Lebanon - 10 Years later
Show, dont tell
Some of my dear readers will surely remember that I moved to Lebanon 11 years ago and spent a full two years there. At a time when the world was still "halfway" in order. With almost €80,000 in my luggage and 2 suitcases (one of which contained my computer), I moved to a place where nobody wanted to go.
Right from the start, I was shocked at how everyone there took the constant power cuts for granted. As if it was the most normal thing in the world for the power to go out. Stupid!
So I did what you do when you're used to 24-hour uninterrupted electricity: I immediately bought a photovoltaic system with storage! Off to Zahlé and bought the iKube F150. Cash! $9,990! Two days later it was delivered. This was the FIRST PV system in the village where I lived! EVERYONE told me I was completely crazy to spend so much money on electricity because diesel and gasoline for generators was so cheap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-PQtHy0i_E
I didn't care at all. I lived in the first house within a radius of several kilometers that had electricity 24 hours a day without interruption. But I had to make some alterations to the house: All the lights that were there were 200WATT!!! In general, EVERYTHING there was designed to waste energy. Fridge, TV, lighting... everything.
So off we went to Beirut to a large DIY store and did some major shopping: I bought 4 and 7 watt LED lamps, an A+++ fridge from Germany, a flat screen and a few other small items. All so that the battery doesn't run out at night. And lo and behold: the battery (3kW) lasted the whole night until sunrise. Then it charged again. Day in, day out.
As time went on, a few people from the village came to see the "German" and take a look at the system. They all still thought I was completely crazy.
But now, in 2024, everything suddenly looks COMPLETELY different!
The crazy German was right after all!
This is what the village looks like today, now that you can only get 2 hours of public electricity, gasoline and diesel have become expensive and rare and the whole country is on the ground.
Every star is a house with a PV system installed on the roof or in the garden
After I returned to Germany, I gave away my photovoltaic system to the family I was living with. However, they have since sold the system to their neighbor. You can see it on Google Maps.
What I want to say: Photovoltaics is NOT crazy! It works! It provides free electricity! It is quiet, clean and cheap.
