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An Australian family trying to go a little greener

Electricity

Using, saving and generating electricity for your home.

Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Car Thoughts

November 18, 2010 by Darren

My thoughts on Australia’s first mass-produced all-electric car. Is this the start of something big?

Posted in: Electricity, Science and Technology, Transport Tagged: Australia, electric cars, Electricity

NSW Government Revamps Solar Feed In Tariff Scheme

October 27, 2010 by Darren

Effective midnight tonight, the NSW Government has announced a revamping of the Solar Bonus Scheme – the gross feed-in tariff for solar electricity has been reduced from 60c per kWh to 20c per kWh.

Posted in: Electricity, Illawarra Businesses Tagged: Australia, Electricity, ETS, nsw government, SHCP, solar feed-in tariff, solar grid-connect, solar installations, solar panels

Shellharbour Solar Expo A Huge Success

October 19, 2010 by Darren

I spent most of Sunday helping to staff the Jamberoo FutureCare table at the Shellharbour Solar Expo, at Shellharbour Workers’ Club (who actually have 22 kW of solar panels installed themselves – see photo). The expo was organised by Jamberoo FutureCare, in conjunction with Shellharbour and Kiama Councils. There were a number of solar power … [Read more…]

Posted in: Electricity, Events, Illawarra Businesses, Illawarra Councils, Illawarra Organisations, Science and Technology Tagged: Electricity, government rebates, hot water system, Jamberoo FutureCare, Kiama, Shellharbour, solar hot water, solar panels, solar power, solar power system, solar rebate, wind generators

CFLs and Mercury

October 5, 2010 by Darren

Australia, and many other countries around the world, are legislating to phase out the sale of incandescent light bulbs. It is estimated that this initiative will reduce Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by 800,000 tonnes of CO2-e; not bad, but it’s still only 0.14% of our total emissions. That said, any saving is progress. I’ve … [Read more…]

Posted in: Electricity, Science and Technology, Waste Tagged: CFL downlights, CFLs, compact fluorescent lights, energy efficient lighting, mercury

Cleaning Up Broken CFLs

October 3, 2010 by Darren

Not long ago I dropped and broke a compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL) in the garage. D’oh! I had a vague recollection that there’s a procedure you should follow to safely clean up broken CFLs, due to the small amount of mercury inside them. So, geek that I am, I jumped on the computer to look … [Read more…]

Posted in: Electricity, Science and Technology, Waste Tagged: CFL downlights, CFLs, compact fluorescent lights, energy efficient lighting, illawarra mercury, recycling, Waste

The CSIRO Home Energy Saving Handbook

September 1, 2010 by Darren

I was interviewed on Monday by a researcher from the University of Wollongong about my experiences with installing solar hot water at our old house. They’re looking into why people choose solar, how they choose the system and supplier, what their experience has been, etc. Sitting in on the interview was an interesting guy from … [Read more…]

Posted in: Electricity, Science and Technology Tagged: chest fridge, climate change, CSIRO, Electricity, electricity meter, home energy, hot water system, solar hot water, solar hot water system, university of wollongong

Fridge BuyBack Scheme Pays $35 For Old Fridges

June 25, 2010 by Darren

I’ve had an old second fridge in the garage for a long time now, and I’ve been meaning to try out the Fridge BuyBack scheme to get rid of it. It’s extremely energy-inefficient. If your fridge meets the requirements (over 10 years old, over 250 litres, working second fridge) and you have less than 6 … [Read more…]

Posted in: Electricity Tagged: electricity consumption, fridge, fridge buyback scheme

Residential Solar Power: Is The Income Taxable?

May 14, 2010 by Darren

There has been a bit of a storm in a teacup lately in the Australian press, claiming that all those people who “bought into the hype” and installed solar panels on their homes will now have to pay tax on the income they receive for any electricity generated. Of course it’s very easy for the … [Read more…]

Posted in: Electricity, Science and Technology Tagged: Australia, Electricity, pv, solar array, solar installations, solar panels, solar power, solar power system, solar systems

Backyard Chickens Soar In Popularity

March 18, 2010 by Darren

I’ve long had the feeling that more and more people are getting into things like growing their own food, keeping chickens, and living sustainably. But then my own interest in these areas has been growing over the past few years too, so I wasn’t sure if it was just that I was paying more attention … [Read more…]

Posted in: Electricity, Growing Food, Keeping Animals, Water Tagged: backyard chickens, food gardens, organic gardening, saving electricity, saving water

Generating Electricity vs Saving Electricity

June 15, 2009 by Darren

While putting together notes for [my talks over the weekend](http://green-change.com/2009/06/14/welcome-super-challengers/), I noticed something interesting. The amount of electricity we saved each day by [converting 10 halogen downlights to CFLs](http://green-change.com/2009/05/25/converting-halogen-downlights-to-cfls/) (4 kWh) is about equal to the amount of electricity we are generating each day (on average) since [installing a 1 kW grid-connect solar power system](http://green-change.com/2009/05/18/we-now-have-solar-power/). … [Read more…]

Posted in: Electricity Tagged: chest fridge, government rebates, halogen downlights, power consumption, renewable energy, saving electricity, solar power, solar power system
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