Recent research by the Australian Solar Council shows that the average Aussie that has installed solar has seen an average 65% reduction in their power bills. And to pre-empt a gazillion comments – yes – this is achievable with a crappy Feed-In -Tariff too!
They have produced a great infographic which sums up most of the benefits of solar that the anti solar brigade wish weren’t true. Here it is:
The joys of solar power. Cue solar nark’s teeth gnashing!
Crowd Funding Solar Is A Growing Trend
Will crowdfunding solar replace more traditional methods of funding solar energy readers?
At the time of writing we appear to be headed for a clean sweep of conservative governments across Australia (with the exception of the outpost of ACT). Though it is possible that the relatively progressive Weatherill government may retain government in South Australia through postal votes, it must be considered that the governments throughout the country will trend away towards support for renewable energy including solar.
Perhaps the relevant question is: Would this be a bad thing? [Read more…]
Smart businesses will see their meters slow down in 2014
As solar fans look towards 2014 with a mixture of dread and anticipation, one thing seems certain; energy prices will continue to rise. Yes that’s right, expect your bills to go up despite Abbott’s promise to reduce them.
People who actually know how the National Electricity Market (NEM) works, understand what the climate-change denying knuckle draggers in government don’t. Even if they do ‘Axe The Tax™’ your electricity and gas prices are going in only one direction: up. Smart Australian business owners are not expecting their bills to drop anytime soon, no matter what promises Abbott spews forth.
CORENA – Citizens doing it for themselves
Two subjects we always like to cover in these pages are good news Australian solar stories and innovation and inventiveness with regard to clean energy fund raising. So the planets must have been in alignment when Finn bailed up your correspondent this week at the SQHQ water cooler and told me about CORENA.
You’ll never believe who is embracing solar…
This week we take a detour from our usual rants to look at an interesting emerging overseas trend. The changing face of solar advocacy.
Australia tends to follow most trends that start in the United States — some would say slavishly — so this recent article in the superb Grist magazine made me think that the very way solar is positioned may indeed be changing. Support for solar power has long moved from the fringes to being accepted by the mainstream.
But solar advocacy is now being embraced by ultra conservatives as a symbol of free enterprise!
Let me explain. [Read more…]
Solar trade wars, what are they good for? Absolutely nuthin! Say it again! Uh! (RIP Edwin Starr)
While the ongoing dispute (AKA solar trade war) between Europe and China continues apace, an article caught your correspondent’s eye this week (and was posted in our popular Facebook Page if you’d like to comment). Perhaps the most interesting part of the article is what it hints at: the inevitable change in focus of solar power production from the West to the East.
Business Spectator covered the demise of the Israeli company Solel, which was written off by owner German industrial giant Siemens when no sellers (mugs?) could be found to take the company off Siemen’s hands. Incredibly (or maybe not so given the Chinese solar panel charge on world markets) the solar company has incurred debts of around US$1.4 billion since its acquisition by Siemens in 2009, according to the article.
Companies are voting with their wallets when it comes to commercial solar systems
Hot on the heels of our posts last week about the amazing returns commercial solar can bestow upon savvy businesses and Aussie bankers putting their hands in their pockets to support solar energy projects came the news that WA mining equipment company Diab Engineering has backed solar energy by installing a rooftop solar system at its head office.
Which is interesting solar fans. [Read more…]
Aussie bankers are finally investing in solar farms!
It can get a bit tiring sitting here at SQHQ listening to the solar narks peddling the age old line that “solar is completely uneconomic and will destroy our precious mining economy”.
Luckily a solar milestone flashed by our radar last week which drives yet another nail into the argument put forward by those who think that open cast mining is the true path to a 21st century economy. [Read more…]
I put this together to try and get across just how economically compelling solar power is if you look at the cost of electricity over 20 years instead of simply focussing on the up front cost.
If you can get good financing, solar power is an economic no-brainer for most households.
Are cheap Chinese solar panels good or bad for Australia?
You remember the spiel readers? About how globalisation was going to make an awful lot of people in the Western world very rich er … save the world through the breaking down of trade barriers. [Read more…]
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