It was a good day, except
I had a day off. It was a good day, except…
Worried about my dad, in hospital
Chicken curry dinner took ages to cook
Slight tummy ache. Hope it’s not Bowen Belly ™. I think I ate too much chocolate
Eldest not yet done nearly as much school holiday homework as expected
A tad stressed about something coming up later in the week
Large cockroach crawed across the kitchen counter
SecurID unexpectedly expired
Bumped my head on kids’ bunk bed
Feeling tired — still haven’t done washing up
Other than that, admittedly, mostly a good day.
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Hour without power
After a little cynicism, I did in fact join in Earth Hour. Over at Marita’s, we shut off all the lights for an hour and survived by the light of the TV, candles and a torch. In fact there seemed to be few lights on in the street, and it was hard to tell how many of the neighbours had joined in. Hopefully most of them.
The whole thing did get me thinking more about my energy consumption, and after some useful comments on my post about power, I’m going to ring up this week and switch to 100% Green Power.
On Friday I was at the launch of the first Wind-Powered Tram. That’s not to say that it has a big sail on the top. Nor does it really only use power generated from a wind turbine. They buy the equivalent of its power consumption from a wind installation. Which is good; it will act as a mobile billboard for Green Power, and should remind us that PT (even coal-powered) is a cleaner way to get around.
I got chatting to one of the guys from the power company, Pacific Hydro. He was saying that things are really looking up for renewable energy at the moment, and that the Howard years had not been easy for them. I guess I’m not too surprised, but it was interesting hearing it from someone at the coalface (if you’ll forgive the expression) of it.
Finally, if you want a laugh, check this press release from the Citizens Electoral Council: Earth Hour: Turn out your lights for World Wide Fascism (WWF)
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More solar
Now the solar hot water is installed and happy, I was pondering further solar installations. The question is: is it more effective to get my own solar panels, and get green power for whatever I can’t generate myself, or just switch entirely to green power?
First thing to do is reduce my consumption. My previous bills indicate it’s generally in the range of 8-10 kWh per day. And thanks to Josh giving me the Watt-O-Meter (or whatever it’s called), I know how many watts most of my appliances use. (Does anybody else want to have a go with this thing? I should pass it on.)
Almost all the bulbs have already been replaced with CFLs, need to get the last couple of tricky installations done.
I’ve isolated the computers so they are now switched off at the wall. From the Watt-O-Meter I know the computers and the XBox together use 45 W while doing nothing, so if they’re switched off two-thirds of the time (and it’s probably more than that), that’s 0.72 kWh saved. Most of the other appliances don’t draw that much power when not being used, but I’ll see what else can be done.
If I get panels, 1 kW solar installation is now about $4500 after rebates. Unlike people who are off in the wilderness, off the grid, this doesn’t use batteries, but works in conjunction with existing electricity supply: if you’re generating more than you’re using, the excess is pumped into the grid and you actually earn money for it. If you’re using more than you’re generating, the excess is pulled from the grid, and you pay for it.
Apparently typically a 1 kW solar system in Melbourne will produce 3.15 kWh per day, so effectively I’d be saving about a third of my electricity bill and associated emissions (though the amount saved depends whether that’s peak or off-peak).
A 1.5 kW system — costing about $8700 after rebates — would produce 4.7 kWh per day.
Given Victoria’s reliance on filthy brown coal for power generation, I really like this idea. It’s a bit pricey though, and I think it should be measured-up against investing in green power elsewhere which might be more efficient.
Switching to 100% green power is the other thing. (I’m on Origin’s Green for Footy plan, but that’s only 20% green power. It’s not that obvious when you join, which is why I chose it…) Tony pointed out this survey of suppliers.
For Victoria, Origin (who I’m already with) will provide 100% green power for an extra 5-6 cents (depending on whether it’s wind or solar) per kWh above the normal rates.
So which 100% green power works out cheapest?
Rough calculations based on my current usage…
100% green power for all my usage would cost about $197.10 extra per year.
Getting a 1 kW solar installation would cost me $4500 and an extra $128.11 per year to convert the rest of my power to Green.
Getting a 1.5 kW solar installation would cost me $8700 and an extra $94.17 per year.
While I’d like nothing better than to cover my roof in more solar panels, perhaps for now it’s easiest (and less capital outlay) to convert to 100% green power.
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Sitting in the dark
I’m not convinced that I’ll participate in Earth Hour. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a terrific idea for raising awareness of climate change and energy issues. But I’m already well aware of those issues, thanks, and I’m working on reducing my emissions every day, not just one hour per year.
And besides, I’m enjoying watching Big Love (and, I’ll admit, Top Gear — Jeremy Clarkson may be an idiot, but he’s a very entertaining idiot) on a Saturday night, and I don’t particularly want to sit in the dark.
The saving in emissions is said to be 5% if you switch off the lights for an hour. But lighting only accounts for 3% of the average household’s emissions. Let’s see that graph again:
Another way of putting it is this: if you save 1kWh of electricity by switching off for an hour (which might be 8 x 100watt lights if you’re still using the old ones and you normally leave ten of them blazing) and a big television, you’ve saved about 1kg of CO2. But the average car will generate that in travelling less than 4 kilometres.
Which means when last weekend I twice travelled by bus to Monash Medical Centre and back (about 7.5km each way, so 30km in total), I actually saved 7.5 times the equivalent of turning off the power for an hour.
I also saved money; it costs $6+ to park there, though now I come to think of it, I spent some money on bus tickets and a snack in the hospital cafeteria. Still ahead overall though, even before taking petrol into account. The problem is I had to put up with 40 minute bus services to do it… which of course is why more people don’t do it.
Businesses participating will make more of a difference. The Age reports: At David Jones, non-essential lights and electrical equipment in 35 stores, offices and warehouses will be switched off. Staff are being asked to ensure all computers and lights in their work space are turned off..
But hold on. This is 8pm on a Saturday, when David Jones stores would be closed. Isn’t all this stuff they should be doing anyway, every night when they’re closed? With the exception of emergency lighting, refrigeration for food, and arguably advertising/shop window displays, at that time of night they should be using hardly any power anyway.
These days, all workplaces should automatically shut off power outside working hours (with overrides if people are working late), including putting computers to sleep if possible.
So anyway, Earth Hour itself will barely make a difference to emissions, especially for households. But in terms of raising awareness, hopefully it makes some impact, and people get better at conserving energy right through the year, not just for an hour.
PS. 10pm.
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Thoughts from the last few days
Given how their parliament occasionally carries-on, I wonder if the Taiwanese politicians campaigned on how good they are at hand-to-hand combat?
That level crossing smash near Geelong is tragic, and the government should do more on improving crossing conditions. But one radio jock was almost making excuses for the car driver, not just missing the Stop sign, the Railway Crossing sign and the rumble strips, but also not noticing the express train roaring down the line. Would the same apply if it had been a road intersection, rather than a level crossing, and the car had smashed into a B-double?
Fancy a bit of gaming on a Thursday night? Turns out you can present a valid Metcard at ACMI’s Game On (which I’m telling you, is excellent), and get in for the concession rate of $10.
I frequently use lifts that have two lights above the doors, one on top of the other. How is it that so many visitors to that building can’t figure out that when the top light goes on, the arriving lift is going up, and when the bottom light goes on, it’s going down?
Maybe I need to re-arrange the cards in my wallet. I’m concerned that the garish black and gold of my ATM card may be clashing with the green and yellow of my Medicare card.
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Not the 6 o’clock news
One night last week I was flicking between the six o’clock news services and I came across a Channel 9 story about someone’s wedding dress being delivered late for the wedding.
WTF? Look, I feel sorry for them, but THIS IS NOT NEWS.
You don’t want your journos to be aloof and distant from the people, and reporting only on stories that don’t affect anybody. But to run a fully-fledged two minute news story based around something this trivial is really pushing it.
I’m betting it would be enough to make many people switch over and never come back.
(There was a cranky letter in the Green Guide about it, too.)
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Good Friday: Closed
How is it that this happens every year, every Good Friday? Almost every shop in the country is closed. And yet there’s a continual stream of cars into the supermarket car park, driving up to see if it’s open.
It’s not open guys. Almost nothing is open on Good Friday. The empty car park should have been a clue — the lights being on are just a red herring.
It was the same last year, it’ll be the same next year. Plan ahead and live for 24 hours without spending money.
Or go to one of the few places that is open: some bakeries, convenience stores, etc. I got fresh bagels and challah at Glicks.
And have a happy Easter.
Update Sunday: Same today, Easter Sunday, though it appears more things are open today, so perhaps it’s understandable.
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Cars again
The solar hot water upgrade meant I postponed the car upgrade for a few weeks. But I’ve been looking at what I might get.
My current car, the aging and increasingly unreliable ‘93 Magna, has a theoretical City consumption of 10 litres per 100km. Although I don’t drive much, downsizing should reduce consumption a little bit.
Despite GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz’s remarks about global warming being “a total crock of s***”, following some comments on one of my previous posts, I’m quite enamoured of the Holden Astra. Evidently the 1998-2005 models are a good buy: good build quality (good things come out of Belgium — eg Tintin, chocolate, and the Mannekin Pis), good safety rating, and the 4 or 5-door models are probably about the size I’m looking for. I like the cut of its jib. Fuel consumption is 8 to 8.5 litres per 100km, depending on manual or auto.
Other possibilities:
- VW Golf — my sister’s buying one, and I think she’d like us to drive twin cars… I don’t doubt it’d be nice, but I think it’d be more money than I’m keen on spending for my low-distance driving — one review says you might as well buy an Astra! — 8 to 9.5 litres per 100 km
- Ford Focus — I quite like the styling, but the safer late-model versions probably aren’t in my price range. Yes they sponsor my footy team, but I don’t feel strong loyalty because of it — 9 to 9.5 litres per 100 km
- Mazda 3 — only average safety rating — 9 to 10 litres per 100km, so no big saving on fuel.
- A Peugot 307 or a Mercedes A-series would both be nice, but are probably too expensive for me, for anything decent.
- Prius — like the one I’ve driven, but cost can’t be justified for me, unless somebody’s giving me a $30K contribution towards it.
I’ve also been told to consider buying an auto instead of a manual. I prefer manuals (even if the first hill start I’d done in ages last weekend scared me half to death), but it’s been suggested to me that an auto may be better suited maintenance-wise to driving short distances. Anybody got any opinions on that? Most of the Astras out there are manual.
Meanwhile, I’ve found that Ultratune Roadside Premium Assist is only available to vehicles less than 12 years old. 247 Road Services doesn’t seem to have that restriction, but maybe I’ll leave it until the upgrade… it’ll be an extra impetus to get on with it.
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