The climate change debate continues.

[facthunter]

It IS Spring! WE also need the rain.  Even if it comes in heavy bits. No Hail that I heard of.  Autumn is the Best time to be in Victoria. I see no reason to leave HERE anytime soon but I wish it wasn't growing so fast. Stay away. We are FULL. It's HORRIBLE. All those BAD stories in the Media are true. Nev

[spacesailor]

.   But the diesel generator is too noisy. 

And.

I'm fed up with the 'ash ' from the wood fired stove .

Boiling water for my tea ain't bad , with the " Thermette Copper Kettle " .

And

Not looking forward to winter without any heating .

I should emigrate to a better country or state .

 

 

spacesailor

 

[onetrack]

Quote

From Jan 2027 - all new homes must be all electric

This is stupidity at the highest level of Govt. It's putting all your eggs in the one basket. When the power goes out (as it surely does on regular occasions), you have no cooking ability, no refrigeration, and no hot water. I have gas and electric and solar, a proper balance against all your eggs in one basket. And I have a backup genset and a portable gas BBQ.

 

In addition, what happens if you decide to disobey the Allan Govt mandate and install gas as well as electric? Do you go to jail? Who keeps checking on whether your home is still all-electric? The Energy Nazi stormtroopers?? The Vic Govt mentality is astounding.

 

If imbecilic political leaders had stopped Australian Gas being sold for a pittance to other countries (who then use that cheap energy to compete unfairly with our industries), and had ensured that proper levels of cheap gas were reserved for local consumption, then you wouldn't have this fiasco you have now.

 

Previous W.A. politicians at least had some working brain cells, they ensured 15% of W.A.'s gas reserves were kept available for W.A. industry and consumer consumption.

 

Edited Sunday at 08:07 AM by onetrack

[old man emu]

 

I miss out again!

 

 

[onetrack]

OME, you're obviously not going to Church enough. We'll send you some sackcloth and ashes, so you can do proper penance for your sins, and make it rain again for you. 😄

 

[facthunter]

Do  and INDIAN Rain Dance. Actually you Live in the WRONG Place IF you want more Precipitation. Nev

[octave]

25 minutes ago, onetrack said:

It's putting all your eggs in the one basket.

Batteries are being installed at record rates.  I don't have a battery yet, but when I do, power cuts of a reasonable length will be irrelevant. Currently, my electricity bill is in credit. I have electric hot water, heating and an induction hotplate.  With battery backup, why would I want to add gas into the mix only to increase my energy bills? This is, of course, from my personal perspective.   Also, gas is not the best for indoor pollution. 

[red750]

We have gas stove, hot water and ducted heating. Ducted heating was installed before we bought the house 46 years ago, but the heaing unit was replaced about 6 years ago. A new hot water service was installed about 12 years ago.. Should outlast me.

[spacesailor]

back to the good old LPG bottled 'bbq ' cooking 

I've never met a " battery " that would cook a full family's roast dinner. 

And I have seen a fair swag of ' big expensive '  motorholmes . 

( all electric ). 

Most have the LPG bottle " just in case " .

spacesailor

[octave]

4 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

I've never met a " battery " that would cook a full family's roast dinner. 

Large batteries such as the type being installed on house solar systems can run an oven etc. 

 

"house battery, like a Tesla Powerwall, can power a Tesla oven, but its runtime depends on the oven's power consumption and the battery's capacity."

 

[nomadpete]

The present crop of house batteries start at 5Kwh which would only run the average oven for half an hour.

They are usually used to minimise peak period power biling (lowering household power bills).

However, many people are buying up to 20Kwh batteries, which, when combined with a proper roof full of solar power (say 11Kw) of solar panels, can run an all electric home (with a little care).

 

Present price for 11Kw of panels with a smart inverter is $9,000.

 

Back when they went off grid, Mr & Mrs Octave would have loved prices like these.

[nomadpete]

13 hours ago, facthunter said:

It IS Spring!

Well good for you. It might be *SPRING!* where you are. But it aint spring down here.

We have been promised 2 & 3 degree mornings all this week. And not reaching 10 degrees even if the sun breaks through.

 

Climate sure is changing!

[octave]

29 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

Back when they went off grid, Mr & Mrs Octave would have loved prices like these.

You are not wrong about that.   I clearly remember back in 1990 that a 60w solar panel was $595. Now, for about $300, you get over 400W, and when you consider inflation, the price drop is enormous. One of the things we struggled with back then was lighting.  The best choice at the time was quartz halogen. Each 20 W bulb was $13 and was better at producing heat than light.  Today's LED lights would have been fantastic.

 

We don't have a house battery, but we did get a quote.  The problem is that our bills our so low that the payback time was 20 years, which is far longer than the warranty. As far as backup goes, our power seems to be amazingly reliable. I can honestly say we have not had a power cut longer than seconds in the last 8 years. That could change in the future, I guess.  For emergency backup, we might consider something like this  

EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max Portable Power Station,     obviously it would only power the fridge and lights, perhaps an induction hotplate. It would also double as a power supply for camping

[Marty_d]

We lost power for 3 days when a tree took down our power lines. Borrowed a neighbour's little generator, it was enough to run the fridge/freezer, a couple of lights, chargers and the internet router - that was enough to keep the kids from mutiny.

[facthunter]

Anyone can still Use Portable bottles. We have a Barbecue and Gas rings in my workshop. I never had reticulated GAS OPTION and am now glad I didn't as it's expensive and  not that safe. Plumbers don't like working on it. (Extra liability) I still have 1 Car running on it.  Getting harder to find outlets to fill it. Nev

[facthunter]

Spring is  a time when the weather is most unpredictable. (Unstable).  Nev

[kgwilson]

We just bought a new property. It had a big gas cooker in the kitchen which we promptly threw out. We are renovating and the house will be all electric, well it is now except for the solar hot water. Our average daily power consumption is 9-10 kWh. There is a 20 year old 1kW solar system with 8 x 125 watt panels which I am replacing with a new 8.8 kW system with 20 x 440 watt bifacial v panels, a 10kW hybrid inverter and an 18.64 kWh battery. In theory I should be able to go off grid. Total cost $11,600.00. The battery is made up of 4 x 4.66 kWh modules which is scalable to 41.93 kWh by just adding modules on top. It is free standing & will live in my big shed.

 

The house is 20 years old and unbelievably the ceiling is uninsulated. Part of the renos is insulation and draught proofing as even efficient air conditioning is quite power hungry.

 

Charging my EV is power hungry but I have a plan that gives me 3 hours of free power a day (11:00 to 14:00) so that is when it is scheduled to charge. I also get power for 8c/kWh from midnight to 6am. There is now so much power produced by rooftop solar that the spot price is often negative in the middle of the day. New solar farms now going in have to include batteries. Early solar farms without them either have to switch off or invest in batteries as they have to pay to put their power in to the grid when the price is negative.

 

Electricity retailers now have plans for home battery owners. Solar feed in tariffs are very low now. I was getting just 0.5 cents/kWh, now 2.8 cents/kWh. A friend who has just added a 30kWh battery gets 15 cents/kWh feed in tariff during peak usage which will come from his battery.

[facthunter]

We will adapt and improve with electricity. Nothing is more certain. IT gets cheaper  and better. The REST gets dearer..   Nev

[Siso]

Not sure it will get cheaper.

[spacesailor]

The very first house , my new wife & I rented in England.  ( 1962 )

No electricity or water to house ! , gas lighting & gas , or coal fire cooking , a big hook over the fireplace, to hang one pot or kettle. 

We gave it a miss , then rented a house with everything including a bath .

My first time using a 'fitted ' ,  bath with hot & cold tap water .

A  couple of year's later we bought our ' luxurious ' refrigerator ' ,

then a car . ( SECOND-HAND ) of course . And still , never a brand-new car .

spacesailor

[octave]

18 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

No electricity or water to house ! , gas lighting & gas , or coal fire cooking , a big hook over the fireplace, to hang one pot or kettle. 

We used to live int shoebox int middle of t road"

 

 

 

[facthunter]

Railway Fettlers used to live in little tents alongside the railway Line. Coal miner's cottages were about the size of a single Garage. We're ALL spoilt.  Nev

[old man emu]

Last Friday a severe hailstorm passed over near my place. Hailstones the size of golf balls. The storm cut a narrow pathway over crop land. However, it also passed over a farmhouse. The hailstones smashed all teh poor bugger's rooftop solar panels.

[facthunter]

There's been some 5 Cm ones around. You wouldn't want to be driving or flying through it. They are Large enough to Kill you if you're in the open.  Look up How they are formed.  Expect worse in the future.  Nev

[red750]

A tornado tore through the western suburbs of Melbourne, ripping off tiles, uprooting trees and knocking out powerlines. 

 

Video on Sunrise of golfball size hail, don't recall where, possibly NSW,