To the pedantic contrarians one runs into quite often on social media, who have their own fixated ideals for how life should unfold, then bleat like the sheep they are when they find it’s not, I post my most recent power bill below the fold….
Why, I hear you ask, am I posting my most recent power bill? Because it displays graphically (quite literally, with a graph) how much energy is being generated by the 2.5kw PV array on my roof at home, in comparison to the pre-installation grid consumption. After waiting for three months to have the thing tied into the grid, which happened at the end of September, the results of just one month’s usage and generation are quite startling. There’s even a credit in the account, which I know will really piss off those who claim a price on carbon will spell the doom of modern society, cost every Australian $40,000 and bring the sky crashing down on our collective heads. None of which will occur, I know, but there are those in this world who love to feed off negativity, senselessly trashing any good idea that doesn’t originate from within their own ideological sphere.
To my mind, the minimum array for any Australian household in PV energy generation is 2.5kw. Under that & you’re not serious about (a) saving money; and (b) contributing to the betterment of society by lessening reliance on fossil fuel fired electricity. Coal is no longer THE cheapest means of energy generation. PV cells, with the massive output from China & development of inverter technology from Germany, are becoming cheaper daily, with solar generation now equalling fossil fuel generation for cost, soon to surpass it. At 95% efficiency, Solar PV exceeds even the nuclear option, so in a country where the Sun shines more often than not, it makes sense to use what falls on the roof for free.
Solar energy, for the householder, even for the commercial office, is the way forward. Energy generation via PV is a numbers game. The more roofs covered with PV’s, the more energy goes into the grid. Manufacturing technology is moving ahead in the proverbial leaps & bounds with flexible cells now available and painted-on PV only just around the corner.
To those nay-sayers and conservative ideologues who claim pricing carbon is a dud gig, I can only say this. You don’t understand the legislation, you can’t support your fear-and-loathing laced claims and above all else, your fears are self-induced, fed by vested political interests. If you’re gullible enough to accept at face value the lies and obfuscation you’re being fed, then more fool you. The rest of us, the genuine progressives that will carry our society forward, will get on with taking care of business, repairing the damage humanity has already wrought and hopefully, preparing the way for those who will continue our work in generations to come. If we listen to you lot, humanity will be extinct a hell of a lot sooner than it might otherwise be.