Asking kids to push your political goals under the guise of “education” feels pretty icky.
Imagine I was running a non-profit that teaches middle and high school kids about the human body and the first thing I have them do is to look up their legislator and ask them to pass anti-abortion legislation.
In both situations, kids are being used to promote a political agenda.
It's no different than the parents who bring their kids to protests and make signs for them to hold. Except parents likely explain why they're bringing their kid to a protest. This guy just straight up uses them for his own political goals before even explaining why they're doing it.
You should find that icky.
You are just making up ridiculous things that I never said. I said nothing about protests. Its your thing. The kind of teaching you'd encourage is teach the kids vaccines cause autism. Bring autistic kid to protests. Perfectly scientific.
Its kids deciding for themselves about the world they want to live in and what features they want in it. Buildings last ~100 years and most likely they are going to live in a home that was built in the past. If they want modern features or amenities without spending a fortune rebuilding the house, its best to future proof.
> the first thing I have them do is find out the county building code engineers[1] and ask them to update the code
Based on your other comments, it doesn't appear you're qualified to be teaching kids about this stuff in the first place, given the lack of understanding about basic electrical code.
The real world is full of tradeoffs. If you also told the kids that mandating 240V outlets in garages would increase the cost of new homes by $1,000 they may have a different opinion on the matter, given that those college kids you're teaching probably imagine themselves trying to buy a home in a few years.
Years ago I owned a home built in the 1980's that had a central vacuum system. It was a cool concept but utterly useless. No new homes that I know of have these systems anymore.
Imagine you were born in the 1960's and thought that these things were the future. Think of all the vacuum bags we'll save from the landfill with this technology! Think of all the money people will save on vacuum cleaners!
> If they want modern features or amenities without spending a fortune rebuilding the house, its best to future proof.
The future is uncertain. Ten years from now people may not even want to own cars if autonomous taxis take off. The whole concept of a garage may morph into something unrecognizable to us today. But if you get your way, we'll waste tons of money putting 240V outlets that never get used as intended.
What is the environmental cost of mining and producing literal tons of copper wire and installing it in new homes for outlets that never get used? What is the cost of using skilled electrician labor to install useless outlets instead of having those same electricians working on building a new solar plant?
I encourage you to discuss these tradeoffs. Don't just ride the good vibes of teaching kids how to use political activism to "make the world a better place", without ever actually teaching them how to evaluate if a certain choice actually makes the world a better place.
If people want a 240V outlet in their garage, they are welcome to pay for it. It doesn't need to be mandated. Home builders aren't stupid: they know what their customers want. If they think they can sell that amenity, they'll install it. If they suspect their customers won't use it, they'll omit it and offer them a lower price. That is the most environmentally optimum solution in the first place. Only those homes that intend to use these outlets should get them.
A home has ~300 outlets. If each outlet costs $1,000, it would cost 300K just on outlets for the builder. The cost of an outlets is in cents or fractions of cents, these are manufactured in bulk and shipped from China, not artisanal hand-crafted NFT outlets from etsy as collectible items for speculation.
Homes ALREADY have multiple 240V, for HVAC, electric stove, dryer. Dryer is in the garage or in a laundry room right next to the garage. An electrician does all the wiring and outlets, which costs nothing at build time. However, if you have to add it later, it will cost $3,000 - $,5000 to retrofit.
> What is the environmental cost of mining and producing literal tons of copper wire and installing it in new homes for outlets that never get used? What is the cost of using skilled electrician labor to install useless outlets instead of having those same electricians working on building a new solar plant?
Most of the outlets (70 - 90%) in the house are unused. There are 10+ outlets just in the master bath and closet. If you are so concerned about utilization, why not start a campaign to cut the total number of outlets to a total of 10 per house? You would have saved $290K/house going by your math and hailed as the savior of american dream, making homes affordable for everyone.
> Years ago I owned a home built in the 1980's that had a central vacuum system. It was a cool concept but utterly useless. No new homes that I know of have these systems anymore. And you could have also bought a home with a stable. Means nothing. You could have also bought a home without plumbing or indoor toilets.
> The future is uncertain. Ten years from now people may not even want to own cars if autonomous taxis take off. The whole concept of a garage may morph into something unrecognizable to us today. But if you get your way, we'll waste tons of money putting 240V outlets that never get used as intended.
Or there could be a manhattan project to build coal based cars and all homes need coal storage. Everyone could have converted to Amish and no need for any modern technology. Or people may stop using bathrooms and go back to nature, so we can remove them as well. Or Elon Musk would've shipped everyone to Mars, Earth is destroyed, our work here is finished, I promise we'll build something better on Mars, Lets go. Or there could be genocide or people sent to concentration camps. The future is unknowable to most people who can't think where the world is headed. ICE cars are over everywhere, the world is at 50% EVs now. The only exception is US.
> Home builders aren't stupid: they know what their customers want. Lots of builders are already building with it. Some states have mandated it. It is not uniform. Just think about bathrooms being introduced and not everyone knows about it. But if you make a building code, builders will build to code and no more defecating outside. Information about good ideas does not spread immediately and all at once. After the invention of bathrooms and indoor plumbing, it took 100+ years for all countries to expect it.