Australia, learning to be green?

[Djs63]

Have travelled to the ends of the earth, well Australia at least. We have planted acres of trees and we are trying to be “green” but meeting the grand kids etc is important. But it is a troubling journey.

But on the coast north of Sydney many houses are not well insulated from cold or heat though many have light coloured roofs. Very few PV panels or solar hot water systems to be seen though black plastic coils on the roof to heat the pool are fairly common. The family’s house is high on a hill so we can sample many roof tops! But lots of house have rainwater collection used to flush loos.

Hybrid cars are becoming popular, and one important point is that charging points are rare at present so a car which can be charged at home from an ordinary domestic socket is a good thing, but it does mean that it would take a long time to fill a pure battery car eg 20 hours at 3 kWh/ hour.

Everything is spread out, small population in unbelievably large country, so vehicles with long range capabilities are a must. But the State governments are trying to develop charging points at frequent intervals along busy routes but no sign of free charging at the supermarket.

And no wind turbines or fields of PV panels that I can see. The new government may be greener...... But all in all, I don’t think we have much to learn from yet, apart from rainwater collection and use perhaps.

[Stinsy]

Australia is very backward when it comes to environmental issues. Somewhat surprising seeing as they are on the front-line of climate change. Their electricity is overwhelmingly fossil fuel generated with less than 1% renewables. Again surprising due to the amount of sunshine and space.

Water is precious in Australia. The groundwater that does exist is mostly brackish. Therefore it is unsurprising that they’re ahead of the curve on grey-water collection and domestic use.

[Ken]

The federal gov just ousted was useless and against RE and pro coal.
The state govs are much more on the case and the South Aus state has done way with coal and is something like on about 85% RE average and at times 100%. In some parts domestic PV is at 1in 3.

I read this sight everyday https://reneweconomy.com.au/ Down the right side of the page is how the seperate states are producing leccy.

[Mart]

I've been fascinated by Aus and RE for about a decade. The people seem very pro-RE, some of the states very pro-RE, the country itself is pro-RE with fantastic and cheap wind and PV generation, they have a staggering amount of residential PV (25% I think last time I checked) ..... but the (old) Gov was terrified about losing coal and gas exports, which seemed to make them naturally supportive of FF's for self use.

Similar issues with BEV's, but the dam is breaking.

Golden oldie that still makes me laugh everytime I watch it:

Honest Government Ad | Electric Vehicles

[Joeboy]

I've been fascinated by Aus and RE for about a decade. The people seem very pro-RE, some of the states very pro-RE, the country itself is pro-RE with fantastic and cheap wind and PV generation, they have a staggering amount of residential PV (25% I think last time I checked) ..... but the (old) Gov was terrified about losing coal and gas exports, which seemed to make them naturally supportive of FF's for self use.

Similar issues with BEV's, but the dam is breaking.

Golden oldie that still makes me laugh everytime I watch it:

Honest Government Ad | Electric Vehicles

Mart, do you have a comparison figure for UK rez pv uptake? I have no idea what it would be.

[Mart]

I've been fascinated by Aus and RE for about a decade. The people seem very pro-RE, some of the states very pro-RE, the country itself is pro-RE with fantastic and cheap wind and PV generation, they have a staggering amount of residential PV (25% I think last time I checked) ..... but the (old) Gov was terrified about losing coal and gas exports, which seemed to make them naturally supportive of FF's for self use.

Similar issues with BEV's, but the dam is breaking.

Golden oldie that still makes me laugh everytime I watch it:

Honest Government Ad | Electric Vehicles

Mart, do you have a comparison figure for UK rez pv uptake? I have no idea what it would be.

Off the top of my head I think it's roughly one million. Not sure how many 'homes' there are, I think there are over 25m 'residences' which will of course include flats and the such. So 1/25th or so, perhaps 3-4%.

Not only does Aus have better generation than us, around 1,600-1,800kWh/kWp, v's 1,000kWh for the UK, but they have a much smaller variance across the year with worst to best months of about 2:3, whereas the UK is about 1:4.

Similar spread in Spain, which I've always thought is where PV + batts + heatpump really come into there own when you have less heat demand, and a more consistent generation.

Roll on those UK domestic VAWTs that promise so much, and deliver ..... ummmm nowt?

[Joeboy]

I've been fascinated by Aus and RE for about a decade. The people seem very pro-RE, some of the states very pro-RE, the country itself is pro-RE with fantastic and cheap wind and PV generation, they have a staggering amount of residential PV (25% I think last time I checked) ..... but the (old) Gov was terrified about losing coal and gas exports, which seemed to make them naturally supportive of FF's for self use.

Similar issues with BEV's, but the dam is breaking.

Golden oldie that still makes me laugh everytime I watch it:

Honest Government Ad | Electric Vehicles

Mart, do you have a comparison figure for UK rez pv uptake? I have no idea what it would be.

Off the top of my head I think it's roughly one million. Not sure how many 'homes' there are, I think there are over 25m 'residences' which will of course include flats and the such. So 1/25th or so, perhaps 3-4%.

Not only does Aus have better generation than us, around 1,600-1,800kWh/kWp, v's 1,000kWh for the UK, but they have a much smaller variance across the year with worst to best months of about 2:3, whereas the UK is about 1:4.

Similar spread in Spain, which I've always thought is where PV + batts + heatpump really come into there own when you have less heat demand, and a more consistent generation.

Roll on those UK domestic VAWTs that promise so much, and deliver ..... ummmm nowt?

That is indeed a huge gap. I hope the shift to more RE continues with the new PM.

[Djs63]

Mart, thank you for the link to the spoof but realistic government message. Having been here for a week the video seems very realistic and no wonder the previous government lost!