Electricity Companies And The Future In Oz

[Wally]

After a couple of warm days in Victoria, not out of the norm for this time of year, it's interesting to hear what some are thinking that work for those companies that provide our energy.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/h...-about-to-get-very-muggy-20180127-h0pbxn.html

I'm going to extrapolate that Mr Armstrong lives in a newly constructed home in a new suburb and therefore we should only consider his comments 'naive".

"There are a lot fuses blowing in the hot weather and a significant power pull with people having put in air-conditioners they didn't tell us about," Mr Armstrong said.

Apparently it's now up to us to provide the utility companies with up to date info on what appliances we have installed in our homes.

I'm all for changing the way we generate power. If we need to shut down coal fired power stations to play our part in slowing climate change, shouldn't we make sure we've covered our asses with other means before doing so.

Discuss....

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

What?? You have to tell your electricity provider that you've installed air-con?? This is news to me...

 

[Wally]

What?? You have to tell your electricity provider that you've installed air-con?? This is news to me...

You don't have to but Mr Armstrong seems slightly aggrieved that we haven't.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

You don't have to but Mr Armstrong seems slightly aggrieved that we haven't.

I'll give him a bell tomorrow first thing... LOL

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

Mmmmm, well not wanting to doubt the facts that are presented it was 44 out at our place from early afternoon through to about 6pm. (And we are only about an hour outside the CBD.
48,000 homes still without power, fortunately we aren't one of them but I dread to think of those with very young children and the elderly and how they are coping. (The elderly struggle even when the power is on because its sooo damn expensive in this country and they simply can't afford to pay the bills).

That apart, in order to voice my opinion on the post......we have to get not only continuance of supply but also the cost simply must come down. There is really only one choice but it seems that its not a choice that is popular in Oz whether that is amongst the pollies or the people I'm not sure but we have little choice than to resort to nuclear energy at some time in the very near future surely?
[doublepost=1517143594,1517143372][/doublepost]Here you go.......8:20pm it was still 39

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

The elderly struggle even when the power is on because its sooo damn expensive in this country and they simply can't afford to pay the bills.

You're on the money there... There's a 73 year old bloke down the street from me, have known him for about 15 years now, his wife died of cancer in August 2015 and he now literally lives in darkness... He's removed all the light bulbs from his house and lives at night by candle light and a solar-powered torch which he charges on his verandah every day. I often pass him whilst walking of an afternoon... I regularly drop by with a newspaper and a loaf of bread for him. It truly saddens me to see how the elderly are forced to live in this country whilst we're literally rolling out the red carpet for "refugees". I'm sorry if this offends anybody but it's just how I see it...

 

[Nerdhero]

From my narrow and naive point of view it seems we simply need a sustainable energy source.

I remember seeing a roof tile that doubled as a solar panel, solar seems to be the most promising option so far? I believe the company was Tesla who had the concept for these tiles.

I also recall reading into a solar panel that could replace roads. Essentially its lots of hexagon panels laid out, they have some kinda protective surface to allow for vehicles to drive on them. There was 2 awesome things to this concept, one was the massive amount of energy you could *theoretically* create. If every road in America was replaced with these solar panels there would be enough energy to power the country seven fold. The other cool thing was they had programmable (led?) screens on them which could be changed dynamically. So for example if theres a crash up ahead you could warn people approaching etc.

These two concepts I read about in passing and I don't even come close to understanding them but on paper they seem promising. When I was younger I always found it odd how we had solar power but it was kinda primitive, like we have this free battery in the sky and we hardly put any money into learning how to harness it. As I've gotten older I've come to realise its all politcal, you think the big oil companies have ANY interest in seeing their business be superseded? I wouldn't be surprised if they actively tried to prevent solar power.

 

[cement]

I'm not sure about todays panels but I have installed panels and battery banks on houses I have built in the bush off the grid. To my knowledge the act of producing the solar panels and batteries at that time was worse for the planet then burning coal to make power. Therefore they were unsustainable. Maybe now with newer technology they aren't, but I doubt it.

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

It truly saddens me to see how the elderly are forced to live in this country whilst we're literally rolling out the red carpet for "refugees". I'm sorry if this offends anybody but it's just how I see it...

Not often I agree with you Kev but I'm not getting offended.

I remember seeing a roof tile that doubled as a solar panel, solar seems to be the most promising option so far? I believe the company was Tesla who had the concept for these tiles.

Solar panels are not the saviour that some believe them to be. Do some research on REE (Rare Earth Elements) and see how bad for the global environment the extraction of these are, and yes, these are a component of solar panels.

 

[pinefamily]

The biggest problem with our power (and gas), is that it is privatised, ie run for a profit. Here in SA, before we got our you beaut battery farm, some of our blackouts in years gone by were produced by the power companies, by them selling the power for bigger profit to the eastern states. Also, they used to have rolling blackouts here when they didn't want to pay higher prices buying from the national grid.
The only way we will see lower prices is if the national grid is unprivatised totally. At the moment, there are too many fingers in the pie.
It's privatisation that has caused these ridiculous power prices, not renewables. Imagine if these solar and wind farms around the country powered their own areas?
Yes, solar panels do leave a large carbon footprint, but it is a one-off, not like coal which is ongoing. Technology is always changing. There are solar tiles, even solar windows being used in Europe. Other countries still have incentives for people to put in solar panels; why don't we?
The same sort of arguments apply in the electric vehicle debate. Big business puts a dampener on any expansion of an electric car market.

 

[Sheldoncooper]

You're on the money there... There's a 73 year old bloke down the street from me, have known him for about 15 years now, his wife died of cancer in August 2015 and he now literally lives in darkness... He's removed all the light bulbs from his house and lives at night by candle light and a solar-powered torch which he charges on his verandah every day. I often pass him whilst walking of an afternoon... I regularly drop by with a newspaper and a loaf of bread for him. It truly saddens me to see how the elderly are forced to live in this country whilst we're literally rolling out the red carpet for "refugees". I'm sorry if this offends anybody but it's just how I see it...

I couldn't of said it better myself. Its a disgrace


We sold most of our electricity companies to china and I'm guessing our government did well out of them sales

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[GBWhite]

The biggest problem with our power (and gas), is that it is privatised, ie run for a profit.
The only way we will see lower prices is if the national grid is unprivatised totally. At the moment, there are too many fingers in the pie.
It's privatisation that has caused these ridiculous power prices, not renewables.

We sold most of our electricity companies to china and I'm guessing our government did well out of them sales Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

@pinefamily Absolutely agree 100% that the biggest problem was privatising our utilitie.

@Sheldoncooper Biggest mistake we've ever made getting in bed with China.

 

[SpottedPythons]

@pinefamily Absolutely agree 100% that the biggest problem was privatising our utilitie.

@Sheldoncooper Biggest mistake we've ever made getting in bed with China.

Definitely.

 

[Scutellatus]

So they have a large share in our milk, a majority share in your power. What's next, Kakadu?

 

[Sheldoncooper]

So they have a large share in our milk, a majority share in your power. What's next, Kakadu?

Not as silly as it sounds and we can probably throw in the barrier reef as well.
The guy i work for owns a few companies
One of them is property development ( industrial ) we lease huge factories to companies i thought where aussie companies. ( Not any more ) we are a selling country.

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[pinefamily]

Cattle stations too.

 

[Sheldoncooper]

Cattle stations too.

Yep we've mooooo, v'd them on too

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[Flaviemys purvisi]

Might as well take these and sell them off too... What a disgrace!

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

Biggest mistake we've ever made getting in bed with China.

They own more of Oz now than we do. And all we are is a service department providing them with resources.
I still don't understand why the driest continent on the planets attempts to grow cotton and rice to export for a pittance.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

Our taxes are just rent.