MASG news Thursday March 24th 2011
Posted on 24 March 2011 by e-news
Goldfields Solar Hub-MASG information sessions this Friday and Saturday
The members catch-up this Friday the 25th is at the Hub from 5pm to 6pm and will have a solar PV Q & A with Goldfields Solar Hub supplier Braemac.
If you can’t make that come to the drop in session from 10am to noon on Saturday the 26th in the MASG office.
Solar Hub builds in numbers: as at Monday this week we have had 320 registration to take part in this joint Bendigo-Mount Alexander project.
Green-It-Yourself Funky Website
Lucy, a MASG member, has put us onto this funky website – Green-It-Yourself. GIYers are the new DIYers. GIYers are doing green jobs for themselves – they are draft-proofing, shading windows, setting up worm farms, they are fixing dripping taps. This website suggests that GIY is not about reading. It is about watching. It is mostly video, with some bits of casual text. Check it out and tell us about any of your tips, websites, products, etc.
Tips for cooler weather from Comfy Homes
It’s time to start thinking about the cooler weather and how to mininize those soaring winter energy bills. Good ceiling insulation is essential, followed by covering windows on cold days and nights. Glass is a terrible insulator! Any method that restricts the movement of warm air across and out your windows will help – double-glazing (including plastic film), drapes tucked in at the sides, to the floor or with pelmets, air-pocket or insulated window coverings that sit against the glass. If you’re heating the living area remember to close off the rooms you’re not using but make sure to seal the gaps under the doors – again restricting the movement of warm air to colder spaces. Give Deanna a call for any information you need on 5470 6978 or email deanna@masg.org.au
Solar PV for renters….are you interested ?
Eleanor King is keen to progress ideas for solar power in rental accommodation. IF this issue interests you please contact her on 5472 1176 or email : eleanor.king@bigpond.com
She would be very pleased to discuss / flesh out the proposal , especially with people in rental accommodation at present .
Soil and Compost Workshop is this Saturday 26th, 10am-12pm
out the back of MASG in the Templeton St Garden. Cost: $5
previous enews had the wrong day…it is definitely this Saturday.
Various methods of composting and different styles of worm farms will be sown. General principals of good composting and worm farming will be demonstrated and discussed.
Just turn up or for more info contact Heather on: heather@box311.biz or Peter on bundara@netcon.net.au
Owner-build site visit
When: Wed 13th April, 2pm-3.30pm
Where: 12 Yeats St, Castlemaine
Bookings essential: T: 5470 6978 or deanna@masg.org.au
Gold coin donation, please wear suitable footwear, the site is still under construction.
Local owner-builders, Anne and Hans van Gemert, invite members of MASG to a site-visit to their new home in 12 Yeats Street, Castlemaine which is nearing completion. Anne and Hans are happy to demonstrate the space, energy and water saving features in their new home and to discuss the difficulties of building to a budget.
Inspirational Music to Ride High on a Sea of Bicycles
Saturday 9th of April 2011
Ride Starts 6:45pm (meet 6:15)
Concert Commences at 7:30pm (finishes 8:30pm)
@ Castlemaine Botanical Gardens
$10/ $5 Tickets Available at the Venue on the Day
Bring a Picnic and Chair/Rug
Bicycle Riders will meet in Victory Park, Castlemaine at 6:15pm for a 3km ‘Slow Ride’ to the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens where they will be treated to a World Class Performance of Moving Images and Live Looping by Australia’s own bicycle riding Cellist / Looper/ Composer, Kristin Rule.
Carbon taxes around the world – 7 March 2011, SBS
SBS looks at how carbon taxes work and which countries have introduced them.
Fossil fuels will run out of gas when the solar revolution arrives
The Age Business Day writes that it’s a sure bet that solar photovoltaics will achieve retail electricity price parity within a few years. When that happens, it will signal the end of the game for fossil fuel baseload power.
Look at the changes in IT technology for an indication of what is coming for Renewables. Back in 1988, my first hard disk cost me about $2000. Scaled up to a terabyte, that disk would have cost about $200 million in today’s terms. But I can now buy a terabyte disk drive for under $200.
In the energy sector, technology-driven learning applies most pertinently to solar photovoltaics (PVs).
The cost of PVs is reducing by about 20 per cent for each doubling in deployment. At present rates, doubling is taking 18 months, so PVs get six times cheaper every 10 years. There is no reason to expect the learning to stop for many decades and deployment rates can be increased to accelerate the learning.
With PV electricity about seven times more expensive than coal-fired power on a levelled-cost basis, we can expect wholesale price parity by 2022. And when we get there, other electricity generation technologies – especially those subject to rising fuel costs – will soon be out of business. Why? Because PV costs will continue to fall.
Financiers and governments should be sensitive to this timeline. It will turn the electricity market on its head. Distinctions like baseload will no longer matter, as coal will not be able to attract investment. Expensive assets will likely be stranded.
Battle-proof Wind Farms Survive Japan’s Trial by Fire
As the world collectively holds its breath to see how the Fukushima
crisis plays out there’s a positive story which is not yet being
reported says this Huffington Post story.
Despite assertions by its detractors that wind energy would not
survive an earthquake or tsunami the Japanese wind industry is still
functioning and helping to keep the lights on during the Fuksuhima
crisis.
While shares in the Tokyo stock market have fallen during the crisis,
the stock price of Japan Wind Development Co. Ltd. has risen from
31,500 yen on 11 March to 47,800 yen on 16 March.
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