Changes to QLD Feed-in tariff

The Queensland State Government has announced that they will be reducing the feed-in tariff rate for solar energy produced from residential houses from 44 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh) to 8 c/kwh. This change to the tariff will occur after the 9 July 2012, but those already receiving the 44c/kwh feed-in tariff will continue as long as you still meet the relevant eligibility criteria.

A State Government factsheet is available at:  http://www.cleanenergy.qld.gov.au/demand-side/solar-bonus-scheme.htm

This change will have a significant impact on the amount of income that a house can potentially generate in the future and also reduce the incentives for families to invest in this technology. Hopefully the investment that the residential sector has generated over the last few years will have brought the cost of solar panels to reasonable level and still provide enough incentive for families to continue to think of this renewable source of power as a reasonable alternative to traditional non-renewable sources of power.

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Solar hot water system...bit of boosting!

Late last year we installed an evacuated tube solar hot water system. I have found the system we installed awesome to date!

Site-specific features of our system include:

• having the system mounted on a north-facing rack. This ensures the system works to its maximum potential, particularly during the winter months.
• a booster when the system doesn't achieve adequate heat through the roof mounted system. For our system we chose to have a mains electricity booster.
• having my booster attached to an overnight tariff. 

The last couple of weeks have brought me some awareness to weather conditions that will challenge the solar component of my system. In the last two weeks we have had overcast weather, with occasional showers. In addition to this inclement weather, we are now entering winter where the sun is positioned further in the north in the sky during the day. All of these factors contribute to lower efficiency in all solar systems, when compared to these systems' performance during prime summer sun positions and certainly has resulted in some diminished performance of my system.

As a result of this cooler, wetter and gloomier weather the water tank that stores my hot water did not maintain a temperature much over 23 degrees. As a result, morning showers were a little cooler than one would consider comfortable and a little shorter than usual (good though for the water level in our rain water tank). But thanks to the boosting system, we flicked the switch and by the time we woke up the next morning we were back to a stable hot water tank temperature of 65 degrees.   

This one night of boosting was adequate and the next day I turned the booster off and the roof mounted tubes managed to kick into doing their job for the rest of the week due to some sunny weather.  Pin It

Solar Hot Water Systems

Today has not been wasted!

I learnt that it is in fact best or most efficient to install your solar hot water system's collector panels facing north.

I knew this was necessary for photovoltaic systems (or solar electricity systems), but thought that because there isn't the requirement to transform sunlight into electricity but rather just heat the water it isn't necessary for solar hot water. But it is! According to the information I have read if the panels don't face north, the efficiencies drop off in solar water heating just as much as in the solar electric systems.

So moral of the story, if you are thinking about either of these systems, orient all your panels as close to true north as possible.

If you have any experiences or comments on solar hot water systems feel free to post your comments below. Pin It

What is renewable and non-renewable energy?

Recently with all the talk of the proposed carbon tax there has been a lot of discussion about renewable versus non-renewable energy. Perhaps introducing some of the basic concepts behind this topic might be useful for people.

What are the current forms of non-renewable energy?
Presently, the main sources of non-renewable energy are fossil fuels. These include coal, petroleum, natural gas and nuclear power which is based on uranium. These energy sources are considered non-renewable because they are based on materials that are finite in nature and cannot be replenished in the Earth's environment over a short time scale.

Currently here in Australia we rely heavily on coal-fire power stations to provide us with electricity and are also significantly connected to petrol for use in our cars.

What are renewable sources of energy?
Wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, hydroelectricity, tidal power and biogas are all typically considered to be renewable sources of energy and are considered as such because they can regenerate naturally. There are even some finite resources such as timber and some metal resources which can produce renewable energy because the resource can either be regenerated (in the case of timber) or recycled (some metals).

Australia has started to invest in some of these energies on a commercial scale, yet the proportion of these types of energy providing electricity to our household is still quite small.  There is however the option for you to pay a premium for electricity to obtain"green power", bringing about consumer demand for further investment in these energy types. Alternatively, putting some solar panels onto your roof and then being plugged into the electricity grid has also resulted in an increase in renewable energy available here in Australia. Pin It

Alternate finance model - encouraging green outcomes

I heard a suggestion the other day that would implement a completely different model of borrowing money from financial organisations, with the aim of achieving more sustainable housing options for individuals. The idea was that financial institutions offer low interest rate and very long-term (60+ years) home loans/support loans to be utilised to finance sustainable technologies and practices. 

You would be able to obtain a low interest and long term loan for things such as photovoltaic cells (solar panels), water tanks, insulation, etc and then for the traditional building materials and methods you would attract the normal home loan rate and term. Thereby ending up with two home loan products on your property. 

As you are unlikely to live for the  length of your long-term loan period that loan is actually attached to the title of the property and that loan would transfer to the new owners when you or someone on your behalf sells the property.  

Such loans would make the investment into alternative and sustainable technologies more affordable with recognition that the practicalities of investing in good technology can potentially be expensive for individuals, particularly for some of these emerging technologies. Such loans would encourage personal investment in sustainable housing options and technologies, with the incentive of long-term and low interest rates but would also mean such technologies over time would become cheaper and more efficient with increased investment in research and delivery of these technologies. Win-win situation.

What a brilliant and alternate model to imagine! If there are any bankers listening, perhaps a model to try?

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Loud and proud!

Currently my family and I are in the process of moving from the house that I thought I would die in (sorry). In light of this move we need to locate to a new place to live. So many questions, particularly life questions have raised their head. So many choices can be debilitating!

Some of the questions are:

• do I buy an existing house; or 
• do I build a new house that I can build to my specifications? This later option could potentially mean with a smaller environmental footprint than a house in the standard real estate market. 

Anyway, getting to the point of the post. In considering the building the house option I have been looking at land options. There was one particular land release that was of interest, which had a parcel of land that was on a north-facing slope with enough land to have a veggie patch, room for the dogs and space for anything we choose in the future (well within reason). However, the land had a covenant on it. The majority of the covenant was quite reasonable and attractive, individually styled dwellings, neighbour friendly fencing, environmental principles, etc, etc. The two parts that I found interesting were:

• the need to use new materials; and 
• the requirement not to have your solar panels on your roof visible from the road. 

The later one was the one that brought me to write this post. I thought this was particularly peculiar for a land development which was trying to encourage diversity and claim to be more environmentally friendly than the next. Surely showing off your solar panels would encourage other residents to take up such technology or consider where some of their lifestyle choices were originating and consider things that are taken for granted in this modern lifestyle in a little more detail.

Overall, I say wear them 'loud and proud'! If you have solar panels you should flaunt them! Pin It

Cost of green power

After posting on the 25th September about my dilemma between the installation of solar panels on my house or just purchasing green power, as a green energy alternative, I have had several discussions with friends of mine.

Presently, green power is an additional cost on top of the cost of non-renewably sourced electricity and with the cost of residential electricity to continue to rise at least for the short to medium future it is something that needs to be considered.

Given that I am not a millionaire I am once again leaning towards the upfront purchase of solar panels for my residence. This is a once-off cost (although I am not completely sure on the life span of solar panels at present) which means that I can budget for this within my expenses and determine its affordability. However, with electricity prices to rise I have no idea whether I would be able to continue to afford the premium for green power.

Electricity in itself is becoming expensive with some decisions about second fridges/freezers to be made (that is, can we afford them if the costs of power continue to rise). Could I therefore continue to pay the additional cost of green power into the future and ensure that my electricity source is 'good' for the environment? At present I am thinking that I wouldn't be able to stretch the budget in this never-ending increase cycle.

There may come a time in the future where green power is actually cheaper to source from electricity providers. But certainly at present there hasn't been any murmuring of such concepts. So once again leaning towards the selfish green energy solution of solar at my residence. Pin It

Solar rights

I have just been reading an old volume of the ABC's Organic Gardening magazine. The editorial was discussing rights to access solar energy. I really hadn't thought about this prior to reading this. It is however something that perhaps we all need to consider.

The article was discussing the significant increase in the number of households that were installing solar panels. I too have considered getting some, with my parents actually investing in a small number of solar panels that's cost were fairly well covered through the governments' current rebate programs. But the point the article was making was that your rights to access solar energy is no guaranteed under any planning law in Australia at present. That is, if your neighbour decides to construct a structure or building that ends up shading your solar panels and you can no longer generate solar power, there are currently no laws to support your rights to the previously available solar energy. So potentially all your financial investment becomes worthless and you may potentially need to re-invest in less sustainable energy options.

I thought this was unbelievable. I am hoping this is just a matter of legislation catching up with reality. Once governments, particularly local governments, becoming aware of this issue, particularly with the increasing presence of these panels in the suburbs, hopefully they have the balls to amend their planning legislation/policy to support the proactive person in the attempt to become more environmentally sustainable rather than some of the typically short-sighted decisions that are made in this development forum.

Something to consider if you're considering installing solar panels or perhaps encourage you to campaign your local government to protect your solar rights. Pin It