Shadow Minister, yes I have a gas oven and cooktop, this is my indulgence for now, It is an expensive model that I can convert to wood cooking. methane gas into the future if I wish to do so.

Just because I have a gas stove does not mean I am not energy self sufficient in real terms, I just choose to have the gas as it is cheap and easy to have at present.

Any arguement against the rest is pointless, I think I have proven my point!

A gas oven will light quite well on solar generated power. Can not use a wind turbine here we only get an average of 3 metres / second wind speed for the year. Plenty of solar, generating 1.166 kwh / 175 watt panel/ day. Just waiting on 2 new batteries, will run 190w tv and computer, and that will complete me, Grid connected and service charge is covered.

And this massive investment of yours is how old, Geoff?

In my 20+ years here, using lots of power with a rural property my total electricity bill has been just $14,000. It was running at about $500 a year until Beattie started ripping cash out of the power system to cover his profligate spending habits.

I must admit I'll be interested in hearing more about the running costs in 10 years time. My experience is that the major problems commence about year 5 or so.

I am usually one who prefers to do their own thing, but electricity is the one thing I have found the utilities do better. Nothing like having it at a switch on the wall, rather than have to wander off to start an engine, every time you need to do something a bit power heavy.

Hey Hasbeen,

I appreciate that the older solar system (monocrystlyne sic) is probably open to high maintenance and poor performance.

My system is about 4 years old, have had no issues and it is a dream to watch in action.

I think the original solar systems on offer had some severe limitations but technology has moved ahead in solar in leaps and bounds in recent years.

I have a good wind climate, not too much, but enough for me to have calculated the benefit of investing with the right equipment.

It all comes down to cost, ability to use and a bit of lateral thinking. I do not advocate this as the panacea for the entire energy future for Australia, but I think that I have demonstrated that with a little ingenuity and a bit (around $30K) on can step off the energy merry-go-round. I know it sounds like a lot but my energy return on energy invested (EROEI)is close to hitting the mark, I will be spending more, but this will assist to give me heating, cooling and other benefits moving forward.

Research is the key, take nothing for granted, the homework in this area is worth the investment

Cheers

Geoff

Geoff, I really do hope you're right, but I have a deja-vu feeling about it all. They were telling me the same type of stuff in the 70s when we were bolting all this stuff into my yacht.

I know many people who have spent more than you running power lines, to get away from home generation. They them had to pay power bills of course, but that was cheaper than buying diesel fuel, & running a generator capable of driving welding gear, air compressors & all the other maintenance gear you need on a property.

Good luck with it.

Just out of interest on solar setups, does anyone have any figures on hail damage to solar panels ? How do they stand up to such weather ?