Anyone else just get a huge power bill?

Discussion in 'Markets & Economies' started by Jimmy1986, Jul 11, 2012.

  1. fiatphoney

    fiatphoney New Member

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    When I was at Uni their was the Russ Hinze (beer gut drinking) appreciation society. Compulsory student union fees at 'work'.
     
  2. Dogmatix

    Dogmatix Active Member

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    Scientists need funding. They're not all agenda-free.

    Besides, the good scientists get to work with the big $$ companies, and the others have to settle for the scraps, right? ;)

    Scientists are certainly not free from all the vices that make us human. Not greed and not wilful ignorance either.
     
  3. jparrie

    jparrie Member

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    Interesting Big A.D., however the problem with that is first the cost of the batteries and then the fact that I can't add any further supply on top of my current solar panels output without getting fined a zillion dollars. However, I haven't read anywhere that I can't supply artificial sunlight to my panels at night and increase their output that way.

    I was wondering whether anyone here knows anything about how solar panels work before I tried it. i.e, would lights give enough light to actually produce any electricity at all?
     
  4. Big A.D.

    Big A.D. Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Again, that CSIRO gets funding regardless. They don't get paid on a fee-for-service basis, they get given a lump of money and told to go look into whatever they happen to think is interesting or solve problems they want to solve.

    No, quite a lot of good scientist are perfectly happy earning very average wages and being left alone to discover stuff.

    Of course not, but the CSIRO is valuable because there is simply benefit to the organisation or the people who work there in turning out dodgy work.
     
  5. goldpelican

    goldpelican Administrator Staff Member

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    Sunlight is the equivalent of something like 1000w/sqm, artificial lights won't come close to it, no matter how bright they appear.

    Neighbours might also get pissy about the bright lights running all night :)
     
  6. Big A.D.

    Big A.D. Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Yeah, the batteries would be expensive but if you're buying off-peak for 11c and selling on-peak for 66c you're getting a 600% return on the trade so you'd have to do the sums to see how much energy you could store, what it would cost in batteries and how long it would take to get into profit.

    The efficiency of the solar panels in converting light into energy is actually quite low at about 15% (mainly because they can't capture certain wavelengths effectively) so, no, you'd spend loads of energy using the lights and only convert a fraction of it back into electricity via the solar panels.

    What's the deal with your "maximum allowed solar output"?
     
  7. Lovey80

    Lovey80 Well-Known Member

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    I will be a very happy man if on my death bed the people of that day can look back on posts like these and laugh whilst saying: "I remember learning in school how people use to think that a government could actually run an economy, how silly they were".
     
  8. Lovey80

    Lovey80 Well-Known Member

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    Big A.D. Highly unlikely to be capturing 15% unless they are very expensive panels. From memory the most cost effective ($/kw) were around 7-8%.

    The only "rigging" you could do with regards to the buy at night sell during the day would be the difference between your current usage +current generation and the 5kw/h maximum. I am pretty sure that no system would be getting paid for more than the 5kw. So if you were trying to get paid on more than 30kw/day (average of 6 hours generation) you would get caught out very quick. I doubt the outlay and massive hassle would justify the roughly $6/day you would make in total out of it minus the costs.
     
  9. Agauholic

    Agauholic New Member

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    I know a statist punk when i see one... They often use such logical Gems as "they're going to get taxpayer dollars" and "CSIRO actually makes an overall profit" in the same breath.

    So once again... I'm all for science for profit... if a bunch of scientists want to get together, raise capital and go do science i'm all for it... the best to them.

    If another group of scientists come up with some science that doesn't make a profit, i'm also for it, as long as contributions are voluntary... eg the many crowd-funded telescopes available and used in science.

    What i'm against is the threat of abduction at gun point to fund any such activity.

    Well here is some news... I submit to your weapons, but i aint going to put on a dopey smile for you and pretend i'm happy about it.

    Even tho you don't wish for me to be free, i still wish for you to be, and to spend as you wish.

    I gave an example above... 20-25% of my power bill now goes to such schemes as this (wave energy) wrecking of the east coast.
    [​IMG]

    So what do the statist punks do when their coercivly funded junk washes up on the shore.... they go spend another $5M on another one in Sth Australia

    No... they are yours now... you threatened me with abduction, and took em, so they are yours now.... so go spend those dirty dollars you statist punk

    If they were mine, we wouldn't be having this chatter would we now? (Another technique of a statist punk, the perversion of language)
     
  10. fishball

    fishball New Member Silver Stacker

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    I'd rather my tax dollars fund the CSIRO than pay for some stupid war or a politician's pension/salary.
     
  11. Agauholic

    Agauholic New Member

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    News Flash:

    They aint yours...

    ...and thats why there are wars

    and politician's pensions
     
  12. jparrie

    jparrie Member

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    Yeah, badly worded, I'll try again... I am not allowed to add to the output by adding solar panels. I can only use the existing panels. There's no way I would be allowed to buy cheap power then sell it back to the grid at my current 60c.

    Oh well never mind. Mine will be paid off this year with the savings. Haven't had a power bill since they were put in.

    Its funny how people think I'm a greenie because I bought solar panels. There's always a puzzled look on their faces when I tell them it was the only logical financial decision to make given the pay back period.

    Finally, the tax payer feeds me for a change!
     
  13. thatguy

    thatguy Active Member

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    33% ROI for my system, just a way of voting some of my tax back into my pocket.
     
  14. REDBACK

    REDBACK Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Hi mate,i would love a copy of your installation costs,rebate costs(and know if they have changed over the years),household appliance list with kilowatt ratings,# of panels, maximum kilowatt rating of invertor and what supply company you are with.
    This would make a great example for my apprentices.
    Private PM would be great or public if you want.
    Cheers
    Best regards
    REDBACK
     
  15. REDBACK

    REDBACK Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Hey mate if you could contribute some figures as an example as well it would make a great comparison.
    Best regards
    Thanks
    REDBACK
     
  16. REDBACK

    REDBACK Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Your tax dollars funded the Governments propaganda machine(CSIRO) to help introduce the Carbon tax by making heretical alarmist conclusions and twisting data to suit the governments agenda.
    Long ago did the CSIRO lose its independence and become ball and shackled to the pressures of political whim.

    REDBACK
     
  17. Big A.D.

    Big A.D. Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Does your agreement say you can't add additional solar panels and sell the additional output or does it just say you can't sell additional output full stop?

    There is a big difference.
     
  18. PradoEagle

    PradoEagle Member Silver Stacker

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    My agreement (Perth) says that you can't exceed the original size. For me that means that you can't exceed your original inverter rating. If you had a larger inverter put in at the start then you can add panels untill you inverter to maxed out. My inverter is maxed out. If you add panels then you drop back to the current buy in rate, which for Perth is 7 cents. I currently get 47 cents for each kwh exported.

    PE
     
  19. REDBACK

    REDBACK Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Any body willing to throw down some figures as asked above,i would much appreciate the info.

    REDBACK
     
  20. Big A.D.

    Big A.D. Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Hmm...so you could still do it if you used batteries to max out your current inverter from the minute the peak rate starts to the minute it stops. Those times might not align perfectly with the output from your solar panels (from memory peak runs through to about 8pm and you're probably not getting much sun by then).
     

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