Posts By SolarQuotes Founder Finn Peacock

The Solar Council Aren’t Lying. Your Government Is.

August 22, 2014 2019-04-15T14:38:41 by 9 Comments

The government has painted a big bullseye on solar power.

They’ve got it in their sights. They want the renewable energy target (RET) repealed and they’ll do just about anything to make that happen.

Well, anything but come right out and say, “We’re against renewable energy because because we want to protect the fat wallets of our buddies in Big Energy”.

No, they can’t bring themselves to be that honest.

Instead, they’ve engaged in an almost comical game. A game where they attempt to justify their solar enmity with numbers.

The problem, of course, is that numbers don’t lie. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics Of Solar Tagged With:

Is Abbott about to axe the Solar Rebate (and push solar prices through the roof) ?

August 18, 2014 2014-12-21T21:36:36 by 84 Comments
tony abbott and renewables

What does Abbott have in store for solar?

Well, I woke up this morning to a beautiful spring day. Only to see an inbox full of emails telling me that, according to the Australian Financial Review, Tony Abbott has already decided to scrap the Renewable Energy Target (RET) no matter what his review panel advises.

Bummer!

Let’s see what the rest of the papers have to say on the matter. Well, the most recent article I can find, published at 9am, is telling me that the government maintains it has absolutely no intention of scrapping the RET.

Hmmmmm. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With:

Big Energy Has a Big Problem…But They Want YOU to Fix It

August 14, 2014 2023-06-22T14:23:03 by 4 Comments

Big energy has a big “problem”.  What’s the problem?

Competition. Competition from whom?  From Australian citizens like you who’ve told the big power companies, “We’ll  generate our own power, using solar technology. Thank you very much.  Shut the door on your way out.”

Why is this “big a problem”? Well, it’s simple economics that whenever a supplier generates way more “product” than the market demands, that product’s price drops through the floor.   And simple economics is biting Big Energy in the arse.

Like a pit bull terrier.

But it’s their fault.  They stuck their arse out to be bitten.  [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With:

How to find the most efficient solar water heater

August 13, 2014 2024-10-02T11:03:25 by 5 Comments
an evacuated tube solar hot water system

Is the evac tube system really more efficient than the flat plate system you have been quoted? Here’s how to find out…

When you are looking to buy a solar hot water system for for home, one of the most important things to check (apart from the price) is the efficiency of your Solar Hot Water System. The more efficient your system is, the better it will be at converting the sun’s heat to piping hot water, which means you will use your gas or electric boost less.

But with thousands of models of solar water heaters on the Aussie market, from flat plate or evacuated tube, to heat pumps it can be difficult to know how to find the most efficient solar water heater. Especially when each sales person says their technology / model is the most efficient! They can’t all be right…

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Hot Water Tagged With: , ,

Solar Hot Water vs Solar Panels. Which should you buy?

August 6, 2014 2024-10-02T12:23:49 by 72 Comments

Poor old Solar Hot Water.

The concept of heating water directly from the Aussie sun with a solar hot water system like this…

a solahart hot water heater

The humble solar hot water heater

…really seems to have gone from hero to zero over the past 3 years. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Hot Water Tagged With: ,

Are They Really Tier 1 Solar Panels? Six Questions You Must Ask.

July 23, 2014 2018-05-09T11:12:24 by 392 Comments
tier 1 solar panel

Some solar companies are claiming that their Tier 3 panels are really Tier 1. How can you identify real Tier 1 Solar panels?

For many years now I’ve been banging on about “Tier 1 Solar Panels”. My recommendation has always been that you should spend a few hundred dollars more for Tier 1 panels, so that you can massively reduce the risk of having crappy solar panels installed on your roof. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels Tagged With: , ,

Are those cheap solar panels grey imports?

July 3, 2014 2016-06-18T15:00:41 by 4 Comments
solar panels in a box

If you’ve been offered really cheap solar panels, please check that they are not grey imports.

Recently, a number of people have asked me about parallel or ‘grey’ imports of solar panels.

Parallel imports are defined as products (in our case, solar panels) that are imported unofficially by someone other than the manufacturer or their official Australian distributors.

Interestingly, in this day and age with so much online and internet based trade, the lines on this issue have become a little blurred. Some manufacturers will supply you directly with their product, but the majority do not. Most panel manufacturers have carefully developed formal partnerships in place with Australian companies who distribute their panels and provide technical and warranty support for those panels.

Why is parallel importing a problem? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels Tagged With: , ,

Fossil Fuel Subsidies are a Joke

June 24, 2014 2023-09-13T14:46:01 by 3 Comments

I’m getting a lot of comments on Facebook at the moment along the lines of: “Solar needs to stand on its own two feet without subsidies of any kind”.

What these commenters (and our government) seem to miss is that fossil fuels in Australia – and around the world – are massively more subsidised than renewables.

This cartoon fresh from First Dog on the Moon, first posted on treealerts.org, sums up the situation nicely:

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With:

Solar Power For Your Home: The Absolute Basics

May 29, 2014 2017-04-20T12:44:57 by 4 Comments

Back to absolute basics today on the SolarQuotes blog!

Here’s an infographic I got drawn up that explains the fundamental concepts you need to understand before buying solar for your home.

Yes, yes – I know for many of you dear readers this is completely obvious! But trust me, many folks out there starting on their solar journey do not realise that solar hot water panels don’t produce electricity.

Feel free to reproduce, republish and share to your heart’s content. The more knowledge out there the better for everybody!

an infographic describing solar power fundamentals

Solar Power For Your Home: The Basics

 

Filed Under: Solar Installation Tagged With:

Solar Isolator Switch Recall. What you need to know.

May 27, 2014 2023-08-01T15:18:59 by 4 Comments
solar isolator switches

The 3 isolator brands that have been recalled: PV Power, Avanco & NHP

We’ve recently had a number of phone calls from people who have heard about the national solar isolator switch recall recently announced by the ACCC, and are worried about their solar systems.

Here’s what you need to know about the Solar Isolator Switch Recall: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Installation
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