101–110 of 140 posts
UK-based reader here. Homeowner, with no solar or battery, but interested in getting some decent, independent advice, how would I go about it? We are a two EV household, with oil central heating. Don’t mind paying for solid unbiased advice.
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The new sodium batteries are a lot safer than the lithium chemistries. And we already do have type of home batteries they are just called UPS systems. The real game changer will be when 3-5kwh plugin batteries fall below $150-200pkwh as at those prices batteries will make sense even for apartment owners/renters with no solar to use it to demand shift as time of day electricity prices get more common.
The problem isn't the battery catching fire, it's that you no longer have a circuit breaker between your appliances and the generator. Meaning you could, especially if you have several batteries, push load through wires in the wall in excess of what is rated for.
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The issue in oz, is that energy investment by power companies is locked in with decades long contracts - raising power prices for everyone. But investment by individuals is subject to bait and switch. Most people bought in with the expectation of a 12-15yr break-even, but the dropping feed in prices, and increase in grid costs have meant that break-even will probably never materialise. Meanwhile, we keep paying exces…
EV, Battery, Solar, Heat pump, Amber. Maybe be give it a tech abbreviation like HBASE? :) Ok this may squarely be in the upper middle class and up for now but prices will come down and change everything. Almost to the point of off grid being feasible for suburban and rural areas at least. Then build solar and wind farms and batteries and hydrogen production/consumption for base load. Edit: changed to inc. solar
Why should Australians continue to tolerate a government that gives half our gas exports away, and exports at least as much coal as it uses.
But not build any modern tech coal and gas for cheap reliable base load and load following power? And nuclear too, we export all the uranium we mine, and at least some of that to nuclear armed states. Yet prohibit both on our own soil.
Why must we continue to be told we should, ever increasingly, rely on a) energy technologies that have proven to be more expensive and unreliable, and b) unproven technologies with unproven costs.
Fortunately there are other political options on the table.
Queue the continued downvotes for a reasonable comment that offers an option contrary to the received wisdom.
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EV, Battery, Solar, Heat pump, Amber. Maybe be give it a tech abbreviation like HBASE? :) Ok this may squarely be in the upper middle class and up for now but prices will come down and change everything. Almost to the point of off grid being feasible for suburban and rural areas at least. Then build solar and wind farms and batteries and hydrogen production/consumption for base load. Edit: changed to inc. solar
Why? Why should Australians continue to tolerate a government that gives half our gas exports away, and exports at least as much coal as it uses. But not build any modern tech coal and gas for cheap reliable base load and load following power? And nuclear too, we export all the uranium we mine, and at least some of that to nuclear armed states. Yet prohibit both on our own soil. Why must we continue to be told we sho…
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No it hasn’t. What it has done is resulted in ridiculously high electricity prices, such that manufacturing anything in this country has become progressively less viable. The Net Zero story sold to Australians is, and always was always will be, complete bs, as evidenced by three facts: 1) It’s no longer the narrative, because “data centres” and 2) even when it was the narrative, it was always bs because Australia exp…
Australia emits 1-1.5% of greenhouse gases. Tripling that would absolutely impact global concentrations, especially over human time scales. But agree, Australia exporting fossil fuels should be reflected. If you counted their export of fuels it would be closer to 5% of global emissions. IMO, getting to zero would knock over a whole integer percent off the global goal, that's notable. And if you stopped exporting oil,…
What we’re doing isn’t working, so let’s do more of it.
There’s a cost of living crisis in this country effecting the majority of Australians.
So let’s make energy more scares, more expensive.
I’m with Gad Saad here, in that the one thing that astounds me the most about other people is their inability to change their opinions in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
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Maybe you don't know this, but in the UK every single appliance has its own individual fuse right inside the plug.
You can have multiple loads and sources that are in-spec but the wiring between them is overloaded.
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EV, Battery, Solar, Heat pump, Amber. Maybe be give it a tech abbreviation like HBASE? :) Ok this may squarely be in the upper middle class and up for now but prices will come down and change everything. Almost to the point of off grid being feasible for suburban and rural areas at least. Then build solar and wind farms and batteries and hydrogen production/consumption for base load. Edit: changed to inc. solar
Why? Why should Australians continue to tolerate a government that gives half our gas exports away, and exports at least as much coal as it uses. But not build any modern tech coal and gas for cheap reliable base load and load following power? And nuclear too, we export all the uranium we mine, and at least some of that to nuclear armed states. Yet prohibit both on our own soil. Why must we continue to be told we sho…
There is a lot of evidence in fact that we have _already_ reached the point where just going all in on renewables is cheaper. People like to point to the last 40 years or so to say fossil fuels are cheaper but that was a time when the rate of new power generation wasn't very high and most power stations had already been built. We are at a point now where just about all of our coal power stations need replacing, and actually doing that would be more expensive than the renewables roll-out.
As for nuclear, the average cost to install and run it _in countries with existing industry_ is also higher than renewables. Despite the costs renewables are actually the cheapest method to get power, even if you add in all the extra associated costs.
If you're actually interested in reading up on this then I can suggest going through the GenCost report https://www.csiro.au/en/research/technology-space/energy/Ele...
Of course if you think the CSIRO is full of paid shills then this won't help, but you should probably have a hard think on who is actually spending the most on lobbying money, which you can also look up quite easily.
Why bother? Power companies will complain they are losing money and regulators will allow them to buy energy from residential solar panels basically for free (NEM 3.0). This is California. California has spent decades convincing people to convert to solar panels and EVs and now that many have switched, they doubled electricity prices and told us not to charge when it’s too hot. Now they want solar panel owners to pay…
Similarly here in Australia. Electricity prices keep increasing, daily supply charge keeps increasing (this ones supposed to pay for the transmission network), while the solar feed-in tariff keeps decreasing. With the added stupidity that, obviously the sun works during the day and so do you. Now tax payers are forced to subsidies residential batteries as well as rooftop solar, which results in a wealth transfer from…
The internet was funded by the government until it got big enough. Solar panels were, wind turbines were. Many things aren't cost competitive in the beginning. The free market isn't good at funding something for 20 years to get it price competitive.
You can argue about how long the subsidies should go on for. But they demonstrably work.
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Australia has been a great success for solar and battery storage. Your statement about a wealth transfer is putting no value on climate change or good air quality which benefits all.
No it hasn’t. What it has done is resulted in ridiculously high electricity prices, such that manufacturing anything in this country has become progressively less viable. The Net Zero story sold to Australians is, and always was always will be, complete bs, as evidenced by three facts: 1) It’s no longer the narrative, because “data centres” and 2) even when it was the narrative, it was always bs because Australia exp…
Unfortunately that will piss off others who want the income. But then those same people won't plan for a time when there's no buyers for coal, so.....