being a [[72: Classhole|classhole]], Black Hat is attempting to live in a way as to maximize his negative impact on the environment. Cueball asks why he has installed solar panels, as he claims Black Hat has described himself as anti-renewable. Black Hat responds that, as much as he'd prefer an option that harmed the planet more, solar power is simply the cheapest option and his budget is incapable of supporting anything else.

Black Hat's words that "the technology just isn't there and the cost is too high", in panel 3, is an oft-repeated excuse for those sticking with fossil fuel use on the potential deployment of renewable energy technology, such as solar panels. When solar panel technologies were in their infancy, their costs were very high, pricing out most uses of them; but now solar panels are mass-produced, and it has become affordable for households to put solar panels on their rooftops{{Actual citation needed}}, so the excuse has lost most of its validity. Nowadays this excuse is commonly used to justify technological inertia.

Black Hat in the end claims that he can try to 'make up for this' by buying industrial waste with the saved money and burning it in his backyard. Cueball responds with a knowing comment about 'carbon onsets'. This is a play on carbon ''offsets'', certificates used for lowering one's carbon footprint. Carbon offsets represent emission reductions or captures happening elsewhere, and therefore can be used to ''offset'' emissions caused by the user of the credit. Black Hat does the reverse, causing extra environmental harm to offset (or "onset", as he calls it) the good done by him using solar panels instead of an oil furnace.

The title text is a spin on standard environmentalist slogans from the perspective of Black Hat, showing how excited he is for systematic change for the worse. Black Hat believes (and is correct in that) policy change can make a bigger difference than just him burning industrial waste.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Black Hat and Cueball stand next to a house with solar panels on the roof.]
:Cueball: Wait, you got solar panels? I thought you were against renewables.

:[Zoom to show only Cueball and Black Hat.]
:Black Hat: Oh, definitely. I hate the environment and want to harm it as much as possible.
:Black Hat: I'd '''''love''''' to have an oil furnace.

:[Zoom in on Black Hat; only his head and shoulders are visible.]
:Black Hat: But the technology just isn't there and the cost is too high.
:Black Hat: I despise solar, but it makes more financial sense in my situation.

:[Zoom out to show Cueball and Black Hat again.]
:Black Hat: But with the money I'm saving, I can buy and burn industrial waste in my yard to try to make up for it.
:Cueball: Ah, yeah, carbon onsets.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]