... a Vacubot yet, even though they're getting cheaper and better to the point of actually being useful.

No effing way am I going to let some Internet of Trash device load excessive amounts of very personal and private data to some anonymous computer in the cloud. Obviously.

Given that it needs said maps to do its job, and that every other robot vac does the same thing for the same reason, it's not that big a deal.

The obvious fix is for (local) governments to install batteries in neighborhoods, but I wouldn't count on that happening too much. Them being a little slow on the uptake is a big part in the cause of this issue.

I'm thinking that there is some cost-effective life improving way to use the free electricity beyond normal household operation and beyond buying an expensive battery system.

Distilling your own drinking water to remove the toxins and microplastics?

The thing people need to realize is that PV panels die, quickly. They will not last the life of the building if they are installed permanently to a home. You will need to replace the solar panels every 10 years, or at least have them inspected. Hopefully some recent tech that has come out recently makes it so that solar panels are much more efficient. Perovskite solar cells are a new development but 50% better than current ones, which might actually make it viable to have PV in northern locations.

As someone who has solar I can say its best suited to retired people if your working and the kids are in school solar power goes to waste unless you have good but expensive batteries (the cheap ones have had recall warnings due to fire risk). And don't say you can schedule your washing machine for when the sun shines thats only one load per day as no one is there to put the next load in.

You realize that's a "the solution to pollution is dilution" argument, right? The problem is not the heating of the entire Atlantic ocean. Do you now that the house I live in is built on the Earth. That's a pretty huge thermal mass. If my house catches fire, it's not going to be noticeable in how it affects the heat of planet Earth. I might have some reasons to be concerned about the local effects, however. So, if you're not sure about the analogy there, the problem is locally where the hot water, which rises, heats the top layer of water.

Also, I should note that the _electrical_ output of Flamaville is 1.3 GW, but that translates to a _thermal_ output of about 4 GW. That's enough to raise the temperature of nearly a million liters of water by 1 degree C every second. Or say an area of 1 square km and one meter deep (once again, hot water tends to rise to the top) by 3.6 degrees C every hour. It is not trivial for the area around the outlet and, combined with all of those phosphate and iron containing pollution you mentioned, certainly risks creating giant, toxic algal blooms that kill off mass numbers of local sea life. Basically, it is clear that this nuclear station only exists because it is grandfathered. It's not like the other pollution you mentioned is OK, either, but there are good reasons not to allow this sort of thing

It just dumps its thermal pollution right into the English channel.

Which plants in provably good condition have been shut down because of pressure from activists?

Britons over 65 spent more than three hours a day online on smartphones, computers and tablets last year

I have a dumb washing machine and I made a sensor which detects vibrations, and taped a magnet to the door so that I could detect when the door has been opened using a hall sensor.

So if the cycle is complete (not much vibration) and the door hasn't been opened after 15 minutes, it sends an alert to my phone. It then sends an alert once an hour for six hours to nag me. I've had this system in place for about a decade now and it has saved countless extra cycles due to forgotten laundry. If I ever replace the washing machine, I just have to move the sensor over to the new one.

Your first mistake was buying a sh*tty front-loading washing machine in the first place. I dealt with those in the laundromat in our dorms at grad school. Never again.

Front loaders mean that you can't add clothes when you realize "Oh, s**t, I forgot the towels upstairs." And now you're running entire extra wash loads because your washing machine is designed to lock the door and prevent you from opening it.

Add to that the increased risk of flooding, increased mold problems, etc., and you couldn't *pay* me to take a front-loading washing machine unless you let me cannibalize the motor and then haul the rest of it to the junkyard afterwards. It's a fundamentally bad design.