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.