In November 2010 we've got the our Solar electricity system installed and we've now got electricity throughout the house. It is just great to be able to use some tools now without having to run a noisy generator.
Here are some pictures from our PV system:
The first pictures shows …
The
more I think about the state of solar electricity generation and
government support the more I understand that gross metered feed in
tariffs are a really powerful means to increase the uptake of solar
panels amongst the public.
The current scheme of RECS is severely flawed as it doesn't …
The Australian federal government announced today that it would scrap the unpopular means-test for the rebate for installation on solar panels. This means-test restricted the rebate to households earning less than \$100,000.
The means-tested rebate was worth up to \$8,000 where as the maximum rebate under the new …
During
the weekend before last, Rosalba and I attended a course put on by the
Rainbow Power Company titled "Living with
Solar"
The course covered pretty much anything to do with solar power generation, from solar panels and cable sizing to battery care.
The course was presented in an easy …
Wanting to go fully solar not only for our hot water needs but also for our electricity needs we have purchased the book "Solar Success" by Collyn Rivers recently. The subtitle of the book "Getting It Right Every Time - The Complete Guide To Home & Property Systems" really got us interested …
Some of you may remeber the post I have written in August about a different way to finance a solar power system by basically giving the power company the right to place their own solar panels onto your roof and you then buy the electricity generated by these solar panels …
Yesterday, Rosalba and I, met Shayne from Alternative Energy Solutions to start the process of working out the size of our solar power system. Shayne performed an energy audit with us by going through every room on our plan and working out what electrical appliances we'll be using.
Based on …
Installing a solar power systems is not cheap as most people interested in the idea are already aware of. Solar power systems, especially grid connected systems, pay for themselves over time, but a relatively large up-front investment is needed to reap the benefits of a solar power system.
An article …
Rosalba and I have joined the Alternative Technology Association (ATA) a couple of months ago because we thought that this would help us decide on what alternative energy system we will incorporate into our new home.
The ATA have published a Solar Panel Buyers Guide in their October-December 2007 ReNew …
With our decision not to connect our future home to the electricity grid I have started thinking about ways of making the most of the electricity that we will collect with our solar panels. Unfortunately I currently have a number of computers that that are acting as various servers and …
The Channel 7 Sunrise team have started another petition to stop the means testing of the solar rebate in Australia. The Sunrise petition already has over 30,000 signatures so it looks like this petition will make an impression.
If you would like the means test for the solar rebate …
We just got the most current ReNew magazine issued by the Alternative Technology Association which contained a number of interesting articles. One that I found most interesting was about "Solar Guerrillas".
Solar Guerrillas are people that install small grid connected solar systems without approval by the utilities or respective government …
Rosalba has forwarded a link to me for a petition to stop the Australian Government introducing the means testing for the solar rebate of up to \$8000 towards the installation of photovoltaic panels on your home.
You may have already seen my other post about this. I invite all readers …
I have found some information about a weekend course where participants are tought "Living with Solar". This course is provided by the Rainbow Power Company in Nimbin which isn't too much of a drive from Brisbane where we currently live.
I am thinking that this course may be helpful to …
The new budget introduced a damper for the solar industry by now applying a means test to the eligibility of up to \$8,000 government rebates for the installation of a residential solar power installation. The means test to be introduced shortly means that any household having a combined annual …
I have found an interesting website from a group of people interested in sustainable power generation which is local and community owned called Local Power. The most interesting part on that website I found was their first project of a Buying Group for PV (photo voltaic) panels to achieve some …
A recent news item on the Alternative Technology Association website (www.ata.org.au) highlights some improvements that should be made to the feed-in tariff in power across Australia. A feed-in tariff is the mandated price a home owner is paid for any electricity fed back into the electricity grid …