The Solar Impulse - the worlds newest adventure

To look into the future it is best to take a look today, the innovations that are progressing largely today will be the everyday technology of the future. Solar energy is taking great strides towards becoming the most widely used sustainable energy solution of the future and due to its versatility and large energy capacity it is beginning to be utilized almost anywhere. The solar impulse is a great example, as the world’s first working solar powered plane, it has already broken records of 26 hours in flight time using solar and has flown across the Mediterranean. It is scheduled for a flight around the world in 2014 and is purely powered by solar.

Much like what we are trying to achieve the Solar Impulse is a beacon for innovation and the use of sustainable energy. The Solar Impulse idea was initiated by and is also piloted by Bertrand Piccard (Docter, physicist and aeronaut) and Andre Borschberg (engineer and fighter pilot). These two men and their team are attempting to do what many adventurers have done in the past and inspire a generation, in this case towards the use of solar energy. They aspire to do what the Wright brothers did for flight and make society become infatuated with an idea. Solar as an energy source for flight and more broadly, solar as the most commonly used energy source in the world.

"Adventure is not necessarily a spectacular deed, but rather an "extra-ordinary" one, meaning something that pushes us outside our normal way of thinking and behaving. Something that forces us to leave the protective shell of our certainties, within which we act and react automatically. Adventure is a state of mind in the face of the unknown, a way of conceiving our existence as an experimental field, in which we have to develop our inner resources, climb our personal path of evolution and assimilate the ethical and moral values that we need to accompany our voyage." Bertrand Piccard

Solar Impulse is planning to emulate the feeling society felt when humans first entered space and when man first took a step on the moon. Inspire new people who are captivated by discovering the unknown and influence people to make changes in their own lives towards being more sustainable and pollution free.

The idea that one day we may take to the sky’s in an Airbus completely powered by solar seems impossible, but so did the Solar Impulse not too long ago. I for one think that this is a step in the right direction, a step that has benefits not just for the planet, but one that eventually will make new greater industries larger and out of date unnecessary industries nonexistent. It is large step towards a better quality of life for all of mankind.

By Daniel Conn

Save our climate

A short energy saving campaign video showing how we unknowingly increase greenhouse gas into our climate with our everyday lifestyle and man-made machines.

Most people are unaware how even a simple use of the house fridge or air-conditioning unit would produce huge amounts of green-house gases.



By: Marx Chua

Sustainable energy future, how committed are we?

News.com.au claims that whenever a poll is done that 80-90% of Australians support the idea of producing pollution free power, but the real question is how committed are we all to doing this?

Australia gets about 10% of energy from renewable energy currently and the Renewable Energy Target is to move to 20% by 2020, this sounds good it theory, but are we dedicated to doing something about reaching this target? Currently if you drive through Melbourne CBD at night you will see a number of buildings with lights on at 10pm at night, 20, 30 storey buildings with lights on full and nobody there, but these companies are not questioned in the media or boycotted by consumers, so nothing changes. It is time we stand together in the fight for a more sustainable energy future.

The government steps in and hands out new globes and power saving switches for homes to help reduce the greenhouse gas output in the home, which is all well and good, but what is being done for the businesses? The companies that use 100 times more than Mr and Mrs Smith down the street, for them to start reducing their output. I say it is time for the 80-90% of Australians who support the sustainable energy future to support the companies who do reduce their output and boycott those who don’t. This is the time to stand together and make a difference in how Australia uses and produces energy.

Too Much Light?

By Scott Oakley

Energy from Solar Power now Cheaper than Fossil Fuels in 105 Countries

"Last year the data suggested that by 2020, 98% of the world population, would have access to solar power at the same price as residential power. But with the significant decreases in the cost of solar panels, there was an explosion in global PV installations over the past year, and the data now suggests that we'll reach this same goal by the end of this year."

Solar installations are rocketing worldwide as solar electricity becomes cheaper than electricity from fossil fuels – it’s already happened in 105 countries.

This is the tipping point where economics takes over from altruism and solar PV becomes a serious part of the global energy mix. The steady drop in cost-per-watt is great news for the end user and is enabled by simultaneous increases in cell efficiency and lower manufacturing costs.

Cost of Solar, Stops Cash Flow Too Much

The effect of the increase in the price of electricity is hitting all business hard in the current financial situation, the managing director of a chain of hotels and a highly influential figure in the Australia Hotel Association (AHA) took the time to have a few words and shed some light on how the increase in price is affecting his business.

The publican said that at his largest premises the bill for the month of September 2012 was $25,000; although usage decreased 9% from September 2011 the bill increased by 15%. This is a significant increase taking into consideration energy consumption had fallen year on year. The price of the electricity had increased 2 cents per kWh caused by the ‘Carbon Adjustment’ that has recently been introduced by the government. This increase of energy costs, along with other increases in operating cost, has forced the prices of food, drinks and accommodation in the hotels to increase which at the end of the day have to be passed on to the consumer. Although the publican has tried to keep his prices down he said that if the operating costs, like electricity, are going to keep going up then so too are the prices of products and services.

Once asked about the possibility of using solar power and the impact of greenhouse gasses, which the $25,000 bill stated that 9.7 tonnes had been omitted from this one hotel, on the environment the publican stated that the idea had crossed his mind and he would love to start saving money and reducing his businesses impact on the environment but it was not financially viable. “Look, we would love to reduce our electricity cost with solar or another more sustainable solution, but the set up cost of putting solar on your roof would just be too much and be a real interruption to the cash flow of our business” commented the publican. The idea of being able to drop electricity prices and reduces greenhouses gasses with no set up cost was welcomed by the publican and commented that other publicans he knows throughout Australia, through the AHA, would also be very interested.

Is there other main industries that are high users of energy but could not afford the upfront set up cost of solar? Can we help them to help the planet? I think yes and yes!

By Scott Oakley

Changes in the Solar Industry through P-FIT cuts

At the end of this month The Victorian Government will introduce a scheme whereby solar incentives will be slashed. This reduction will be in the form of cuts to the ‘p-fit’ which stands for premium feed in tariff. The feed in tariff refers to the dollar amount given back to people with solar systems that produce excess energy than consumed. Up until the end of this month there was much greater incentive to have a solar system because energy produced but not used by the system would give the homeowner 60c per kilowatt hours back. With the cuts to the p-fit, this return rate will only be around 25c per kilowatt hours depending on the energy retailer.  

What does this mean for the future of the solar industry, and even more broadly the future of the renewable/sustainable energy sector?

The Victorian Government argue that the rate reduction from 60 cents to 25 cents is due to the decreased cost of solar panels, leading to a reduced need for incentives. Even under the new p-fit scheme, solar customers will still have a pay-back period of less than ten years.

I argue that the need for incentives is increased not reduced. Only households from high income brackets can afford to have solar installations and almost none of the industry or commercial sector have a sustainable energy source due to the huge expense involved. At a time when sustainable energy solutions need to be made the most economically viable and available opportunities we see our Government counter-acting what our Society is working towards.  

By: DERMOT REITER

Social Challenges to Opportunities

Social challenges throughout the world could be seen as opportunities.
Sustainable energy could create economic opportunities and change lives.
Sustainable energy is the future. Using the natural environment in the most effective way, and least damaging way possible to mother earth.
Humans moving forward with nature. Tapping into potential and understanding the earth's natural environment.

By: MARX CHUA