Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Senator Fielding, Al Gore and Anna Bligh in the news

More news about Senator Fielding and his Climate Change views. Now he wants to talk to Al Gore about climate change to see if the former vice-president can answer his questions. Please! After all this grandstanding he wants someone else's views to use, rather than coming up with anything sensible by himself.

Anna Bligh's request for more concessions for the Big Coal lobby will prove to anyone that the Federal Government of Australia will have to show real leadership (and or luck) to actually get anything worthwhile through the parliament regarding CO2 pollution reduction. So we all hope that CO2 capture from coal fired power stations and carbon sequestration is not just hot air, as lots of $$$, time and effort will be expended on this hope.
Probably the reason for Senator Fielding's recurring climate change outpourings.

Lets hope the hot air regarding the upcoming Copehagen talks produce something better for the world than promises that we won't keep.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Solar Power Rebate

Looks like my solar power rebate application is still under consideration! My provider has got back to me to say all is well and we should be hearing about it soon. Then hopefully we'll see some action.
My only concern is the changeover to a new electricity meter. We currently have a meter that gives an off peak tariff. It will be interesting to see how the new feed-in meter works, if we nmanage to save money, how much electricity we can feed back into the grid and if the Electricity provider does its billing correctly. Reading the "Renew" magazine encourages me to keep good records and check the bills thoroughly. I will also have to read the feed-in tariff info from the Victorian government thoroughly.
Hopefully the data will encourage the family to turn off the computers, radios and TV's when not in use.
Driving around my area I can see that many people are taking up the solar power rebate, so it is obvious many people are taking up the rebate and taking action on climate change ahead of any national scheme.

Hibernation in July

Do humans hibernate?? I know I suffer from lack of energy and excessive sleepiness in the middle of winter. Even though the days are lengthening and sunshine occurs most days, winter is always the time of year I feel most unsettled, cloudy of mind and generally weary.
Mind you, school holidays are always difficult as the library gets very busy during the day. The shelves are relatively bare of children's books and DVD's (both kids and adults). The computers show Halo or Runescape monsters flickering on their screens. Tuesday and Wednesday was around the full moon so it also seemed that the customers also were fractious and rude.
As work is busy, so too is the "life" outside with transporting teenagers to and from each others houses, movie theatres or moving bikes on car to various places.
During most school holidays I get another visitor as well - an elderly relation comes to stay so I have a chance to see what will happen to me when I get older! Its enough to drive oneself into a decline.
Fortunately my garden is showing signs of renewal with the first of the magnolia buds flowering on naked branches. The citrus trees are producing abundantly, a good sign given how hot it was in summer. So now I can have fresh limes, tangelos, lemons and lemonades to add to my winter diet. The water tanks are full, giving optimism for the next scorching summerwhich will be here before I know it. Melbourne has such extremes of climate!