The Australian continent has the highest solar radiation per square metre of any continent in the world. That’s 10,000 times LARGER than our energy consumption!
Over 100 cities now get at least 70% of their electricity from renewable sources such as hydro, geothermal, solar and wind.
This includes Reykjavík, Iceland where geothermal and hydro-power are powering much of the city, and Basel, Switzerland where 100% of renewable power comes from the city’s own energy supply company.
In the US, where some 58 cities and towns have now committed to transition to 100% renewables, cities such as Burlington, Vermont are showing what’s possible with all electricity now coming from wind, solar, hydro, and biomass.
What a near-perfect day October the 10th was. A completely cloudless blue sky, almost no breeze and about 21-22 degrees celsius.
Those conditions produce a wonderful “shape”.
[ Solar Generation – Oct 9th 2017 ]My home generation produced over thirty kilowatt Hours [3okWh] yesterday.
[ 18 255w Q-Cells – Installed 2013 ]Clearly the next option has to be battery storage and more cells As Richard Thaler would agree, whilst not demonstrating the traits of homo-economicus it is most certainly the cognitive bias for the future.
A small milestone. As the sun rose this morning, our household solar power system generated its Thirtieth MegaWatt since being installed just on four years ago.
The irony is not lost on me, watching my energy consumption fall, but a power bill rise…
The report finds that companies have been ‘gold-plating’ financial assets and passing those costs onto consumers.
[ Source: The Australia Institute: Electricity Costs Pge 5.]The report goes on to state:
Too often we assume that private and corporatised state-owned corporations are operating efficiently. In the real world such as in the Australian economy where the checks and balances are imperfect and companies exercise considerable power…
We think there is ample evidence of inefficiency when we examine the labour force and the asset base of the companies involved in supplying electricity.
[Source: TAI Report Electricity Costs: Page 8 ]In summary, the report suggests:
The examination of electricity costs and price setting suggest that Australians are paying much more than they should be if their regulators were guided by considerations of the most efficient delivery of electricity.
Technology companies now account for about 2% of total Global Carbon emissions, that rivals the aviation industry. Let’s not even consider the amount of fresh water they require, that’s another article…
Google’s data centres and the offices for its 60,000 staff will be powered entirely by renewable energy from next year, in what the company has called a “landmark moment”.
Google is already the world’s biggest corporate buyer of renewable electricity, last year buying 44% of its power from wind and solar farms. Now it will be 100%, and an executive said it would not rule out investing in nuclear power in the future, too.
Url Hölzle, Senior Vice President of Technical Infrastructure for google said recently:
I’m thrilled to announce that in 2017 Google will reach 100% renewable energy for our global operations — including both our data centers and offices. This is a huge milestone. We were one of the first corporations to create large-scale, long-term contracts to buy renewable energy directly; we signed our first agreement to purchase all the electricity from a 114-megawatt wind farm in Iowa, in 2010. Today, we are the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable power, with commitments reaching 2.6 gigawatts (2,600 megawatts) of wind and solar energy. That’s bigger than many large utilities and more than twice as much as the 1.21 gigawatts it took to send Marty McFly back in time.
[Source: Environment Google 2016 ]
He points out a simple business imperative:
The science tells us that tackling climate change is an urgent global priority. We believe the private sector, in partnership with policy leaders, must take bold steps and that we can do so in a way that leads to growth and opportunity. And we have a responsibility to do so — to our users and the environment.
The sun-powered plane, [ Solar Impulse 2 ] piloted by veteran Swiss aviator Andre Borschberg, took 118 hours — about five days — to make the voyage from Japan to Hawaii and landed shortly after dawn at Kalaeloa Airport on the main Hawaiian island of Oahu.
Approach to Hawaii – Source: solarimpulse.com
Swiss explorers Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg are the founders, pilots and driving force behind Solar Impulse, the first airplane of perpetual endurance, able to fly day and night without a drop of fuel. By attempting the first Round the World Solar Flight, they want to demonstrate that clean technologies and renewable energies can achieve the impossible. For the Solar Impulse team, pioneering spirit and innovation can change the world.
The Round-The-World flight started from Abu Dhabi, on March 9. The route includes stop-overs in Oman, India, Myanmar and China. After trying to cross the Pacific Ocean via Hawaii, Si2 should fly across the U.S.A. and over the Atlantic Ocean, heading back to Abu Dhabi.
Mapdwell’s web-based Solar System platform helps users design at-home solar energy systems: it visualizes the costs and benefits of installing a solar roof by layering information about tax credits and carbon emissions savings onto a topographical map of local roofs, and helps determine the most efficient spots for panels.
