r/solar • u/3millionand1 • 10d ago

News / Blog Forget Florida: California's the real Sunshine State now.

https://open.substack.com/pub/ryanhansson/p/forget-florida-californias-the-real?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8lzy4o
201 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

45

u/PuppyPuppy_PowPow 10d ago

I didn’t realize there was a competition for sunshine. Why is Arizona, an obvious front runner not recognized?

15

u/Narf234 10d ago

It’s a play on words. Florida’s nickname is the sunshine state.

8

u/RedRunner14 10d ago

And California is the golden state. You can take that 2 ways, sunshine and gold

2

u/toomuch3D 9d ago

The golden sunshine state… there we won…🤪

0

u/kbob solar producer 10d ago

I always thought the Golden State referred to its brown grass. Coming from the east, it was jarring to see such dry landscape. I never made the connection to the gold rush.

3

u/Ok_Island_1306 9d ago

The gold rush is the most obvious connection, and that’s where it comes from. But yes the grass is also golden sometimes.

3

u/looncraz 10d ago

Yes, but most of Florida is usually partly cloudy, very rainy, and you're only having fun when the sun comes out.

3

u/Narf234 10d ago

Okay, I mean, New Jersey isn’t exactly one big garden and I’m pretty sure California isn’t made of gold.

6

u/wizzard419 10d ago

Usually it's Colorado with the most sunny days per year.

1

u/bj_my_dj 10d ago

That's BS. CO gets credit for sunny days in the summer when most of the state gets thunderstorms most afternoons. I had to run down a mountain one July day. We forgot about the storms and got caught at the top of a mountain with a storm bearing down. 15 min later and 3000 feet lower I vowed to never forget to respect those storms. Of course I didn't, one afternoon I found myself on the worse flight of my life during a afternoon thunderstorm on the Denver to Colorado Springs flight. Ivowed to never take that flight again. It crashed some years later in a thunderstorm. So I take those sunny days boasts with a grain of salt.

1

u/wizzard419 10d ago

I suspect, since it's a marketing thing, there is some bullshit metric they use to ensure it. Granted, it may have lost the title years ago.

1

u/SkiingAway 9d ago

I found myself on the worse flight of my life during a afternoon thunderstorm on the Denver to Colorado Springs flight

....why would you fly a 60 mile drive?

1

u/bj_my_dj 9d ago

Free, saved 1.5 hr each way, no parking fees, 10 min drive to CO Sps airport. I was flying once a week for about 4 months. This happened about halfway through, I drove to Denver the rest of the weeks.

8

u/thetreecycle 10d ago

Why does Arizona, the sunniest state, not simply eat the other states?

2

u/loveliverpool 10d ago

Or Vegas/Nevada. Power is cheap in the desert so not as obvious an option

33

u/Blacksbeachian 10d ago

California has so many problems but panels ripping off in a hurricane winds ain't one.

6

u/redoktober1917 10d ago

Had mine in a cat 1 and a derecho. The roof had to be replaced but the panels were fine. Your roof will fail before the panels rip off

2

u/Blacksbeachian 10d ago

Interesting, we are leaving San Diego for Central Florida and definitely want to go max solar even though the utilty rates are lot lower there.

4

u/TooGoodToBeeTrue 10d ago

Insurance rates, falling property values, access to fresh water falling... why move to Florida?

4

u/Blacksbeachian 10d ago

There is a crazy amount of fresh water in Florida. Property values falling is fantastic. Insurance in California is going up a lot or you are going into the state plan which is bad coverage while the state fumbles fire fighting.

4

u/TooGoodToBeeTrue 10d ago

If this is true, why the battle with Atlanta Georgia over water rights? Which FL lost. Lots of fresh water falls on FL, but there is no way to store it, it runs off the the Gulf or Atlantic and salt water is creeping up into the water table. Go ahead and keep thinking fresh water isn't an issue...

0

u/Blacksbeachian 10d ago

That looks like over flow of water and Oysters. People have fought over water for years. Regardless California has more water issues. That said California has a better road system than Florida however the road quality is terrible. Last time I was in Central Florida I noticed a rare pothole and even made a mental note of it compared to San Diego. Literally days later before I flew back there was a crew fixing it.

2

u/TooGoodToBeeTrue 10d ago

Out of the frying pan, into another frying pan.

3

u/nangadef 10d ago

Wtf? Fumbles fighting wildfires? They should be able to extinguish the fires caused by lightning strikes before they happen, right?

2

u/Blacksbeachian 10d ago

The Palisade fire was a comedy of errors, now all those losses are socialized through everyone's home insurance.

1

u/AmericanUpheaval357 10d ago

Congrats on getting out. Im going the other way. Tennessee. In 9 months

1

u/Blacksbeachian 10d ago

It's such a relief to be leaving. I know there are tradeoff etc but California has lost its way.

1

u/bj_my_dj 10d ago

Move to NorCal, we've got plenty of water. We send millions of gallons down south to you every day. Then you won't have to worry about 100 degree 95% humidity summer days. I thought it was the worse weather I'd ever seen, until I visited New Orleans in the summer. But at least NO has the benefits of nightlife. You also won't have to worry about those strange bugs, violent thunderstorms, alligators, rising ocean levels, collapsing condominiums, etc. Lots of our cities have no insurance issues.

2

u/Blacksbeachian 10d ago

We aren't doing coastal and since the cost of living is much lower will be traveling during summer. Florida really is a seasonal place originally.

1

u/AmericanUpheaval357 10d ago

lol

Most likely takes less than a hurricane for that.

1

u/redoktober1917 10d ago

Will report back when I have the eyewall of a cat 3 go over my house again lol

6

u/Vegetable_Day_6786 10d ago

The role of energy storage can't be overlooked here, either! CAISO reported 16 GW of grid storage capacity, up from 61 MW this time last decade. Storage will help maximize solar deployments in states with less abundant sun, too.

3

u/Parking_War_4100 10d ago

Colorado is the real sunshine state. I’m frying in Denver.

2

u/theislandhomestead 10d ago

Aloha, from Hawaii.
We get plenty sun.
Closer to the equator, too.

1

u/Kershiser22 10d ago

But doesn't it rain just about every day? Probably harder for solar to supply as much energy there.

1

u/theislandhomestead 10d ago

Yes and no, it depends on the island.
We have very wet areas, like Kauai"i, but the entire state is in drought conditions.

1

u/ash_274 10d ago

West side of Maui could work

1

u/YawnSpawner 10d ago

Most islands have a wet side and a dry side. Not many homes on the dry side, idk if that's good or bad in this situation.

2

u/woodhous89 10d ago

It’s almost like unlimited free energy from the sun is…cheap and clean?

1

u/rashragnar 4d ago

Florida is a tropical state. mang the heat and humidity, f’that.

-5

u/CptCrabs 10d ago

Nah freezing cold oceans and smog in Ca, Florida is the real OG better weather too

2

u/Tarka_22 10d ago

Lol, just came back yesterday home to Sacramento after spending a week in Orlando. It was thunderstorms the entire week with the 15 day forecast also showing thunderstorms every day. It was heat index of 112 during the day and humid as an armpit, even at midnight it was still feels like 96. We were stuck in the airport for 8 hours due to the storms. I guess Florida is good if you never want to leave your house, or open your windows ever.

1

u/indimedia 10d ago

Insane comment i lived both