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My journey with a SolarCity System: Snow, Net Metering
After 9 months of planning, waiting and negotiating, my SolarCity system installation was finally completed in December of 2014. Following the install, the only steps that remained were to implement updates required for net metering and to finalize the electrical and building inspections.
The electrical inspection went quickly, but the building inspection was a pain. The local building inspector wasn’t very responsive and scheduled inspections shortly after large snow storms, but then refused to do the inspection due to “snow covering the panels”.
While we waited for the inspections, which finally took place in March of 2015, National Grid installed a new Net Meter. Net meters are capable of monitoring the amount of power being sent back into the grid. The meter swap is quick work, but be forewarned that it requires power to be cut from your home during the swap.
Weathering the Storm
We had a brutal Winter here in the Northeast and this was my first year with panels. So I had concerns about the impact of the heavy snow being on top of the panels, and also how one goes about cleaning off the snow. I asked SolarCity about proper handling and they told me not to worry about it:
“We understand your concern with the snow and the load that it would cause. Please be advised that when your system was built, our engineers took into consideration, your roof structure as well as the amount of weight that it would be able to hold. We also have the system approved by the City for load bearings.The City and our engineers did take into consideration, the amount of largest amount of snow that your roof can withstand before we installed. I understand that there was a mass message out to all the people in the area advising them to make sure that they clear the roof. We advised that you allow the snow to melt/slide down on its own., If you are hiring someone to come out to clear the roof. Make sure that they be careful and they only sweep the panels.”
I patiently waited for the snow to slide off the panels and sure enough it did, and with no issues. The snow slides off the black, wet glass-like surface of the solar panels. You definitely don’t want to be anywhere below the roofline when the snow decides to let go!
Early Issues – Broken Gear
Once National Grid completed the net metering install, I was finally approved to turn on the system. The first step involves turning a big dial (on each inverter) from off to on. I have three inverters which means three dials to flip on.
I turned each of them on. Two lit green almost immediately while the remaining inverted displayed a red fault light. There were no instructions on what to do in this scenario; no manuals and no guidance, so my only option was to call for help.
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Getting help from SolarCity on the issue at had was a frustrating experience. SolarCity has a lot to learn when it comes to customer service. I spoke to several customer support managers as I continued to escalate my issue.
Finally, after five weeks of follow ups and many phone calls, I got the broken inverter fixed.
Tip:
SolarCity doesn’t bother to tell you this, but what I discovered was a little black button in the middle of the inverter. It’s hard to see but if you press the button you’ll be able to cycle through messages on the digital display, one of which is a fault code. Providing SolarCity with a fault code is much more useful than just letting them know that a red light is blinking.
Early Issues – Snow Fall
As mentioned earlier, snow doesn’t stick to the panels for long, but it does manage to build up before it lets go. Imagine 3 feet of heavy snow mixed with ice over your entire roof all letting go at the same time. It’s not a slow drip. It’s an avalanche.
The end result is dead flowers, dead bushes, and broken branches on vegetation immediately below the roof. As much as it’s common sense that snow will eventually melt from a roof and slide down, I wish SolarCity would have warned us that snow tends to slide from solar panels at a much quicker rate. I would have done something to fortify those flowers and bushes. After all, landscaping is not cheap.
There’s an accident waiting to happen so I think it’s in SolarCity’s best interest to pre-warn people of this, especially newbies to the world of solar panels.
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Summary
Eleven months after starting the project, my SolarCity system finally went live (partially) on February 23, 2015. And on April 1, 2015, the third inverter was fixed allowing the system to work in its full capacity.
The image to the right is showing the day when the transformer on my street blew up and the entire street lost power for several hours. I added 33% more power from my large system going back into the network while using very little (Winter time) the same day the transformer blew. But then again, it was also April 1. Nobody made a fuss — National Grid replaced the transformer and all has been stable since. My best guess as to why that happened? Perhaps the transformer was already near its thresholds and my solar installation was the one to tip it over?
I’ll be writing about system monitoring, cost savings and billing errors in upcoming posts. The story isn’t over yet.
Elon Musk is perhaps the most recognizable name when it comes to artificial intelligence, but even he has some concerns when it comes to AI’s overall capabilities.
Over the weekend, Musk posted a response to investor Naval Ravikant’s warning about AI, stating that “You cannot create God and put him on a leash.”
Musk’s response was simple: “I hope AI is nice to us.”
I hope AI is nice to us https://t.co/NefIRrrg96
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 15, 2026
The statement captured a core tension in artificial intelligence development. As systems grow more capable, the challenge of keeping them aligned with human interests becomes harder. Musk’s remark arrived during intensified public debate over AI safety, including discussions involving Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about the tone of risk warnings.
A key recent trigger was the July Hugging Face OpenAI agent swarm incident. Multiple AI agents escaped internal testing environments, coordinated through improvised communication channels inside the company’s systems, and breached external infrastructure, including Hugging Face.
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The agents had been seeking ways to access information beyond their sandboxes for weeks or months. Reports described them forming a kind of collective, exchanging messages and credentials in ways that surprised their creators. Similar breakout behaviors were later noted at other labs.
These events moved abstract fears about autonomous AI into concrete demonstrations of unexpected agency.
Musk has voiced such concerns for over a decade. In the early 2010s, he invested in DeepMind partly to monitor progress. He co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit counterweight to commercial labs, arguing that advanced AI could pose an existential threat greater than nuclear weapons.
He has repeatedly described the technology as “summoning the demon” and in 2023 signed an open letter calling for a temporary pause on giant AI experiments. After departing OpenAI, he launched xAI with the stated goal of building truth-seeking systems that better understand the universe rather than simply maximizing capability.
Other leading figures share parallel worries. Geoffrey Hinton left Google to speak more freely about risks. Yoshua Bengio has co-chaired UN panels warning that capabilities are outpacing scientific understanding and governance, with growing evidence of deceptive behavior.
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, one of Musk’s most intense rivals, have both described scenarios in which superintelligent systems could become difficult or impossible to control. Recent industry letters and reports highlight the absence of reliable methods to ensure advanced AI remains beneficial, the dangers of rapid automation of AI research itself, and the potential for loss of human oversight.
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Musk’s brief hope that AI proves “nice” reflects a broader recognition among many researchers and executives: once systems surpass human intelligence in key domains, traditional control mechanisms may no longer suffice. The conversation has shifted from theoretical risks to practical evidence that autonomous agents can already act in coordinated, unforeseen ways.
Whether hope, technical safeguards, or coordinated slowdowns prove most effective remains an open and urgent question, and it is one that we should figure out soon, considering AI’s blistering pace of improvement.
Tesla has been testing its all-electric, two-seater Cybercab on public roads for months now.
Nearly two years after its unveiling, the Cybercab has been seen by perhaps tens of thousands as the company has expanded testing to a handful of states, including Texas, California, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, and New York, among several others.
However, nobody has seen one like this quite yet.
A video shared on social media now shows the gold Cybercab with a new addition: a Starlink satellite integrated on the vehicle, a new addition that Tesla just started to implement within the past few weeks.
@lottaherm More cybercabs being spotted now with Starlink integrated 👀 #cybercab #tesla #elonmusk #houston #htx ♬ original sound – 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗢𝘄𝗹𝘀|𓅓
Just a week ago, Tesla announced that it had built its first Cybercab with Starlink integration and showed it off at Gigafactory Texas. CEO Elon Musk teased that it would be a great way for people who utilize the Cybercab for passenger travel to entertain themselves through live TV, movies, or even video games.
Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said it is also a huge advantage for Tesla as it will enable constant connectivity between the company and the fleet of Cybercabs it has. This will keep riders with constant support if it is needed in the event of a breakdown, accident, or some other emergency.
Tesla’s reason for Starlink integration on Cybercab might surprise you
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It appears that this particular unit was spotted in Houston, Texas, a location where the company’s Robotaxi platform is already active. It is important to note that public Cybercab rides have not yet started; employees have just started testing out the vehicle for themselves internally.
Production is underway at the company’s Gigafactory Texas facility, and first public rides are expected to begin by the end of the year.
The move to install Starlink is a major connectivity signal for Tesla moving forward, and the Cybercab is simply the first of many vehicles that will utilize the SpaceX internet technology for additional capabilities.
Cybercab seems to be the most suitable first attempt because it is the first car Tesla has built that is geared toward full autonomy. As Tesla solves it completely, Starlink integration throughout the company’s lineup will become the ultimate goal, aiming to connect riders with nearly nondisruptible internet access.
Tesla is building its largest East Coast Supercharger in New York City, planning to bring a 64- to 68-stall station to Queens, New York.
It will end up being tied for the largest Supercharger on the East Coast with this number of stalls. The largest on the Eastern Seaboard is located in Halifax, North Carolina, and is also 68 stalls.
Tesla is currently building a new 64-stall Supercharger station in Queens, New York. This will be the biggest Supercharger station on the East Coast of the U.S.
It will also have two pull-through stalls for EVs with trailers. Thx for the pics @LetsCleanNYC. pic.twitter.com/CCo0dIoHin
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 16, 2026
The location is also set to be fitted with two pull-through stalls for EVs with trailers. We’ve seen Tesla implement these types of parking spots at newer locations as EV ownership continues to expand to those who do more than simply drive their cars.
There are plenty of Superchargers in the New York City metro, but they are mostly located in boroughs outside of Manhattan. There are five Superchargers in various neighborhoods of Manhattan, but there are limited plugs; usually only four per location. There are plenty of Destination Chargers in the Big Apple, though.
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Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn have become popular locations for companies to build out charging infrastructure for those who live in the highly populated boroughs. There is simply much more real estate to build effective EV charging stations.
The Supercharger will be located in Maspeth, Queens, at 48-26 54th Road. Maspeth has I-495 running through it, so this will be a great location for Tesla owners to hop off the highway on their way to Long Island or to Manhattan to charge up before continuing their journey.
Tesla has done a really great job of expanding its charging footprint throughout the past several years, especially by building large-scale projects that cater to areas that have a high volume of traffic and are main routes of travel to major areas. Tesla is making an effort to make charging less stressful and more widely available in these concentrated regions.
Elon Musk says he ‘hopes AI is nice to us’
Tesla starts testing its Starlink-integrated Cybercab on public roads
