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Depending on the site of your home, solar and wind are potentially good greener options for powering your home than carbon-intensive coal-fired mains power.
One of the easiest ways to make your home more sustainable is to simply choose the GreenPower option from your electricity retailer. Accredited GreenPower is electricity generated from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, wave and small-scale hydro plants, as well as landfill gas and biomass (waste).
Solar photovoltaic systems are made from a series of panels cut primarily from silicon that directly convert energy in the form of light from the sun into electrical energy. Solar power can be used in all parts of Australia as long as you have a suitable site with a north-facing (or almost north facing) roof, or ground space that is not shaded during the day.
Wind power can be a clean and cost effective alternative source of electricity. For rural homes with a good wind energy resource, it is often a cheaper option than solar power. As a basic guide, houses on the coast or hills on exposed rural land have better wind resource, and houses in urban or heavily vegetated areas, away from the coast, have less wind.
Before you go ahead with installing a grid-interactive solar or wind system, you will need to address a number of issues with your electricity retailer and electricity distributor. The electricity retailer is responsible for the sale and purchase of any electricity that you use or your system transfers back to the grid.In bushfire prone areas, stand alone power systems can be an excellent alternative to being connected to ageing power lines that require constant maintenance, vegetation clearance and potentially insulating or undergrounding if they are a bushfire risk.
Solar photovoltaic systems are made from a series of panels that directly convert energy in the form of light from the sun into electrical energy. Solar power can be used in all parts of Australia as long as you have a suitable site with a north-facing (or almost north facing) roof, or ground space that is not shaded during the day.
Wind power can be a clean and cost effective alternative source of electricity. For rural homes with a good wind energy resource, it is often a cheaper option than solar power. As a basic guide, houses on the coast or hills on exposed rural land have better wind resource, and houses in urban or heavily vegetated areas, away from the coast, have less wind. Stand-alone systems are suitable for those off the mains grid. The power is fed into batteries for storage instead of into the mains grid. An inverter that produces 240 volt AC connects to the batteries to run standard mains powered appliances.
Listed suppliers are a guide and are not endorsed by Green Cross Australia or the Alternative Technology Association.
Nina and Frankie talk about rebuilding green with Stu.
Kat, Dom, Vicki, Lesley and Cheryl talk about how vital CFA training helped the women and children of Flowerdale save their local primary school, from the noisy Kinglake Pub.
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