O'Farrell backs down on Solar rebate cut

When I got back from holidays there was a lot of talk about how the NSW premier planned to slash our solar rebate from 60c per kw to 40c, overturning a previous government promise that the rebate would be honoured until until 2020.

However the Premier has backed down and my 60c/kW is saved.

Which is good news, since last week I got another negative electricity bill, and have $250 odd in credit.  I also decided to switch to 100% green energy this week, which is going to cost me an extra 5.5c/kW, which I think worked out to be an extra $35 or so on my bill.

Yay for solar panels!  I wish I could have put more on.  Maybe I should consider getting solar hot water as well.

I got credit on my electricity bill!

Wow this is the first time I got a decent credit on my electricity bill!  There is $260 credit on my bill so hopefully enough money to last through the summer with no extra payments on it!  I think that's rather cool.  I wonder if I'll be able to get enough in the summer and autumn months to be able to have a cost free electricity.

Changes to the NSW Feed-in Tariff (Solar Scheme)

From October 28, there will be changes to the gross feed-in tariff such that it will be 20c per kW generated, as opposed to our 60c.  This will be effective for all those systems installed after 27 October 2010.  Fortunately the changes don't affect us, but I wonder what this will do for the solar industry in NSW.  Perhaps it will continue but at a slow pace?  Or maybe it will grind to a halt?  Well whatever happens, I'm just glad that we got our system.  However, perhaps if I had waited a bit longer I could have gotten a cheaper system.

First electricity bill after solar rebate

Oh I forgot to mention I got my first electricity bill after having the solar panels installed and the meter in place.  My electricity bill was $18.57!  Now the interesting thing was that it was all from late fees... because I forgot to pay my last electricity bill on time.  Solar rebate got me back $409.67 (602kWh @ 68c).  And we used 2091kWh.  So that was really good!

Finally got my meter for feed in tariff!

Out of the blue yesterday got a call from David the electrician who installed my solar panels saying that he could put the meter in today (at the time I was out for lunch with the family).  Which is exciting because that means soon I can start getting paid about $6 a day for  the electricity that we generate!  Which should at least take heaps off the electricity bill.

Unfortunately they still don't have the antenna for the other Sunnybeam wireless monitor so still waiting on that.

If things go well I should generate about $6 a day in electricity.  How awesome is that :)

Here comes the sun...

I got a phone call yesterday from the guys at Energy Matters saying that they had an opening TODAY!  So if I was OK for them to come round and do the panels then they'd get started and do it.  Hell yeah!  They also told me that the inverter I wanted is not available so I have to get a replacement and they suggested 2 inverters (which apparently cost more than the original one).

So what did I have put in?  I had 14 Suntech 180W panels which are sitting nicely on the roof making it a total of 2.520kW.  The wireless monitor shows how much we're generating on a minutely basis, and it's kinda entrancing to watch it go up when the sun is out.  At the moment they only had one antennna so we're only looking at one inverters output, so basically our solar electricity generation is about double what is being shown on the monitor.

Walked outside and I can hardly see my new panels.  I did want to get a photo of them.  Well at least they're unobtrusive!

Oh and another thing they don't have the meters from the electricity company yet.  So we won't get our feedin tariffs credited.... oh well!

Solar Panels with Energy Matters

Well I finally got a call back from the Energy Matters people and I'm going ahead with my solar panels!  I paid a deposit on the spot and they gave me a free wireless monitor.  How cool!  I am going to get a 2.5kW system with a 3kW inverter just in case I decide to upgrade later.  Hubby doesn't mind because with the gross tariff feed-in system in NSW (60c per kWh!) we could pay off our system in about 4-5 years!

I can't wait!  Keep an eye on this post for more updates!

Solar Eclipse Chasing

Ever since my husband and I went to see the Solar Eclipse in South Australia in 2002, we thought it would have been cool to go eclipse chasing to see Solar Eclipses every couple of years. We went to Turkey in 2006 to see the Solar Eclipse and that was a great holiday. The next one which we would have liked to have seen was the 2009 India/China solar eclipse which was the longest solar eclipse of the century.

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This video is from Woomera, SA in 2002 (in fast forward) that I took (and had a blooper! Forgot to take the solar filter off when there was totality). Totality was short, a bit less than 30 seconds but it was low on the horizon and being in the desert, we had a fantastic cloudless sky.

This photo was taken on a beach near Side in Turkey 2006. A bit blurry but it you can get the feel of what it was like to be there! Weather was fantastic, we were very lucky that time! Side itself was packed with NASA people and lots of buses, as there was a huge party planned there. There was a temple of Apollo in Side which would have made it a really cool place to take a picture of a solar eclipse... but the crowds were unbelievable!

The beach we were at had hardly any people though everyone there was eclipse chasing, with their telescopes, cameras and Solar shades!







Our next Eclipse that we plan to go to will be in Australia again! On November 13 2012, at about 6:39am there will be totality over Northern Queensland for about 2 minutes and 4 seconds. This picture is from Hermit Eclipse.
Unfortunately it will be the wet season, with the average rainy days in Cairns for November at 10, and average cloudy days at 7.5, so we might get lucky, or we might not.

Now where should we stay? Port Douglas or Cairns? Fortunately there are a multitude of places to stay at those places, so I've put a couple down here so I can remind myself closer in the future.

Port Douglas

Sheraton Mirage Resort

My husband stayed here at a conference. They have villas for apartment style living with lots of luxury features. Prices start from $330 per night for 2 double bed in one room.



Mantra Heritage Apartments
A 2 bedroom suite goes for about $320, and looks nice and comfy with all the usual resort style features. Located on 16 Warner Street. A little pricey in my opinion though.





Cayman Villas Apartments
This looks like a more affordable place. 2 bedroom apartments go for $240 a night and they have discounts for longer stays. Located at 35 Mowbray Street.




Cairns

Cairns Queenslander Apartments
Cute and tidy looking, these 2 bedroom apartments are $168 per night. Located at 268 Lake Street.

How I wish I could be more Green

In this age of eco friendly, carbon neutral, recycle and reuse, there are so many things I wish I could be doing. Unfortunately though, when you're married your partner has to be in on them too!

Electricity
I would love to install solar panels. The cost of it doesn't really worry me, but my husband refuses to buy them because they're not value for money. Sometimes I think, shouldn't we all be doing our bit for the environment? Despite the cost? Before June 2009, you could get $8000 back in rebates for installing a solar energy system under the SHCP (Solar home and communities plan). But the government dumped that and is in the process of replacing it with solar credits. Which is good because that is not means tested (the original one was). So I would love to get a 1.5kW system on my roof - but that would cost me about $16-17K. That's not including rebates. Or any money I would get from putting energy back into the grid.

At the moment this is a very energy inefficient household. We use about 21-27kWh per day, and the average house uses 16kWh. There are a number of things which contribute to this!

• Computers - our computers are on A LOT. I love my computer. I do run 2 LCD monitors off mine and my husband has his one as well.
• Ducted air conditioning - though we did our best to buy what we thought to be the most energy efficient on the market (Advantage Air) it still uses a lot of energy. And we spend a lot of time warming/cooling the house because of the baby, so she doesn't get too hot or cold.
• Halogens - this house is FULL of halogen lights. They're in the bathrooms, kitchen, hallways.

Composting
I don't know much about gardening and things. I should invest in a worm farm or a compost bin, but getting my husband to put food scraps into it may be a bit of an issue! This is one area I'll be looking into later when I have more time. These are the things I'm going to investigate at a later stage:







Recycling
Gee we generate lots of rubbish. I do try and recycle as much as I can, but I'm sure I could do more. I threw out a chocolate box yesterday because it didn't have the recycling symbol on it and my husband scolded me, saying "You want to be environmentally friendly? You don't even recycle!" I don't want to try to recycle things which aren't recyclable, that makes more work for the people at the recycling place!

Water recycling
It would be nice to get laundry and other grey water back into the garden. But I hardly water my garden and the raintank outside takes care of that anyway so I don't think that it's really needed at this stage. Perhaps when I get a bigger house. We already have water efficient things all through the house - shower heads, toilets, front loading washing machine.

Growing your own vegetables
Now this would probably make a tiny difference in my carbon footprint! Think of all the transport of produce I would save... and not to mention home grown stuff! At the moment I only have herb type things such as coriander, chilli, lemongrass, kaffir lime, chives. But other things I would love to plant would include basil, lemons, tomatoes and sugar snap peas!