That's not the sort of "regulation" in "deregulated energy market". Which was always a bad term. "De-integrated" would be better. It's a situation where energy generation and retail are separated from the transmission/distribution monopoly. The resulting energy markets (both wholesale and retail) can be and are heavily regulated (in the usual sense of the word.)
Much smaller, no atmosphere. You can get a lot closer to it in orbit. Until Apollo 14, the LM would enter a 50,000 ft periapsis on the way to landing. Dunno the exact phasing of this lander, but that video could be from a similar height (or lower, if you have good navigation.)
Or they're using "surplus" resources (like their backyard, and domestic food scraps) that they'd still have otherwise. Which is something that is not commercially scalable. Unless, I guess, someone tries "Uber but for chickens".
Cute. But 3/16" is way too large a pilot hole for any reasonable screw. I think a #24 screw, which is the largest size of wood screw, has a 3/16" pilot size... and uses a #4 Philips, which is not the bit on this thing (and is sufficiently rare I don't even have one.)
This is impractical in the US as things currently stand; most utilities have a permitting process for a grid tie (anything that backfeeds the grid) and smartmeters are capable of detecting and reporting any backfeed.
Mostly the technical aspects are not a problem (most modern meters are two-way); you'd just need a policy like the one in Germany allowing de minimis backfeed.
If you are actually tying the solar-panel into your house's "grid" couldn't you also make additional mods between your electrical-panel and the meter to prevent backfeed?
Or, maybe an inline battery that the solar panel tops off.
It's a solved problem because this is a feature of most hybrid inverters. The only reason it's not as easy as pie is because of lack of information, and "Scare" tactics promoted by electricity-generation companies.
That said, people are generally using whatever meter came with their house, and few older meters were two-way. If you have an older meter and you start backfeeding the grid, you will end up paying for that electricity as if you had bought it off of the grid. The meter isn't smart enough to know which way the current is flowing, it only knows how much current is going past and assumes that all current flows into the house, not out.
Hugo voters are members of the World Science Fiction Society (who are mostly Worldcon attendees). Which is to say, voters for that are chosen for enthusiasm for the genre, not taste.
