A Breakthrough in Solar Energy Has Been Announced By the Australian Scientists

Researchers in Australia have developed a new way of configuring commercial solar panels, which has broken records for conversion of sunlight into electricity – at costs which may be affordable.

The new PV system is created by the researchers of UNSW (University of New South Wales). It converts over forty percent solar energy into electrical energy, which represents a fifteen percent increase over other top panels.

The lab tests have proved that the solar cell process can convert up to forty-six percent of the energy of the sun into electricity. The new method works with the regular commercial PV cells stacked to absorb different wavelengths. This breakthrough could makesolar plants more competitive with low cost sources of energy including coal.

Martin Green, the professor of UNSW said, “This is the highest efficiency ever reported for sunlight conversion into electricity. We used commercial solar cells, but in a new way, so these efficiency improvements are readily accessible to the solar industry."

Green also said that the production of traditional solar energy only makes use of one solar cell, whichrestricts the conversion of sunlight to electricity to about thirty-three percent. But the new technology that has been developed by UNSW distributes sunlight into four various cells, therefore increasing conversion levels.

The advancement involved two important steps-3 solar panels were stacked for capturing the energy from sunlight of various wavelengths and then excess light from cells were reflected by filters and mirrors and directed to the 4th PV panel. Hence, earlier unused sunlight was used and contributes to the increased level of efficiency.

Solar researchers of UNSW have made many advancements in solar energy in past 40 years, including the first PV system for achieving a conversion rate of more than twenty percent in 1989. However, the latest development doubles that achievement.

This new technology can be used with PV power towers, which make use of sun tracking mirrors for focusing the sunlight on a tall collector building. Green however, hopes to use this technology on domestic solar panels on homeowner’s roofs in the future. Domestic solar panels presently have only fifteen to eighteen percent efficiency. “The panels that you have on the roof of your home, at the moment they just have a single cell but eventually they'll have several different cells... and they'll be able to improve their efficiency to this kind of level,” Green said.

ARENA (Australian Renewable Energy Agency) is providing funding to solar energy researchers at UNSW. Ivor Frischknecht, the CEO of the agency said in a statement, “We hope to see this home grown innovation take the next steps from prototyping to pilot scale demonstrations. Ultimately, more efficient commercial solar plants will make renewable energy cheaper, increasing its competitiveness."

ARENA is an independent Commonwealth authority, supporting the innovations, which increase the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies and improve the renewable energy supply in Australia.  ARENA has narrowly escaped abolition thanks to the intervention of the Palmer United Party whole leader made a public pledge alongside climate hero Al Gore.

For installation of solar PV on homes and businesses, the Australian Renewable Energy Target (RET) is still in place, offering 15 year ‘deeming’ for projects below 100kW.   Businesses in Australia wanting to benefit from a solar installation are pushing ahead to have their solar feasibility confirmed and purchase and install systems before mid 2015, which is likely to be the earliest date the Coalition government could reduce the RET scheme.

For energy efficiency projects, there are various financial support programs presently available in NSW and Victoria, including rebates, energy efficiency grants in Victoria and subsidies that support energy audit services such as Future Proofing Geelong.

How to Find the Best Energy Audit Company for Your School in Melbourne?

Do you operate a School in Melbourne? Conducting an energy audit is highly recommended to improve your sustainability and reduce costs.  Engage an expert to complete an energy audit to determine when, where, how and why energy can be saved in your school and to find cost effective opportunities for improving efficiency.
 

You can find many energy efficiency consultants in Melbourne offering energy auditing services. But you should get in touch with the best energy auditor to get the best outcome for your project. Here is what you need to do (a 2-step process) to find the best energy audit company for your school in Melbourne.

Look online

 

Type in the search box of the major search engine like Google with the keyword ‘energy audit company in Melbourne’ and you will find a number of results below. Have a look at the websites of those companies, go through them and compare them.
 

The online directories can also be helpful. They enlist the names of hundreds of energy audit companies in their sites.
 

Whether it is the directories or the search engines, all you need to do is compare the different companies and narrow down your search.

Interview the auditor
 

After you have narrowed down your search to only 4-5 companies, get in touch with each one of them. Find out the name of the person who would actually be undertaking the audit for your school in Melbourne. Talk directly over the phone or arrange an F2F meeting with the auditor. Remember, the quality of the energy audit will actually depend on the ability of the person conducting the audit on the site.
 

Keep in mind to use this interview checklist for conducting an effective interview. The main things that are covered in the checklist include:
 

Qualifications

The person who will perform an energy audit of the site must have a strong exposure and a technical understanding of the building services equipment. The person must also be an expert mechanical or electrical engineer with excellent problem solving abilities. 

Past work

Discuss with the auditor about his or her past work. The examples that the person gives must not be the work of other employees of the firm. Moreover, the example energy audits must preferably be same as that of your building type and function. 

Testimonials
 

Ask the person when did he or she last perform an energy audit and who was the client? Ask to give the contact details of a few of his or her clients. Contact the customers and investigate how satisfied they have been with their energy audit service. 

Comprehensive audit

Find out if the auditor has the technical capability of analyzing and providing suggestions for saving energy with regards to all the aspects of the school premises. The aspects may include lighting, building fabric, air conditioning, school appliances and computers, etc. It is very common to mistakenly appoint an auditor who looks only at one or two aspects, resulting in partial or incomplete energy audit.

The Steps Involved in Developing a Wind Farm in Victoria

Wind farm development in Victoria requires careful planning and adherence to local regulations. Most of the wind farms take a considerable amount of time (5 years or more) from land negotiation to commissioning. The process of development starts with site identification, land negotiation, design, wind resource assessment, through wind farm planning approval in Victoria, financial close, then the construction phase and then its operation. The following write-up indicates the steps that are typically involved in developing a wind farm. Each step can be considered a hold point at which the decision to proceed to next step is made.

Step 1

Initial research (1st year)

The desktop study identifies the windy regions with potentially appropriate access, topography and environmental overlays, and feasible connection to the electricity grid.

Decision point: Find a landholder(s), commence negotiations.

Step 2

Getting in touch with the landholder, data gathering as well as constraint mapping (1st and 2nd year)

Short-term contracts are sought with the landlords to enable exclusive access to the properties for wind measurements, initial environmental studies, understanding the limitations and other such works. The agreements may include long-term lease options as well, which are to be activated when the project reaches the construction phase or step 7.

Decision point: Refine the design and continue with more in depth wind and environmental studies

Step 3

Refine the project area, complete environmental assessment (2nd and 3rd year)

The area where the wind farm is supposed to develop in Victoria is refined and a thorough landscape, environmental, noise and such other assessment studies are done. These inform the development of the draft management and building plans and, with the community input and landholder liaison, help identify the prospective locations for turbines, access tracks, electrical connection lines and other layout details of the project.

Decision point: Move on to the submission of the planning application and formal grid connection application

Step 4

The submission of development application development (3rd year)

A complete development application document is produced for consideration by the community and the suitable planning authorities in the statutory development assessment procedure. The assessment process gives everyone the chance to make formal submissions concerning the final application, prior to it being evaluated. This process of assessment can see the application approved with or without conditions or even refused.  In Victoria, planning regulations around wind farms may change over time depending on the State government attitude towards wind farms.

Decision point: The result of the application development process considered

Step 5

Wind turbine tenders and the final agreement for the grid connection (3rd and 4th year)

If the application is approved with conditions accepted, a contract is made with the electricity network for the future grid connection. Tenders are also sought for the turbines, balance of plant and construction.

Step 6

Financial Close: Making the investment decision (4th year)

Following the approvals as well as the tenders, the people planning to make the investment, then consider whether to make expenses for construction and operation of the wind farm. It generally involves investing 2- 2.5 million dollars per MW installed. The final decision of whether to proceed or wait depends upon several business and economic issues.

Decision point: To build or not to proceed.

Step 7

Wind Farm Construction (4th and 5th year)

If the decision is made is to move ahead with the construction, orders are to be placed for turbines and transformers at this stage. A construction company is also engaged in developing the wind farm in Victoria. Long-term agreements with the landholders are made and a Community Fund is created it is commenced.

Step 8

Generation (5th year)

The wind farm that has been developed in Victoria starts to generate electricity for the national grid.

Benefits of Solar Farm Developing in Australia

Do you own a land in Australia? If you want to generate energy from it, without thinking much diversify into solar energy. Being a landowner you will get the opportunity to receive guaranteed, regular income for years without any extra labor or expense. You can earn money for hosting a commercial solar farm. Your income level will also be more. It will compensate the loss that you made for halting your agricultural production.
 

Basically, 10MW solar farm can produce enough electricity for supplying 2800 homes displacing 16,000 tonnes greenhouse gas emissions each year. This is equivalent of taking about five thousand cars off the road.  Solar power after all doesn’t produce greenhouse gases or any kind of hazardous waste.

Moreover, in response to the climatic change, the Australian government has set a renewable energy target for encouraging more electricity generation from the renewable energy sources. The aim is to get twenty percent share by next six years.
 

Australia has a great supply of sunlight and it shines brightly during daytime when electricity demand is at its height. Harnessing the solar power for generating electricity provides a clean source of energy which is secure, reliable and safe.
 

At Enhar we are going to carry out an assessment on your land. We will do solar monitoring to determine whether the land is suitable for developing of solar energy. If we find indications to be positive, we go ahead by providing a detailed solar feasibility report with view to submitting the planning application.
 

After the application gets approved, the solar farm will be established within a year. The process of construction is a series of activities that will be planned in association with the landowner in order to minimize any kind of disruption to farming or other kinds of activities. However, after its development, it will be fenced off for facilitating secure operation of equipment and for enduring safety of livestock and people. 

How Can Your Business Be Benefitted Using Solar Energy?

Solar energy is a good source of renewable energy. This is widely used in domestic purposes around the world but is generally not utilized vastly in commercial sectors. In Victoria region of Australia this trend is getting changed. Many business houses are installing solar panel for getting better benefits and interrupted flow of energy. Apart from providing unstoppable energy there are some other positive points as well. Australian Govt. provides energy efficiency grant in Victoria to encourage usability of the renewable energy. These grants come as some incentives or financial benefits for installing solar panel. Here I have discussed some of the benefits of using solar energy for businesses.
  

1. Solar power reduces the dependency on electrical supplies from power houses. The best benefit of using solar energy is producing your own electricity. You need not have to depend on any other resources. If your business needs constant flow of energy for smooth operation you can trust on solar power grids. These grids save the extra amount of solar energy which is not used in normal times.
   
   
2. Solar energy is a cleaner source of energy. It does not emit green house gases. Thus you can proclaim your business as a green business. This feature will add extra goodwill to the brand name of your products. More people will be interested in buying products from your organization.
   
   
3. Modern solar panels are easy to maintain. Though the older ones still require a great deal of maintenance, the latest panels are easy to maintain. You just need to install it properly to get the utmost amount of energy.
   
   
4. You can get good amount of deductions from government ends if you use solar panel for your business. There is a solar credit scheme available in Australia introduced by Government. This scheme helps to save some money and make the world a better place to live in.
   
   
5. If you do not want to install your own solar panel then you can subscribe it from various solar power suppliers in Victoria. You need to pay a monthly rate which is still much less than your normal electricity bills. 

Above all are some good benefits of having solar power supply for your business. It will be a smart business decision to utilize the solar power for producing manufacturing products, lighting up the business areas and many more. 

Why Should You Choose Solar Power for Your Commercial Establishment?

There are a number of reasons why you must choose solar energy for your business. Given below are the reasons.

Feel secure that you are protected from the rising prices of energy

Once you have the solar system installed on the roof of your office building, you will see that it will keep on producing free electricity from sun, which means you can significantly reduce or eliminate the electricity bills to a great extent. This is going to give you a peace o mind that you are doing whatever is good for the environment and that you are able to keep the bills low while still enjoying the advantages of all devices which electricity powers.

Incentives from government

The government may pay you for the extra electricity that you produce and is not able to use. The government sometimes even provides thousands of dollars in buying a system for commercial use. If you stay in Victoria, you can make use of these government grants by taking the assistance of Enhar. This company generally helps with preparing application related to energy efficient grant in Victoria.

Substantial investment returns

There is not any financial investment better than solar. From the first day of installation you will be able to save on your electricity bills. This translates into a return on an initial investment of fifteen to thirty percent per year for several years to come and the solar energy is going to pay for itself in about three to six years, depending on the size of the system.

Increases your property’s value

Energy efficient office buildings are sold at a large premium in comparison to the commercial establishments that are less efficient. Imagine telling the buyer that they are going to receive cheques every two months rather than an electricity bill. With the rise of prices in electricity, the buyer is surely going to increase his or her focus on energy efficiency and solar while considering which commercial establishment to purchase.

Being environment friendly

Less energy from grid is drawn when electricity in your office is generated through the solar system. This means less amount of coal will get burnt at the power stations reducing use of biggest source of pollution. Installing a solar panel is the most efficient step that can be taken to reduce the carbon footprint. 

Top 3 Benefits of Solar Energy

According to the modern lifestyle, energy has become an integral part of our lives. Right now we cannot make a single step forward without the help of energy. Modern technology and advanced mechanism has led our life more convenient and easier than ever. Energy is required to charge our latest gadgets, browse through online, watching TV at home or cooking in the kitchen.

There are two basic kinds of energies available to the consumers. One is electrical energy and another one is renewable energy. Electrical energy is the one that we get from the power stations. There are various types of electrical energy like thermal, hydro etc. Renewable energy is a better option to use for commercial and domestic houses. Among all renewable sources, solar energy is the most popular one and is being widely used too. There are various benefits of using solar energy. In this article you shall see 3 major benefits of using solar energy.

Saving money in long run:

Initial cost of installing solar panel might be higher. But it will definitely payoff in long run. Before installing please check the solar feasibility report. If you generate more energy than your requirement then you can sell them through the grid that is attached with your solar system. Many houses in Victoria are saving good number of dollars by selling extra electricity. Also there are some rebates and tax exemptions available if you install a solar panel on your house. 

No more power shortage:

Most of us face power outage in our homes, offices, shops etc. If you install a solar panel on your house you need not have to think about any power shortage or cut off ever. It will provide constant flow of electricity to run all the appliances, gadgets and electronic goods. Even if there is lack of sunlight during winter and rainy season you can use the excess electricity which is saved in the grid of your own solar system. 

Protect environment:

The benefit of using solar energy is the protection of the environment. It reduces our dependency on burning of fossil fuels. Thus by using it we give our future generation an opportunity to utilize natural resources in a convenient way. 

Common Mistakes That Home Owners Do While Buying Solar Panel

It is always special to have installed a solar panel on the roof of your house. By doing it you can reduce your electricity bill. You can even show how environment friendly you are. The decision of installing solar panel is a noble one but you should know the norms and the regulations from a solar energy grant in Victoria before making the final decision of installing it. If you take the decision of installing it, you must know the common mistakes that people make when they go solar.

Do not reduce consumption before going solar:

Installation of solar panel is a costly affair. After installing it you need to reduce the consumption of the energy to save the cost of installation. But most of us do not go in that way. You should also do home energy audits by a certified agency to identify your biggest energy losses and how to minimize them.  Good behavioral can save up to 30% of the energy. That will indirectly save your money.

Buying cheap quality items:

With the increased craze of solar energy there is no lack of supplier of solar panels. People tend to go for the options which are cheaper and come with a discounted price. These are cheap initially but on long run they suck hell lot of money from pocket. Sometimes they come with flaunty promises (works on cloudy weather). Take a full survey before buying them. Look for third party approval or certifications etc before paying for them.

Buying before setting the load:

While deciding the load of the unit people make a roughly calculation based on previous months’ consumption. This is not the right way to do it. Electricity consumption is not same throughout the year. If logically calculated you can see there is a constant growth in the consumption. Also the solar panels lose its efficiency on each year. You need to keep all these factors in mind before selecting the load of the panel.

The Advantages of Wind Energy

We usually hear a lot about problems as well as alleged problems of wind energy in Victoria and much less about its advantages. The most essential point in favor of wind energy is that the electricity that’s generated replaces the power, which would otherwise be produced by burning the fossil fuels in Victoria. Thus, bigger the production of wind energy in electricity supply more is the reduction in production of atmospheric greenhouse gases, which cause ocean acidification and climate change.
 

However, a community where a wind farm is developed is benefitted by:

• Business for the local contractors at the time of construction; transport, electrical, concreting etc
  
• Employment at the time of construction and to a much less extent operation
  
• A boost to the local businesses like motels, hotels and other kinds of accommodation providers, restaurants, cafes, gift shops, hardware shops etc; again especially at the time of construction and to a much less extent at the time of operation
  
• Annual land lease payments to the farmers for turbine sites

Australia especially Victoria has a big potential for wind farm development. However, if this potential is to be built, governments should act more pro-actively. Apart from artificially created low price of the fossil fuel produced energy, the biggest hindrance to wind power development is lack of high capacity electricity transmission lines wherever they are required; and the governments are showing very little enthusiasm for building them. This should be compared with TX where state government is developing transmission lines into the areas with high quality resources of wind in hope of development of the wind farm.

Various Uses of Solar Energy and Solar Panels

With the devastating effect of fossil fuel global warming is increasing. Therefore a vast use of non-conventional energy is growing up. Non conventional energies refer to turbine, solar PV panel and hydro electric panel etc. Among all the alternatives of renewable energy solar energy is widely used.
 

While planning for the installation of a solar panel one must check the solar feasibility report for that place. That will give him a clear idea about the various factors like continuity of sunlight, daily usage etc.

  

Application of solar energy

The list will be endless for the application of solar energy in our daily life. Here I have given some common uses of solar energy.
 

Solar heating for pool:

In winter it’s hard to use your favorite pool. But with the help of solar energy one can heat up the water of the pool. This has become a very common practice in most of the countries. Various clubs and amusement parks use solar panel to generate heat for their pools. 

Using for domestic water heating:

Needless to say that most of the homes around Australia use this technique to warm up the water for bathing, cooking and other purposes.
 

Generate direct current for home:

Some devices like laptops, MP3 players, and mobile phones can be charged from the electricity that has been generated from solar energy. Also PV cells are used for lighting up the in house lighting panels. 

Generations of AC currents:

Solar heat can be concentrated and used for generating steams from water that can revolve a turbine. This turbine will generate AC electricity which can be used for supplying electricity for a large area. This kind of energy is used for housing complex, theaters, shopping malls, small manufacturing units, bakery etc. 

Tips to Save Energy in Your Office

Simple energy efficiency measures like using energy saving lamps, switching off office equipments and setting the room temperature rightly can cut out office energy bills at least by twenty percent. Here are a few energy efficiency tips to help you get started: 

• Ask your staffs to use lights only when needed. Make it clear which lights can be left on and which are to be left off when not required.
• Use daylight sensors and time switches. They can help you to avoid leaving the lights on all through the night.
• Install lights that are energy efficient.
• Install motion detectors for controlling the lighting in normally the unoccupied areas like copy rooms and restrooms.
• Ask your staffs to switch off the equipments when they are not being used. Even if they are in standby mode, the equipment consumed energy.
• Encourage the staffs to turn down thermostatic radiator valves.
• Try to avoid using electric heaters.
• Using window blinds is a good idea. Closing them early in the morning or at night may help in reducing heat loss.
• Install self-adhesive thermal strips all over the windows and doors for reducing draughts. In several office buildings, draught cause 10% heat loss.
• The external doors must have automatic closures.
• Turn off monitors, computers, copiers, printers and lights at the end of the working day.
• Invest in a solar power system. It will help save a lot of your money in your electricity bills and even help the environment. 

However, you may think now that you will need to spend a lot of money for reducing on your electricity bills. There is good news for all the businesses especially the ones in Victoria. Energy efficiency grant in Victoria is available for businesses, which means you can get the financial support of the government for making the office building more energy efficient.

The Wind Energy Services to Keep in Mind for Developing Wind Farms

The sector of wind energy is experiencing unexpected growth all over the world including Australia. Australia is a country where wind energy is highly ranked in Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index.  In fact, Large-scale Renewable Energy Target produces a financial motivation for growth and establishment of renewable energy power stations inspiring the main activity all over the board. With substantial wind resources, consistent environmental policy and extensive land areas, proper conditions exist in the country for the sector of wind energy to strengthen and expand.

For fulfilling its potential, the sector of wind power needs continued diligence in choosing and developing proper land areas with reliable resources, apt availability of equipment, wind turbine technology and controllable and safe power.

If you own a business in Victoria and its planning involves wind power generation for exporting energy at any distribution or for the transmission level in the country, you first need to realize the opportunity of your wind farm. While assessing this, you need to keep in your mind that there are a few services which would be of great value for your business. Mentioned below are those services:

• Finding a site and acquiring wind farm prospects
• Optimisation and design of wind farm
• Wind farm planning approval in Victoria 
• Visual evaluation of the wind turbine projects
• Data analysis and monitoring of wind 
• Assessment of noise of the wind energy projects 
• Energy yield reporting, calculation and assessment 
• Wind farms construction management 
• Intervention of the environmental issues with regards to wind energy 
• Market entry in the wind sector of Australia and forming partnerships within the country 
• Capability statement for wind farm development 
• Training of the staffs on wind power 
• Shadow flicker evaluation of the wind farm

Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas-A Valuable Energy Source for Sewage Treatment Plants

Anaerobic Digestion is a method where microbes break down the organic wastes when oxygen is not present. The procedure is mainly used for domestic and industrial purposes to produce fuels and manage wastes. It usually occurs in soils, oceanic basin sediments and lake and is used for treating sewage sludge and biodegradable waste. It can lessen emission of the landfill gas into atmosphere.

Anaerobic digestion of organic wastes is an important source of energy for food businesses, farms and sewage treatment plants. It is used widely as a renewable source of energy and produces biogas that consist carbon dioxide, methane and some other contaminant gases.

After all generation of biogas in recent years has received great attention in the country of Australia. It is being largely used for electricity generation and heating. In fact a number of projects that have been initiated in Australia want to learn about the issues which need to be considered for improving the reliability of the electrical system.  Many of these projects have called for exploring the possibility of generation in biogas in Victoria at the waste water treatment plant as one of their criteria towards producing a final feasibility report.

Biogas projects usually work well where a consistent demand of electricity exists at site where waste is collected or created like food manufacturing plants or livestock farms. Sewage treatment plants may even supplement their power supply and reduce greenhouse emissions via lagoon cover technology and digesters.

How to Prepare a Grant Application in Victoria?

Preparing a grant application in Victoria is not a magic. There are some important things which you need to follow and you will be able to prepare the grant application. 

1. 

   Before looking for government funding opportunities, ensure you know the type of project you are willing to do, what is the kind of grant you require and what is the reason for which you are looking to it. Answer these questions first and you will see everything getting much easier in the process.
   
   
   
2. No matter what kind of grant it is, whether an energy efficient grant in Victoria or something else, you should first check the list, which includes the government grants available in Victoria. Look at the newspapers, community websites and newsletters of various organizations as they publish information about these kinds of grants. Also pay a close attention to the social networking sites.
   
   
3. You should customize the grant application keeping in mind the guidelines of the organization. It is definitely very frustrating to get the application completed half and then find that the project doesn’t match with guidelines and that you do not have the right information for completing the submission. You may find some grants in Victoria that only accept submission from certain organizations. In that case, you need to find the organization that will be able to assist you in preparing the application.
   
   
4. Discuss with the funding agency that is running the state or federal based grant funding schemes to offer some tips on your needs. You can also discuss about it with people or agencies that have got the funding. 
   
   
5. While preparing the application, there are a few things which you should keep in your mind. Avoid using jargons, use simple sentences, provide relevant and supporting materials, proofread the application before submission, structure it well and keep a Xerox of the entire set before submitting.
   
   
6. After submitting the application, call the organization to ensure whether they received it and if all was fine.

New South Wales Plans to be #1 in Energy and Environmental Policy

NSW aims to be the nation’s answer to California, speeding up the use of renewable energy and finding several ways for curbing waste, in a push which puts it at the odds with the coalition counterparts in the other states as well as at federal level. 

The Baird administration is of the opinion that it plans for adorning several of its buildings with the solar panels and ease the pathway to more of the wind farms. The message comes a few days after Abbott administration secured its 5 years quest to axe carbon price and along with the ongoing signs it may weaken the RET. 

Rob Stokes, the Environmental Minister, in a gathering in Sydney told that they are planning to make New South Wales #1 in environmental policy and energy. When it is about clean energy, they aim to be the nation’s answer to California, making a reference to the US state’s goal of achieving thirty-three percent of its power from the renewable sources within 2020 in comparison to twenty percent plus target of Australia. 

Investment in the large-scale renewable energy has all but slowed down in the nation with forty million dollars being spent in 2014’s first half or about 1.5 % of 2.67 billion dollars invested in 2013. The wind farm operators as well as all others are giving a warning that they’ll abandon Australian market for future investments if mandated requirement to supply 41,000 gigawatt-hours of the clean energy within 2020 is discarded. 

The Environmental Minister said that NSW was dedicated to 41,000 GW-h goal. Maverick MP Clive Palmer said that his party will be using the balance of power in Senate for blocking the effort by Abbott government for cutting the target of renewable energy. 

The Resource Efficiency Policy of NSW will take the benefit of administration’s scale to demand the savings. And according to Mr. Stokes, the investment over next decade may reach two hundred ninety million dollars and deliver savings to the energy bills of fifty-five million dollars every year.  All the new electrical gadgets bought by state should have to meet the average energy efficiency star rating for each and every gadget. The department of health will be needed to audit the energy use for fifty-five percent of their electric bills by the mid of the year in 2018; and other departments will need to audit forty percent of their billings. The rate is supposed to rise to ninety percent by 2024. 

In a completely different nod to renewable energy sector, the Environmental Minister said that he has suggested the Environment Protection Authority to treat the noise from the wind farms as this will offer certainty and clarity for the wind farm operators and may facilitate the right and responsible citing of the wind farms in the rural and regional areas. 

You can get more news, tips, advice and information about Australian wind farms, wind turbines in Australia, grant funding opportunities, how different kinds of renewable energy are used in Australia, wind energy in Victoria and other places by staying tuned to our blog.

Germany Outranks United States in 2014 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard

A lot of industry observers will however not be amazed to find out that Germany, who won that FIFA World Cup 2014, outranks the United States in energy efficiency. Moreover, they are moving with the goal of reducing their energy consumption by fifty percent by 2050 in comparison to what it was in 2008. But it is not only the Germans who have become popular for their engineering prowess and efficiency, India, Spain, China and Italy are also a few world economies which ranked above the United States.
 

The countries that account for about seventy-one percent of the world energy consumption were assessed across thirty-one categories for 100 points. The categories mainly fell into 4 areas-energy usage at buildings, transportation, industry and national level. Germany took the top spot in the industry, China scored high in building efficiency, EU led the score in the national efforts and Italy was first in transportation.

There was simply no excuse for US lagging behind the other nations of the world on energy efficiency. Using energy efficient grant in Victoria, states such as Vermont even proved that energy efficiency reduced impact on the environment, saves money and creates a lot of job opportunities.
 

This year ACEEE added a few new metrics such as agricultural efficiency, water efficiency, building retrofit policies and energy efficiency investment by the private sectors. And the US topped the score in building efficiency tying with United Kingdom. In 2012, the country ranked 9th out of 12 countries. So, all these suggest that the nation had not many any such improvements in the last two years. A lot of improvement needs to be made especially in the area like industrial efficiency, where the United States can vastly increase its use of power systems and combined heat and conduct mandatory energy audits like other nations already do. The country needs to do a lot on energy efficiency for remaining competitive in the increasingly competitive global marketplace.