The truth about electricity prices

The media is awash with stories about electricity prices and how it is that solar panels such as ours are contributing to it.
There is a projected cost of $42 billion in investment of network infrastructure such as poles and wires which accounts for approximately 80%-90% of the increased prices that are being experienced in NSW (62% for QLD).  This investment is required due to growing population and increased demand for power.
A national renewable energy target of 20% will account for an approximate 4% increase of bills (equivalent to about $0.8 per week). Putting a price on pollution also will contribute to some increases. However, the infrastructure costs are the major causes of price increases.
Investment in renewable energy is one of the solutions for a cleaner future. The cost of the feed in tariff is reflected in just a few percent of the 10% which is the retail component of our electricity increases. Production of PV electricity is expected to reach the same price as retail electricity in the next 5-10 years which is why governments around the world are investing in schemes similar to ours. As PV system prices continue to decrease, they will become even more affordable for people on low incomes to purchase.
 Australians have one of the world's highest standards of living and our carbon outputs reflect this, so the incentive we have to reduce our power bills will require some adaptation on our part.

The true cost of photovoltaics
Electricity Prices - the facts

Solar Powered Clothes Dryer

There's an old joke about an ad in the paper offering a solar powered clothes dryer for $5. Amazed at the price, people sent off their five dollars and eagerly anticipated their new dryer. What they received was a length of clothes line - the original clothes dryer (plagiarised from Mooselt Musings)
Apartment buildings all over the world have been battling for the simple priviledge of being able to hang out their clothes (see articles below). From the 1st Sept 2010, the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2010 in NSW features a new by-law for the hanging of washing from owners' balconies.  Owners of existing Strata schemes (ie us!) must pass a resolution to adopt this by-law. Judge announces new climate-friendly strata initiatives Dept Fair Trading, 1 Sept 2010
Most apartments have outdoor drying areas.  Going up and down the steps can be a little inconvenient - but really no more so than living in a two storey house - and if you're looking to increase your daily activity it really adds to your 10,000 daily steps!

Movement is an Opportunity Not an Inconvenience

90. Hanging Clothes to Dry.—To some it might seem that the laundry work is practically done when clothes are ready to be hung on the line; but the next step has some very important features, the oversight of which might make necessary the rewashing of articles.
One of the chief virtues of proper drying of clothes is the effect that sun and air have on them. When clothes are hung on the line quite wet, almost dripping in fact, the combined action of sun and air is one of the best bleaches known. It is because of this that white clothes should be hung, when possible, out-of-doors, and that colored clothes should be hung in the shade or indoors.
91. To save time in the sorting of articles for ironing, hang all garments of a kind together. Then, to have the clothes dry in the best possible condition, keep in mind the following general directions:
Be sure that the clothes-line and pins are perfectly clean.
Shake things out well and turn outer garments, if they have not already been turned, wrong side out.
Hang large pieces, such as sheets and table-cloths, on a straight thread of the material, one-fourth or one-half of each over the line, and fasten with four or five clothes-pins. Sheets may be doubled crosswise, so that the upper and lower hems meet, and pinned to the line by the hems, to minimize the danger of hems being torn by the wind.
Fold flat pieces as they are taken off the line, as then they will be easier to iron.
92. Authorities differ as to the proper method of hanging dresses and blouses on the clothes-line. If there is plenty of room, garments may be hung lengthwise; that is, held to the line by clothes-pins at the shoulder, the waist line, and the hem. A garment will dry more quickly, however, if hung by the hem, and, if the position on the line is changed at least once, there will not be much danger of stretching. Circular skirts, or flared effects, will sag if this is done, but most wash frocks are cut on comparatively straight lines so this need not be considered.
Very sheer dresses may be placed over a hanger that has first been wound and padded with a strip of clean old muslin or Turkish toweling. The hanger may be hung over the line and held fast by a clothes-pin. If possible, always dry delicate materials in the shade, but if no shade is available, hang the garment inside where there is a free circulation of air.
inspiration for this blog courtesy of www.beforeourtime.com; text from Vintage Sewing
washing
News and Information
Change in wind as balconies air dirty laundry  SMH, 17 July 2010
Judge announces new climate-friendly strata initiatives Dept Fair Trading, 1 Sept 2010

"To Fight Global Warming Some Hang a Clothesline" NYTimes, April 2, 2007
"Hanging out for a clean fight" The Age, May 10 2008

David Suzuki

I saw David Suzuki at the Opera House last night.  I'd seen him once before when he published "The Sacred Balance".  Seeing him talk is inspirational because he is able to describe climate change in common sense terms. It makes me want to change how I'm living now. It's hard. Our normal life is what seems to be the sensible thing to do and it's a bit frightening to step out to do something different.  It doesn't matter what really, or that I feel quite inequipped. But I do feel the need to try.

David Suzuki's explanation of exponentional growth