Springtime

The last week has really started to feel spring-like. As I drove to work yesterday I stopped to let a mother duck and nine ducklings cross the road. The ducklings were so cute but I did wonder what they were doing up the hill at 8 oclock in the morning. Given that the ponds they live in are down the hill!
But here are some photos from my garden. Just to give the spirits a lift!

Electricity Market and "The Conversation"

Several articles by Mike Sandiford,  Director, Melbourne Energy Institute at University of Melbourne  and The Conversation contributor have caught my eye recently. Researchers have access to a wide variety of statistics and information sources us regular people don't have. As a Librarian I know its out there, all this information, but don't have the time and expertise to follow. So I find these graphs really interesting.
Mike's recent post "Who's afraid of Solar PV' on The conversation, 21 August 2012 filled in more about the effect solar PV is having on the electricity market and I enjoyed the "Death Spiral" analogy. Here is one of his graphs- showing the effect solar PV is having on demand of electricity in South Australia by time of day

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Average demand for mains electricity in South Australia as a function of hour of day. Red line is the average for the two financial years from July 2007 to June 2009. Blue line is for financial year 2011-12. Left panel shows absolute demand, right pane shows demand changes referenced to 2007-09 averages as a percentage. Data from AEMO, figure by Mike Sandiford

It shows that the enormous uptake of solar PV is having an effect on the delivery of power, particularly in the middle of the day as would be expected.  That is has reduced the " peak hourly revenues by almost 90% between 2007-09 and 2011-12, contributing to a 30% decline in the annual wholesale revenue."

So who's afraid of solar PV! The whole current setup of electricity generation particularly by coal fired power stations. Thus paving the way for new investment and cleaner investment - power from the people in more ways than one. 
However, what do we do for those who cannot afford solar PV or those who don't have roof-space? Geo-thermal?, Wind energy or ??

Carbon Tax Bills and Ocean Health

I received my yearly rate bill yesterday. The Council rates have increased by some $120 since last year reflecting a number of things, including the Carbon Tax. The bill states "The Carbon Tax is $25.00 on average per assessment".
So the rest of the increase must be due to other factors such as a need for more money by council to pay its staff, and/or to pay its legal bills (perhaps knowing this council) and/or increase in property values (very probable in Melbourne) and/or other factors beyond my knowledge. I'll have to see if I can read council's budget to see why.
I am awaiting my winter power bill to see the effect of the Carbon Tax on that. The increase will be exaggerated by the fact an elderly relative has landed in my house and needs to be kept warm all day. This increase in power has been offset by my youngest child getting a job and partner, which means he is more often not at home!
Meanwhile the CSIRO has released its latest report on the warming of the Ocean- tropical fish found as far south as Tasmania! You may like a 1 degree warming, but its a further indication of how quickly things are changing. This follows northern hemisphere reports (yet again) on the reducing level of Arctic Sea Ice.

So tell me, is it worth paying an extra few dollars, on a Carbon Tax, to possibly (though increasingly unlikely) slow the destruction of our environment! Or are we waiting for the sea ice to totally disappear from the Arctic before "believing" the science!!

From Next Gen website

Pollie Hot Air

They're back! The Politicians have had a bit of a break, with the Olympic Games dominating the TV and also radio waves. But today they came back to haunt us with news of more Asylum seekers boats, oppositions opposing everything except their own policies (as they have every right to do) and expert panels going about their business knowing damn well that until and unless someone moves an inch or two from their entrenched positions, no one is going to give a damn about trying to find a sensible policy.
The amount of hot air over this issue is enough to drive several wind turbines!
Today is another windy day both on the radio and outside.
At least there is enough sunshine not to bother with Canberra.

August Winds

August is one of the windiest months in Melbourne. Just when my Camellias are at their best, the Jonquils & Daffodils flowering and the last of the Magnolia blooms linger on budding branches, along comes the wind to blow them all away. Although, like the Olympics my Daffodils and Jonquils are largely white, not yellow in colour.
The rain continues to fall this winter, and temperatures plunge with it. Today the wind gusts are somewhat less than the buffeting we received yesterday. In previous years I have had native trees blown down. Their remains are still providing me with wood for the fire and wood chips for the the garden mulch.
While the sun has deigned to show itself for a brief moment just now, the forecast for rain and hail today is not encouraging.
So I wonder why the waiter at a popular local Cafe asked if I would like to sit outside for lunch today?
But the winds have blown the Aussie Sailors into Gold medals at the Olympics in Weymouth. My sailor friend, sitting snugly in his seaside home on the Mornington Peninsula must be very happy.
As we all are.

Sailing on Port Phillip Bay

Finally along with Sally Pearson' and Anna Meares' gutsy efforts, Australia of the Green and Gold, has a bit of the latter!

Olympics

Of course the TV in our household is almost permanently tuned to the London Olympics.

While Australia's results haven't been as good as we had hoped, and Channel 9 is not my favourite, the Games have been interesting.

So here's to all those competing, the Green and Gold, may your dreams come true. May London be a great experience for you all.

Solar Fringe and Reports

Last Saturday, The Age newspaper (not yet dominated by that rich lady GR) published an interesting article "Out on the fringe, solar comes of age" by environment editor Adam Morton. In the article, Adam comments on the large number of solar Photo-voltaic(PV) panels adorning so many roofs in the outer Western Melbourne suburbs.
We have noticed the same in our suburb, lower midle class outer suburban. Even over the last year, the number of houses showing solar PV panels seems almost to have doubled. Obviously even the lower middle class suburbanites have found the current deals attractive.
The subsidies have now dropped off so the incentives must be the Carbon Tax (which is the point of the Tax) and the clear price drop in the cost of purchase and installation. Supply and demand, market forces in action, spurred on by massive investment in panel production by China.
A report by the Australia Institute, 11 Nov 2010, (The Australian Government's solar PV rebate program by Andrew Macintosh and Deb Wilkinson) a couple of years ago, criticized the Federal Government scheme by saying the lower socioeconomic group were not participating.
I commented then -in  Solar Power and Costs  - that China's production would drop prices dramatically. In the Age article, the ATA energy policy manager, Damien Moyse comments that he has changed his advice to members. Things have moved so fast that "it now makes more sense to put solar on your roof than buy electricity from the grid according to Ray Wills, Sustainable Energy Association advisor" as quoted in the Age article.
While the poorest, and those renting, have not participated, the next rung up in the socioeconomic scale have clearly seen the benefits of generating some of their own power. Infrastructure savings are thus the result as well as a reduction in exposure to price increases in electricity.
So the solar market may very well be at the stage of price parity with the Electricity grid but support for Feed-In-Tariffs may well fade from various levels of governemts. We shall see, as I still think "Power from the People" should be charged at the same rate as Power from the Grid. The final report has now been submitted so we shall see what the Victorian Government response will be.