octave

I am railing: Sir Rod Stewart reveals his epic model railway city

Big batteries are becoming an increasingly important part of Australia’s power mix, and on Saturday morning smashed all previous records by providing more than one third of South Australia’s power demand in some trading intervals in the early morning peak.

"give way" = don't get in the way of any car already on the roundabout, or don't impede it. Yes, give way to any vehicle on the roundabout. Giving way does not necessarily stop. Cars already on the roundabout have right of way, meaning they take precedence over you. It is your responsibility not to impede them. If you can enter the roundabout without colliding or impeding them, you can do so. If this were not the case, then a roundabout could only ever have one car on it at once, which is clearly nonsense. Just imagine some of those enormous roundabouts in Canberra.

How long into the red should you be allowed? If it turns red, then it has already been through amber and bear in mind that if your light turns red, the other lights turn green. I am sure at some time I have made a poor choice and entered an intersection late and ended up in the red. I think you just have to cop it. Do the crime, do the time (or money in this case)

You probably won't want to hear how much my bills are (at this time of the year, my bill is negative). Should you consider solar?

Yes, but I would add to that, slow and or stop if necessary to avoid a collision. This means that often you will not need to stop at all.

My Smart Meter tells me my yearly, monthly, daily or even hourly data in kWh or dollars and cents, as well as solar exports. My solar app shows me down to the 15 minutes. I could go and read the numbers off the meter, but this gives me less information and is a bit of an effort.

Spacey, what is your definition of "give way"?

Yes

Apparently according to Google there are 49 hook turn intersections in Melbourne. Who knew? I didn't

They do feed power back to the grid. Whilst each grid-scale battery cannot supply the grid for days, they can help with peak periods, reducing the need for peaker plants. They also reduce curtailment of renewable sources that would otherwise be lost. Another service they provide is arbitrage, whereby they store power when it is cheap and sell it into the grid during periods of high demand/price. I am not saying that we just need to build more batteries and job done. Grid batteries are part of the solution. Home batteries are also a contributor, as they become more and more common.

Correct. There are times when solar output is curtailed or clipped due to too much power in the grid. It seems to me that rather than wasting this power, it might as well be utilised. It is similar to the cheaper off-peak tariff overnight. I think the motivation is to address the idea that those who can afford solar get really small bills, and those who can't or who live in rental accommodation are shut out. I think some retailers may already do this.

Australians to get at least three hours a day of free solar power - even if they don’t have solar panels Australian households in three states will be promised access to at least three hours a day of free solar power, regardless of whether they have rooftop panels, the federal government has announced. The “solar sharer” offer will be available to homes with smart meters – which is the majority of homes – in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia from July next year, with other areas to potentially follow in 2027.

Giveaway does not mean stop unless you need to do so in order to AVOID a collision with a car already on the roundabout. In other words, you do not have to stop if there is NO risk of a collision. Below is the NSW rule. The important words are you must slow down and IF NECESSARY, stop to avoid a collision. The bit about vehicles on your left means that it is your responsibility to slow down or stop, but only to avoid a collision with a car already on the roundabout. In NSW road rules, "give way" means you must slow down and, if necessary, stop to avoid a collision with another vehicle or pedestrian.

I think it comes down to the definition of "give way" I don't think give way means you must stop until there are no vehicles in the roundabout about, but you must give way ", give way", which means slow down and, if necessary, stop to avoid a collision with other vehicles or pedestrians

Isn't South Australia already at approximately 44% solar and another 18% from solar? I do recall a time when people would argue that renewables could never exceed 20%. Technology continues to move ahead. I remember the scepticism about the first grid-scale battery. I can remember Scott Morrison mocking it as being akin to the "big banana" What happened when the Libs were elected to state government? They extended the Hornsdale battery in 2019. Even the Morrison government, which mocked the battery, backed its upgrade and provided some funding. Why, because it works. Today, there are many more batteries in operation and many more planned. As we argue the toss here, technology continues to advance. Battery chemistries change such that they become cheaper and their materials become more available (sodium batteries, etc.) What may seem like a viable arguments against renewables today quickly evaporate as technology improves. Grid Scale Batteries: existing and proposed.

Lately, there seems to be a lot of viral bollocks being posted on social media. Here are 2 from this morning. This one is at best a gross exaggeration. Solar power from rooftops is only part of the energy mix. On a cloudy day, NSW does not get blacked out. Modern panels are pretty tough. Solar Panels Vs. Nature – Hail Hailstorms tend to be local rather than widespread. The odds of the majority of a state's panels being destroyed are exceedingly unlikely. I have lived with solar panels for a total of 29 years without incident. Sure, they could be written off in a hailstorm tomorrow, but the odds seem pretty low. This photo has been going around. I strongly suspect this photo is fake. The generator seems to be running (smoke from the exhaust) without a load on it. The EV charger appears to be facing the grass rather than into the car park. The cables don't appear to make sense - the cable coming out of the charger on the right goes behind the charger and seems to disappear. One of the cables coming out of the generator appears to go into the front of the charger, where you would expect the outlet to be. There is something very weird with the 2 cables coming out of the front of the charger if you try to follow each cable. I did post these observations on the group that published this picture, and my comment was promptly removed, and further comments were switched off. I am curious about why people go to such lengths.

There are many examples of wind generation in the city, and there is a lot of potential.

Wind turbines need to be located in areas that have sufficient wind (obviously) and suitable topography. I lived for many years on a bush property relying on solar power. I would have loved to have installed a small turbine on the roof; however, although there was enough wind to make one viable, there would have been too much turbulence due to the surrounding trees. Of course, we live in a time of rapid technological advancement. I have seen new turbine designs that probably would work in city areas. I am sure builders of wind farms would love to build them in the city if it were viable, because this would reduce headaches surrounding building transmission wires.

I agree, oil is used for many important purposes. Oil is way too valuable to burn. Sure, it will be a long time before all vehicles are driven by something other than petrol/diesel. Driving the wheels of a vehicle electrically is just more efficient. I am very familiar with the Tesla; my son owns one. I don't know that it has more plastic than any other modern car.

Yep, just tried off someone else's plate. Mainly tasted of the garlic it was cooked in. I wasn't moved enough ever to order them myself.

Whilst I am sure there are people on the fringe who want to remove humans from the equation, this is not common, and these people are inconsequential in the debate. Advocating for clean and renewable energy is about ensuring our future while allowing us to enjoy the benefits of modern technology. Advocating for EVs is not about restricting people's freedom to personal transport; in fact, it is quite the opposite. Wanting clean and renewable energy is about ensuring energy without some of the downsides.

Ours too, although I make the occasional espresso on my manual lever machine. One of the beans we roast is a naturally decaffeinated bean, which we drink pretty much only in the evening. Like an interest, you just have to find "your" crowd, whether it is tuning vintage motor bikes, fishing or Morris dancing

Warning, don't get me sucked into a discussion on coffee. My wife and I are long-term coffee nerds. We buy green coffee beans and roast them ourselves. We are very far down this rabbit hole. At the moment, we are roasting Ethiopian late-picked beans, which means that the beans do a little fermenting before being picked. It makes for a pretty fruit and berryish winey brew.

Well yes, if you are just relying on pictures, however, this is not how mean sea level is calculated. Mean sea level is measured through a combination of gauge data from around the world and satellite altimetry. The data is readily available, and the question I would pose is, if you believe the data is incorrect, then what do you believe is the reason? Are NASA and CSIRO etc., incompetent or lying or perhaps part of a plot to bring down capitalism because they are such hippies? How Do We Measure Sea Level?