Last week I caught up with Raj Maniher of Baw Baw shire council in their Smith Street Community Development office that council is renting in Warragul. Raj has implemented a number of measures to cut energy use in the office, and has achieved a 30% electricity saving. Some of the measures implemented include: Insulating the ceiling Double glazing using “magnetite” on some of the windows. Getting internal reflective blinds made up by a local blind maker. Very ingeneous! Voltage reduction … read more
How plummeting PV prices will greatly change the electricity distribution network
I attended a workshop today in Melbourne run by iGrid, a consortium of universities and the CSIRO preparing a model of the intelligent energy grid of the future. Its been identified that peak demand, which is rising faster than electricity consumption, is one of the most critical issues that a distributed generation network can address. Dr. Muriel Watt, Chair of the Australian Photovoltaic Association and Project Manager with IT Power gave a presentation about the future pricing of PV, with similar … read more
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Cogeneration Opportunities in Leisure Centres
Leisure centres are notorious for their high green house gas emissions. These facilities use energy for water heating, filtration, air heating, air handling, lighting, air conditioning, and gym equipment, to name the main loads. To maintain the strict chemistry requirements of the pool water and to avoid corrosion brought about by moisture laden air, several of these systems operate 24/7. These characteristics often make a compelling economic case for onsite power generation through cogeneration. … read more
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