While putting together notes for my talks over the weekend, I noticed something interesting. The amount of electricity we saved each day by converting 10 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.

The [...]

I spoke at the launch of the Sustainable Illawarra Super Challenge Round 2 today at the Dapto Ribbonwood Center. Sorry guys if I rambled too much .

It was a great session, with beautiful food and lots of local families to meet. I was pleased to see a nice strong Kiama contingent! It was great [...]

OK, our solar power system actually got installed a week ago, but I wanted some photos so I had to wait until the weekend.

Anyway, we now have solar power!

We got a 1 kW grid-connected solar power system from Earth Utility. Once again (we previously got solar hot water from them), their service was great and [...]

Are you interested in learning more about getting grid-connected solar power for your home?

You may be able to take advantage of the $8000 means-tested Government rebate which ends 30th June 2009, or the new non-means-tested solar credit scheme starting from 1st July 2009!

Jamberoo FutureCare will be hosting two information sessions, in association with Solar Shop [...]

We did an interview and some photos with Paul from Wollongong Council for Sustainable Illawarra today.

Paul is going around and gathering stories from about 25 different households, putting together some case studies and other materials for the Sustainable Illawarra project. Maybe we’ll end up on their web site, or possibly in a booklet or something [...]

We received an email last night from Earth Utility confirming our order for a 1 kW solar power system. They also phoned today to make sure we were kept informed. I’m really happy with their service so far.

Now it’s just a matter of waiting for the government to approve our rebate application – which could [...]

If you’re in Australia and have been thinking about getting a grid-connected solar power system, there’s a really good deal right now with Earth Utility. If you order before 15 December 2008, it’ll cost $2,500 installed (after rebates, RECs, etc and excluding utility connection costs).

I just rang them, and the story is that they need [...]

I just read an interesting article in ReNew Magazine Issue 104 about the guerrilla solar movement and one individual’s experiments with his unapproved DIY grid-connect solar panels.

It’s not as dangerous as it sounds. Solar guerrillas use commercial mains power inverters which meet the relevant international standards to feed their electricity into the grid. You plug [...]