369
Oh fuck they broke Alec shit's bad
this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
369 points (98.4% liked)
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As someone not from the US, I can't say how much I appreciate the last part of his video. As much as I understand why YouTubers want to "keep politics out of entertainment", it's disappointing and makes me lose interest in some US content because it seems like they are ignoring what's going on around them.
And about the batteries, that's unfortunately an argument I sometimes hear from skeptics. "What are we going to do with all those batteries?" they ask. I explain that they can mostly be recycled and like to ask what are we going to do with all the CO2 in the air, but apparently it's different. Ironically one of those persons is my father, that has a cabin with a solar system that I installed for him. He originally bought a generator but since it's very noisy to run only for some lights, he prefers using the battery bank powered by a few solar panels on the roof. I'd show him this video but he doesn't speak English and it's probably a lost cause anyway.
We can only hope that at least a few people can be influenced by this video; both parts.
For what it's worth, ALL technology connections videos have manually added English closed captions, not auto generated gibberish. It's some of the best captioning work I've ever seen. He actually takes the time to sync them to the auto/video, prevents spoiling jokes/punchlines, and adds an Easter egg at the end of most episodes (usually describing the smooth jazz outro).
You might actually have decent luck using the subtitle translation feature built into YouTube, since it (machine) translates the actual words Alec is saying.
Great video. Completely breaks down the argument. You already knew this of you had been paying attention. Oil/gas for electricity generation in any form is DOA. It is insanely more expensive than solar + battery.
Not to mention destructive to the environment and politically fraught with issues.
To think if our government went all in it could provide dirt cheap limitless energy that would not cause lung disease or wars is staggering.
But the rich would be only 0.987 as wealthy
they'd probably be more wealthy from their heavy investments in renewable energy, which is more profitable than fossil fuels btw
That last 30 minutes earned a new Patreon subscription. I hope this starts a trend.
Common sense.
it still needs to be explained carefully though
like to a child you still have to explain how to read a clock or how to tie their shoes even though it's common sense. and you have to be patient while explaining it.
"A wind turbine is like an oil derrick that generates eq. 3 gallons of gasoline evry single minute."
Only now do you start feeling the urgency of the situation, when usually apolitical channels have started discussing politics.
"If you've been watching my channel for any length of time, then you should already have a pretty clear understanding of what my personal politics are. If you've been under the impression that I've not been political, you simply don't understand what politics means. I have indeed stayed out of partisan politics and electoral politics, but I've been wearing my personal politics on my sleeve this whole time, and they've not been that subtle."
That shit was beautiful. He's fucking mad.
Ooh nice! Does he have other videos like this or is it all computers and stuff?
If you ever wanted to learn about latent heat of transformation, your cup runneth over.
Lots of great stuff, lots of retro tech and common how it works stuff. His dishwasher video makes it so there is no reason to wash things by hand pretty much ever.
As someone on reddit said, "I could disappear bodies in my dishwasher."
He does more old tech stuff or explains how appliances work. Not really computers. 10/10 channel but I get that the content isn't super captivating for everyone.
He has a lot of videos focused on home appliances. Some that come to mind are toasters, dishwashers, heat pumps, and an entire series on Christmas lights. Breaks everything down with lots of tips for better home use (because no one reads the manuals on thise things).
I highly recommend the series on the CED and the downfall of RCA. He's also got a number of videos about various cameras which are also great!
He hasn't done any videos on computers, AFAIK. His channel covers a wide range of topics, from washing machines, car blinkers, heaters, refrigerators, to christmas lights. You can see his backlog here.
"That's it. That's the end of the video. Don't look at the timestamp, don't--"
*Always Sunny music*
Alec Gets Radicalized
undersells the advantage of solar over corn ethanol land use by a lot. At least 2x. Excluding high energy/equipment cost of fermenting ethanol, overstating mileage, and understating EV mileage. The point of ethanol is purely to pay farmers for useless work, but they can make far more with less work from solar. Corn farmers in US have lost money for 4 consecutive years. Excluding land costs, their costs is $650/acre/year, excluding their time/labour. Cashflow per acre $97 @ $4/bushel. At 2.5 hours/day for $30/hour, profit before rent-equivalent drops to $22/acre
In Nebraska, solar costs $1/watt to install (before recent permitting BS). China costs $0.50/w (no tariffs, cheaper construction services/equipment). An acre in Nebraska can hold 400kw of solar, and produce 630kwh/year. It breaks even at 5c/kwh with 5% financing of whole installation (with system paid off in 25 years, even though it keeps producing) including $4000 O&M costs (high, because its washing dust and leaves 1-2 times per week). Every 1c/kwh revenue higher is $6300/acre profit,
Since ethanol is just a gift to farmers/rural land owners. Giving them 2%/financing rate as the gift and 4c/kwh in revenue is the same profit per acre, and at 5c/kwh, massively higher ($6300) profit. For US car drivers, instead of paying $0.12/mile (a 25mpg gasoline car will use 5.4 gallons ethanol/100 miles at $2.20/gallon). 18c/kwh charging for EV means $0.05/mile. Massive cost reduction already, but tariffs and other BS removal can provide significantly more value for farmers and drivers.
I think there's something wrong with your math did you mean 630MWh/yr?
God, fuck ethanol. Last I checked it literally took 1.5 gallons of oil/gas to produce 1 gallon of ethanol. It turns more fuel into less fuel and pisses away soil fertility doing it.
I read an article some time ago arguing the purpose of ethanol (and ag subsidies in general) is, consciously or unconsciously, manifest destiny - we have to have a "use" for all the land we stole, we have to do something with it even if that something is a complete waste, because otherwise, people might start asking why we don't give it back. Seems more likely to me all the time.
Also if making a fuel (that is also key input for local fertilizer production for neighbour farmers) is important, H2 electrolysis at 5c/kwh input makes $3.50/kg H2. equivalent to above 17.5c/kwh EV charging, excluding the battery charger losses. It is 10x cheaper to move by pipe than it is to move electricity by wire, while also doubling as storage, and even better home energy applications by using waste heat for free hot water. H2 has same 2.4x advantage over ethanol cost, but you can produce an unlimited amount to sell to places that need more energy seasonally, or to blast stuff into space.
A technology connections video with a 30 minite rant??
watches video
oh.
A technology connections video with a 30 minite rant??
Isn't that just the standard format for technology connections?
Looks at runtime
Oh, this is gonna be a good one!
Not finished it yet but it annoys me so much that for some reason it is VASTLY cheaper for me to buy a briefcase or two full of batteries for my house than it is for the same to be done in bulk at the scale of the grid.
Just batteries would cut my energy costs to about a third of their current rate by charging them at cheaper off peak prices. Isn't it insane that this is a feature of the current energy market?
It is in some markets. California PG&e has it, Texas is offering subsidies in some cities for it, and I've heard that it's becoming popular in the UK too (octopus iirc).
I forget the exact rates but the time-of-use pricing from PG&E was pretty good. Cheaper rates from 9pm to about 6am. After getting used to it running large appliances like dishwasher and laundry became easy.
Yeah, and borderline extortionate pricing from 2pm-6pm
Thanks for mentioning the last 30 minutes, but for additional clarity, there is a fake ending 30 minutes before the actual ending. Please watch those last 30 minutes!
Damn that last 30 minutes went HARD. I got chills.
Good clarification!
Love the rant
I will always upvote technology connections, I have watched so many videos of his about things I would have thought i couldn't care less about and enjoyed them all!
This!!!
My highlight was the non lightening brake lights on electric cars when they are recuperating
That pisses me off to no end. The car knows how fast it is going, it has to show you. Just make the lights come on based on deceleration, regardless of how it happens. It doesn't even need dedicated hardware. It's just lazy coding and development.
Anyone willing to share a tl;dw?
First hour: Developing a detailed intuition for exactly how solar and wind energy work and what makes them so much better than oil (without mentioning climate change or pollution)
Last 30 min: Establishing a baseline moral framework that everyone can get behind, and explaining that under this framework a revolution against the Trump regime would be entirely justified but at a minimum we absolutely must vote against Republicans in the 2026 and 2028 elections.
As someone in the comments put it: he explains solar and then goes nuclear.
Damn, I love his stuff anyway, but this time I'm looking forward to watching it just to see how he incorporates a call for revolution against his government into a video about solar panels, haha
Its a very reasonable angry pivot that become even more reasonably angry.
I think all the information is pretty well-known in this community, but here's a summary:
- Renewables (specifically solar + batteries) are an inevitable future of energy production due to technological advancements and economies of scale improvements; you should not oppose them but welcome them
- We are at a tipping point where solar + batteries is now the cheapest energy source available
- Land use for solar farms is not a big issue, they are much more energy efficient per unit area than the ethanol corn that currently plagues the US
- Replacing all ethanol corn fields with solar farms would make almost twice as much energy as the US grid is currently producing
- Renewables are better than fossil fuels because they do not require continuous extraction; when a solar panel or battery has been "used up" and is degraded, it can be recycled, whereas fossil fuels can only be burned once after extraction
- The end goal is an almost-closed-loop system for all energy production, similar to what we have with lead-acid batteries already
- Recycling solar panels is relatively easy because they are mostly glass and aluminum, which we know how to recycle well, and we could probably figure out silicon too
- Recycling batteries is a harder problem but possible too if we put some effort in; currently the recycling capacity is lacking because there's not enough batteries being recycled, since most of them are still working fine in EVs sold since the start of EV boom
- Worst-case, we can literally just grind up batteries into battery mush and refine it, same as we do with ores from which the raw materials come in the first place, but likely something better is possible
- Alec describes his personal politics, how he values labor and working-class people, and how he thinks immigrants are hard-working people who need to be welcomed and cared for
- Trump and Republicans as a whole are fascists and lie constantly, which needs to be called out and stopped
- ICE must be abolished and its thugs tried for their crimes
- Democrats are not doing enough, and in fact are pretty bad on some points, but it's still better to vote for them
- People need to organize with their neighbors, care for each other first and foremost, and defend themselves against the government
Alec's personal views are a relief, I think it's a shame he didn't go deeper into them before (IIRC he had a video where he called out right-wing misinfo but stopped short of any direct calls for action). I suppose the contrast between his usual "tech presenter/science explainer" and this clearly righteous political call for action might get through to some people better.
His social media is very political, he's on bluesky.
I'm not enough of a fan to look up other social media, I just occasionally watch some of his videos on topics that are interesting to me. But that's great to hear!
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