3226: Home Solar - Revision history

Tromag at 14:01, 16 April 2026

2026-04-16T14:01:03Z

GSLikesCats307 at 10:58, 7 April 2026

2026-04-07T10:58:21Z

Tromag at 16:37, 6 April 2026

2026-04-06T16:37:31Z

Tromag at 16:35, 6 April 2026

2026-04-06T16:35:40Z

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2026-04-01T14:58:23Z

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2026-04-01T14:53:14Z

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2026-04-01T14:49:00Z

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2026-04-01T09:00:10Z

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BunsenH: bust up long sentence

2026-04-01T01:50:17Z

bust up long sentence

1234231587678 at 18:57, 31 March 2026

2026-03-31T18:57:39Z

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 Photovoltaic solar panels generate electricity without the use of any fuel, and therefore produce no carbon dioxide or other emissions, and consume no resources, other than what's involved in the initial manufacture and installation. Individuals can install panels on their own roofs for their own use, and often are able to sell any excess back to the grid. This reduces the load on power plants, and therefore reduces emissions of CO2 and other pollutants. Importantly, this is a move that individuals can make to reduce their carbon footprint, rather than relying on governments or corporations to make changes (which can face a great deal of resistance).
-Ever since photovoltaic panels became commercially available, people who are concerned about pollution have been encouraged to install them as a move toward environmental protection. The cost of such panels, however, was initially prohibitive, leading to many people ''wanting'' to install solar panels, but arguing that it didn't make financial sense to do so. Over the last few decades, however, [[https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices the price of solar cells has fallen dramatically]]. Depending on specific conditions (including weather factors, installation costs, local price of electricity, regulation, and government subsidies), home solar panels can often save money over their lifetime, when compared to the costs of grid power.
+Ever since photovoltaic panels became commercially available, people who are concerned about pollution have been encouraged to install them as a move toward environmental protection. The cost of such panels, however, was initially prohibitive, leading to many people ''wanting'' to install solar panels, but arguing that it didn't make financial sense to do so. Over the last few decades, however, [https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices the price of solar cells has fallen dramatically]. Depending on specific conditions (including weather factors, installation costs, local price of electricity, regulation, and government subsidies), home solar panels can often save money over their lifetime, when compared to the costs of grid power.
 This strip plays on that, with Black Hat inverting the role of the traditional environmentalist. Being a [[72: Classhole|classhole]], Black Hat, isn't merely indifferent to environmental damage, he professes to "hate the environment" and tries to maximize his negative impact. Yet he installed solar panels  because it "makes more financial sense". He expresses his desire to have an oil-burning furnace (a notoriously dirty source of home heat), but "the technology just isn't there and the costs are too high".

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:58, 7 April 2026
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	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
−	~~{{incomplete\|This page was created recently by HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}~~
−
	This strip portrays [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] discussing {{w\|solar panel}}s that Black Hat has recently installed.		This strip portrays [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] discussing {{w\|solar panel}}s that Black Hat has recently installed.

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 Photovoltaic solar panels generate electricity without the use of any fuel, and therefore produce no carbon dioxide or other emissions, and consume no resources, other than what's involved in the initial manufacture and installation. Individuals can install panels on their own roofs for their own use, and often are able to sell any excess back to the grid. This reduces the load on power plants, and therefore reduces emissions of CO2 and other pollutants. Importantly, this is a move that individuals can make to reduce their carbon footprint, rather than relying on governments or corporations to make changes (which can face a great deal of resistance).
-Every since photovoltaic panels became commercially available, people who are concerned about pollution have been encouraged to install them as a move toward environmental protection. The cost of such panels, however, was initially prohibitive, leading to many people ''wanting'' to install solar panels, but arguing that it didn't make financial sense to do so. Over the last few decades, however, [[https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices the price of solar cells has fallen dramatically]]. Depending on specific conditions (including weather factors, installation costs, local price of electricity, regulation, and government subsidies), home solar panels can often save money over their lifetime, when compared to the costs of grid power.
+Ever since photovoltaic panels became commercially available, people who are concerned about pollution have been encouraged to install them as a move toward environmental protection. The cost of such panels, however, was initially prohibitive, leading to many people ''wanting'' to install solar panels, but arguing that it didn't make financial sense to do so. Over the last few decades, however, [[https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices the price of solar cells has fallen dramatically]]. Depending on specific conditions (including weather factors, installation costs, local price of electricity, regulation, and government subsidies), home solar panels can often save money over their lifetime, when compared to the costs of grid power.
 This strip plays on that, with Black Hat inverting the role of the traditional environmentalist. Being a [[72: Classhole|classhole]], Black Hat, isn't merely indifferent to environmental damage, he professes to "hate the environment" and tries to maximize his negative impact. Yet he installed solar panels  because it "makes more financial sense". He expresses his desire to have an oil-burning furnace (a notoriously dirty source of home heat), but "the technology just isn't there and the costs are too high".

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ==Explanation==
 {{incomplete|This page was created recently by HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
-Black Hat's words in panel 3, that "the technology just isn't there and the cost is too high", is an oft-repeated excuse for those sticking with {{w|fossil fuel}} use rather than potentially deploy renewable energy technology, such as solar panels. When solar panel technologies were in their infancy, their costs were [https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/evolution-of-solar-pv-module-cost-by-data-source-1970-2020 very high], pricing out most uses of them. Now, solar panels are mass-produced, and there have been some periods of official subsidy (with varying likelihood, by both location and time) as the manufacturing/installation industries were encouraged to be more developed. Thus, it has become [https://www.wri.org/insights/growth-renewable-energy-sector-explained more affordable] for households to put solar panels on their rooftops, so the excuse has lost much of its validity. Nowadays this excuse is commonly used to justify technological inertia.
+This strip portrays [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] discussing {{w|solar panel}}s that Black Hat has recently installed.
-This may also be a reference to recent high oil/gasoline prices, going up over 30% in the past two weeks prior to this comic's publication, overwhelmingly due to {{w|2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis|military activity}} disrupting fuel (and other) trading, and its knock-on effects globally.
+Photovoltaic solar panels generate electricity without the use of any fuel, and therefore produce no carbon dioxide or other emissions, and consume no resources, other than what's involved in the initial manufacture and installation. Individuals can install panels on their own roofs for their own use, and often are able to sell any excess back to the grid. This reduces the load on power plants, and therefore reduces emissions of CO2 and other pollutants. Importantly, this is a move that individuals can make to reduce their carbon footprint, rather than relying on governments or corporations to make changes (which can face a great deal of resistance).
-In the end, Black Hat claims that he can try to 'make up for this' by using the saved money to buy industrial waste and burn it in his backyard. Cueball responds with a knowing comment about 'carbon onsets'. This is a play on {{w|Carbon offsets and credits|carbon ''offsets''}}: certificates used for demonstrating mitigation of one's own carbon footprint, by effectively crowd-funding larger projects that are {{w|Carbon dioxide removal|'carbon negative'}} but are difficult to properly coordinate directly and individually. Carbon offsets represent emission reductions or captures happening elsewhere, and can be used to ''offset'' emissions caused by the user of the credit. This is rather than just relying upon random altruistic third parties to put the effort and finance into such a scheme to counteract others' care-free carbon emissions, or to allow a way to reward those who would indeed just do this off their own back.
+Every since photovoltaic panels became commercially available, people who are concerned about pollution have been encouraged to install them as a move toward environmental protection. The cost of such panels, however, was initially prohibitive, leading to many people ''wanting'' to install solar panels, but arguing that it didn't make financial sense to do so. Over the last few decades, however, [[https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices the price of solar cells has fallen dramatically]]. Depending on specific conditions (including weather factors, installation costs, local price of electricity, regulation, and government subsidies), home solar panels can often save money over their lifetime, when compared to the costs of grid power.
-Black Hat does the reverse, causing extra environmental harm to offset (or "onset", as Cueball calls it) the good reluctantly done by him by using solar panels instead of an {{w|oil burner|oil furnace}}. This doesn't really make sense since it's not clear what target he would be trying to 'onset' to; there is no 'ideal' level of emissions that he would be trying to achieve, although one can assume that he'll be aiming to be at least the wrong side of 'carbon neutral'<!-- the term 'carbon positive' is often used for being 'positively beyond neutral', confusingly, rather than merely being break-even; or 'carbon negative' meaning "less net carbon than there would be, but still a net emitter", so it would be a troublesome term to use, without a long explanation like this bit... Sorry! -->. While the solar panels will have a much lower carbon footprint than the oil furnace, they will still have had some, in manufacture, and other options (such as burning coal) could provide him with even more emissions than the oil. It also assumes that the waste he's buying would not simply have otherwise been burnt elsewhere, mirroring a common criticism of some carbon offsetting schemes that the carbon sequestration involved may or could have happened anyway in their absence, raising doubts about how much of a genuine compensation effect they are having.
+This strip plays on that, with Black Hat inverting the role of the traditional environmentalist. Being a [[72: Classhole|classhole]], Black Hat, isn't merely indifferent to environmental damage, he professes to "hate the environment" and tries to maximize his negative impact. Yet he installed solar panels  because it "makes more financial sense". He expresses his desire to have an oil-burning furnace (a notoriously dirty source of home heat), but "the technology just isn't there and the costs are too high".
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 In the end, Black Hat claims that he can try to 'make up for this' by using the saved money to buy industrial waste and burn it in his backyard. Cueball responds with a knowing comment about 'carbon onsets'. This is a play on {{w|Carbon offsets and credits|carbon ''offsets''}}: certificates used for demonstrating mitigation of one's own carbon footprint, by effectively crowd-funding larger projects that are {{w|Carbon dioxide removal|'carbon negative'}} but are difficult to properly coordinate directly and individually. Carbon offsets represent emission reductions or captures happening elsewhere, and can be used to ''offset'' emissions caused by the user of the credit. This is rather than just relying upon random altruistic third parties to put the effort and finance into such a scheme to counteract others' care-free carbon emissions, or to allow a way to reward those who would indeed just do this off their own back.
-Black Hat does the reverse, causing extra environmental harm to offset (or "onset", as Cueball calls it) the good reluctantly done by him by using solar panels instead of an {{w|oil burner|oil furnace}}. This doesn't really make sense since it's not clear what target he would be trying to 'onset' to; there is no 'ideal' level of emissions that he would be trying to achieve, although one can assume that he'll be aiming to be at least the wrong side of 'carbon neutral'<!-- the term 'carbon positive' is often used for being 'positively beyond neutral', confusingly, rather than merely being break-even; or 'carbon negative' meaning "less net carbon than there would be, but still a net emitter", so it would be a troublesome term to use, without a long explanation like this bit... Sorry! -->. While the solar panels will have a much lower carbon footprint than the oil furnace, they will still have had some, in manufacture, and other options (such as burning coal) could provide him with even more emissions than the oil. It also assumes that the waste he's buying would not simply have otherwise been burnt elsewhere, mirroring a common criticism of carbon offsetting schemes that the carbon sequestration involved may or could have happened anyway in their absence.
+Black Hat does the reverse, causing extra environmental harm to offset (or "onset", as Cueball calls it) the good reluctantly done by him by using solar panels instead of an {{w|oil burner|oil furnace}}. This doesn't really make sense since it's not clear what target he would be trying to 'onset' to; there is no 'ideal' level of emissions that he would be trying to achieve, although one can assume that he'll be aiming to be at least the wrong side of 'carbon neutral'<!-- the term 'carbon positive' is often used for being 'positively beyond neutral', confusingly, rather than merely being break-even; or 'carbon negative' meaning "less net carbon than there would be, but still a net emitter", so it would be a troublesome term to use, without a long explanation like this bit... Sorry! -->. While the solar panels will have a much lower carbon footprint than the oil furnace, they will still have had some, in manufacture, and other options (such as burning coal) could provide him with even more emissions than the oil. It also assumes that the waste he's buying would not simply have otherwise been burnt elsewhere, mirroring a common criticism of some carbon offsetting schemes that the carbon sequestration involved may or could have happened anyway in their absence, raising doubts about how much of a genuine compensation effect they are having.
 The title text is a spin on a standard argument about personal responsibility in tackling environmental issues, distorted through the perspective of Black Hat. Low amounts of action to address personal impact is sometimes excused by pointing out that it will be a 'drop in the ocean' relative to the scale of the problem, and suggesting that only action at a global institutional level can really address it. Black Hat believes (correctly) that policy and other systemic change can cause bigger damage than just him burning industrial waste, and is excited about the potential for this to change things for the worse. This is ironic, because ingrained institutional and systemic factors have played a significant role in ''causing'' the problems we now have, and holding up the finding of solutions to them.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] are outside Black Hat's house discussing the {{w|solar panel}}s he has recently installed on the roof. (Or alternatively outside another house, e.g. Cueball's, with its solar panels having initiated the comparison.) Being a [[72: Classhole|classhole]], Black Hat is attempting to live in a way that will maximize his negative impact on the environment. Cueball asks why he has installed solar panels, since he knows Black Hat, and that he has described himself as anti-'{{w|renewable energy|renewables}}'. Black Hat responds that, as much as he'd prefer an option that harmed the planet more, solar power ({{w|photovoltaics}} and/or {{w|solar thermal energy}}) is simply the cheapest option and his budget is incapable of supporting anything else.
-Black Hat's words in panel 3, that "the technology just isn't there and the cost is too high", is an oft-repeated excuse for those sticking with {{w|fossil fuel}} use rather than potentially deploy renewable energy technology, such as solar panels. When solar panel technologies were in their infancy, their costs were [https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/evolution-of-solar-pv-module-cost-by-data-source-1970-2020 very high], pricing out most uses of them; but now solar panels are mass-produced, together with some potential periods of official subsidy (with varying likelihood, by both location and time) as the manufacturing/installation industries were encouraged to be more developed, and it has become [https://www.wri.org/insights/growth-renewable-energy-sector-explained more affordable] for households to put solar panels on their rooftops, so the excuse has lost much of its validity. Nowadays this excuse is commonly used to justify technological inertia.
+Black Hat's words in panel 3, that "the technology just isn't there and the cost is too high", is an oft-repeated excuse for those sticking with {{w|fossil fuel}} use rather than potentially deploy renewable energy technology, such as solar panels. When solar panel technologies were in their infancy, their costs were [https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/evolution-of-solar-pv-module-cost-by-data-source-1970-2020 very high], pricing out most uses of them. Now, solar panels are mass-produced, and there have been some periods of official subsidy (with varying likelihood, by both location and time) as the manufacturing/installation industries were encouraged to be more developed. Thus, it has become [https://www.wri.org/insights/growth-renewable-energy-sector-explained more affordable] for households to put solar panels on their rooftops, so the excuse has lost much of its validity. Nowadays this excuse is commonly used to justify technological inertia.
-This may also be reference to the high oil/gasoline prices recently, going up over 30% in the past two weeks prior to this comic's publication, overwhelingly due to {{w|2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis|military activity}} disrupting fuel (and other) trading, and its knock-on effects globally.
+This may also be a reference to the high oil/gasoline prices recently, going up over 30% in the past two weeks prior to this comic's publication, overwhelmingly due to {{w|2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis|military activity}} disrupting fuel (and other) trading, and its knock-on effects globally.
 In the end, Black Hat claims that he can try to 'make up for this' by using the saved money to buy industrial waste and burn it in his backyard. Cueball responds with a knowing comment about 'carbon onsets'. This is a play on {{w|Carbon offsets and credits|carbon ''offsets''}}: certificates used for demonstrating mitigation of one's own carbon footprint, by effectively crowd-funding larger projects that are {{w|Carbon dioxide removal|'carbon negative'}} but are difficult to properly coordinate directly and individually. Carbon offsets represent emission reductions or captures happening elsewhere, and can be used to ''offset'' emissions caused by the user of the credit. This is rather than just relying upon random altruistic third parties to put the effort and finance into such a scheme to counteract others' care-free carbon emissions, or to allow a way to reward those who would indeed just do this off their own back.

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:57, 31 March 2026
Line 22:		Line 22:

	The title text is a spin on a standard argument about personal responsibility in tackling environmental issues, distorted through the perspective of Black Hat. Low amounts of action to address personal impact is sometimes excused by pointing out that it will be a 'drop in the ocean' relative to the scale of the problem, and suggesting that only action at a global institutional level can really address it. Black Hat believes (correctly) that policy and other systemic change can cause bigger damage than just him burning industrial waste, and is excited about the potential for this to change things for the worse. This is ironic, because ingrained institutional and systemic factors have played a significant role in ''causing'' the problems we now have, and holding up the finding of solutions to them.		The title text is a spin on a standard argument about personal responsibility in tackling environmental issues, distorted through the perspective of Black Hat. Low amounts of action to address personal impact is sometimes excused by pointing out that it will be a 'drop in the ocean' relative to the scale of the problem, and suggesting that only action at a global institutional level can really address it. Black Hat believes (correctly) that policy and other systemic change can cause bigger damage than just him burning industrial waste, and is excited about the potential for this to change things for the worse. This is ironic, because ingrained institutional and systemic factors have played a significant role in ''causing'' the problems we now have, and holding up the finding of solutions to them.
−
−	~~This is one of the few comics [[Black Hat]] appeared in in the 3000s, the others being [[3057]], [[3067]], [[3105]], & [[3202]].~~

	==Transcript==		==Transcript==