Archive for August, 2008

Are you buying green power? Have you paid to offset your carbon emission? What if you did not pay for it - but got paid?

We hear everywhere that it is good to purchase green power or offset your carbon emissions. But what are we really paying for when we do that?

Solar Hot Water - the Single Biggest Impact on Carbon Emissions.

When you install solar hot water, you reduce your household’s carbon emissions by around 25%. They are not just offset, they are eliminated. Not once, but for the lifespan of the solar hot water system (often 20 years).

Our government knows that and is paying you to do it: $1,000 federal rebate.

On top of that, you receive payment for REC’s (Renewable Energy Certificates). And guess who purchases these REC’s? It is mostly energy retailers. Up to $2,000. They then pass that charge on to consumers who pay for green power.

The same is true for some carbon offsetting schemes. They purchase REC’s, which gives them the right to the saved CO2.

So what are you really paying for when you buy green power or carbon offsets? You are subsidising someone else to reduce their carbon emissions. It feels good, but you can bet that the subsidised person feels even better.

Here are the two choices:

• Continue to pay the electricity company and let others benefit from the subsidies you pay.

• Or take control, make a real difference in your carbon emissions, get paid for it, slash your electricity bill at the same time and do not get caught with future increases in electricity.

If you have questions about your particular situation or want help in deciding which solar hot water system is most suitable, call me on 5400 1800 or get an instant online quote below.

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Find Out Whether You Can Benefit From Solar Hot Water.

You can get an instant quote right now. There are 23 simple questions that lets our online calculator work out the best solution for your situation. That way you know exactly whether you can benefit from solar hot water.

Start with 1. Find System.

1. Find System

2. Check Rebates

3. Review Options

4. Register Interest

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The best solar hot water position depends on a few factors:

Orientation of the House

To make the best use of sun, you obviously want a roof area that is not shaded. The ideal orientation is North, so that a maximum of the sun’s energy can be used to heat your water.

As a rough guide, North is where the sun is just before lunch-time. If you are uncertain, you might want to type in your address into Google Maps and see an areal picture of your house. North is at the top.

It is no problem if you are slightly off North, anything between North-West and North-East will work well. And for the cases where only East or West is available, a more efficient panel (Black Chrome) can be used.

Check for Shading

If you have trees around your house, it is best to look at the roof at different times during the day to find the best position. When you do that, remember that the sun’s position varies widely from Summer to Winter.

Position of the Tank

With the tank location, you want to make sure that it is as close as possible to where you use the hot water. Why? Because the water in the pipes is cold. So when you turn your hot water on, the cold water has to run out of the pipes first before the hot water reaches you.

To minimise wasting that cold water, you want to have the tank close by.

Normally an existing tank is positioned in such a way that it is close to water usage. That is why the tank of a split system goes at that same place. The piping to the panels should not be more than 20m, or a larger pump needs to be used.

That is also the reason why we only recommend on-roof systems when the distance between the North-facing roof and the existing tank is under 10m.

We’ll Make Sure

All you need is to roughly estimate which direction your roof faces and how far the tank is from that unshaded roof position. With that information you can use our instant online quoting process and see whether solar hot water is suitable for you.

Our plumbers will always check for the right position and give you the best advise when they actually install the system.

Here is a short video that shows what to expect during a solar hot water installation.

In the video, we install a split system, where the tank is on the ground.

The installation took about 4 hours, but I’ve cut it down into 90 seconds. It still shows the most important aspects:

• Taking the old tank away
• Placing the new tank
• Connecting the tank to the plumbing in the house
• Running the pipes up to the roof
• Installing the pump
• Mounting the solar panels on the roof
• Running the plumbing inside the roof
• Cleaning up

The only thing it does not show is how the electrician connected the tank. I was up on the roof at that time and missed it. That’s how quick he was…

One of our goals was solar hot water with no upfront costs AND being able to pay it off out of the electricity savings.

To achieve that, NAB helped us out with their low-rate credit card as a payment option. The advantage is that you can pay the solar hot water off over 5 years (or even longer).

However, we do suggest to pay it off as quickly as possible, so that interest payments are minimised. (See the comparison on full payment vs no upfront cost.)

Green Loan

Various banks offer green personal loans for the purchase sustainable products. Usually the interest and fees are lower than for conventional loans. The problem: Most banks stipulate a minimum amount of $5,000. This is far too high to be used for solar hot water.

The great exception: Bendigo Bank. They offer a minimum loan amount of $2,000 - perfectly suited for a solar hot water.

There are no setup fees, no monthly or yearly fees and an interest rate of 10.5%. You are free to pay back early with no penalties.

The one huge difference to the NAB credit card is that you have to repay a loan of $2,000 within 2 years. The downside: you are paying more than you are saving in those 2 years. The upside: You stop paying for your hot water much earlier and save a bunch of interest.

You can find all details at the Bendigo Bank Green Loan website. They also have an online application process, but you need to go to a branch to finalise it.

Example

	Bendigo Bank Green Loan	NAB Low Rate Credit Card
Solar water heater cost	$2,000	$2,000
Repayment term	2 years	5 years
Frequency	Weekly	Monthly
Repayments	$22	$50
Total interest & costs	$220	$1,000

Please note that these are rough figures and make sure you check with the bank which particular financing option is suitable for your situation. The Bendigo Bank also offers a finance calculator to check out different scenarios.

According to The Australian, there is discussion about the exclusion of solar hot water heaters from the REC (Renewable Energy Certificates) Scheme.

Anyone currently installing a solar hot water system, receives payment (usually as a point of sale discount) for REC’s. The quantity varies depending on the system and location, but price reductions are substantial (between $1,200 and $2,000).

So if the government really goes ahead with this decision, solar hot water will become much more expensive to purchase and take much longer to pay for itself.

No decision until October

However, I just talked to a very friendly and helpful officer from the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator. He pointed me to the Department of Climate Change, where a short report outlines the review process of the mandatory renewable energy target which is currently happening.

The conclusion: nothing is decided yet (recommendations will not be finalised until October) and the earliest that new regulations come into force is mid 2009.

One of the biggest changes is that the mandatory renewable energy target is supposed to be extended to 2020 and reach 45,000 GWh. That represents 20% of Australia’s energy consumption and would be a good start.

Not quite like the challenge Al Gore put to America: 100% renewable in 10 years, but another step forward.