Trying to stay Carbon Neutral. What have you done so far?

So lets see if I have this right. The Govt want to whack the price of everything up AND get us to PAY to do things ourselves so that we can be carbon neutral ?


Come in spinner :))))

We got solar panels, but mainly to shaft the electricity bill and because:

1. Qld introduced a system to pay you $0.44c for each kW you weren't using (ie something like the dual meter deducts the electricty the house uses from what it generates first then ticks over to the mains so they know my net mains input).
2. A local green group got 150 people and got a bulk discount on purchase (Sharp panels) and installation costs.

My net cost of a 1kW system in stalled with Latronics inverter? $1,050.00 out of actual pocket.

I couldn't say no.

We used about 6.5kw a day before the system was installed, so if that doesn't change and it generates, so far on average, 3-4kw a day, I'll be in front in a less than a few years. And of course the 3-4kw of power generated is usually when no-one is home so that attracts the $0.44c payment.

However, still waiting for my first electrical bill ...

At worst I could take down the panels and sell them in Trader!!! Though the gov might want it's $8k back ...

Just don't buy a new car.

reckon there is about 15 to 20 tonnes of CO2 in the manufacturing and delivery of a new car.

A car produces about 2.5kg of CO2 per litre used, so that is about 60,000km at 10l/100k. If the new car is 10% more effecient, that is about 600,000k to break even point for a new car replacing an old car.
So good one you running an old car. :o)

Same argument for new houses, anything new.

So is the government, when bringing in a carbon tax, going to tax imports for at least the cost of transport from offshore?

Always wondered to when solar panels are going to break even on the CO2 cost of production and delivery. :o)


Now if we lived two families to a house, we could halve polution?

Come on, share the shower, or only shower every 2nd day. :o0

Australia ..... A country this size with a population the same as the city of New York.

In reality .... I would think we are all ready carbon neutral in comparison with the rest of the world ... no matter what spin the pollies and do gooders put on the situation.

Doesnt mean we shouldnt do those simple and productive things that you have done though Willem ... as that certainly improves our situation.

As an opinion .... I believe all new houses should be fitted with solar and water tanks ... someone should be making solar roof panels which could replace areas of tile / tin, thus reducing costs.

What can we do though that is of benefit ... when the govt cuts down trees in school yards ( coz a little kiddy might play in them ) and replace them with arty farty, expensive play equipment and shade cloth .. ??????

My second car's an Echo

i reckon you've done more than a lot of us including me.
the aircon only heats to 18 instead of 20. cools to 27 instead of 24
garden doesnt get as much water these days due to water restrictions and with limited back yard small trees have either carked it or are dieing negating any benefit we had there.
kids still leave the lights on and have lengthy showers...yelling at them hasnt worked (just increases my blood pressure) so i am think of putting in a shower timer to stop the hot water ......for the lights mmmm thought of putting in press button timers but swmbo doesnt like the look
have now got late model diesels which should help reduce our output? as we have downgraded one of the cars to a smaller one
gearing up to put the fridges and freezers on solar as these are always switched on. try to switch off TV etc etc at GPO so they are not in standby mode
renewable energy is going to keep energy costs skyrocketing and at a premium and natural gas is to follow i reckon.... keep wonder that if a they built a nuke power station would it keep some elect costs down ...waste heat and excess power at low consumption times could be used to run desal plant and ensuring that nuke reactor is always working at peak which they like i believe.
house is fully insulated, toilets dual flush low energy lamps etc etc

Dont have anywhere to put a decent size rainwater tank/s with out it/they being an eyesore in our garden...cost of putting in an 90000l underground is costly as is a bore, but we may have to do that

me to... i also wonder where it will end...but dont think i will be alive to see where it does..and will need to keep educating (drumming it in to) the kids i guess. (cos they thick at times, but thats kids)
dont think i will ever get to being carbon nuteral especially with the kids at home

Its a load of crap, its a way of Govts taxing the air that you breathe!! They knew it could be done, they just couldn't work out till now how to go about it!! But just in case i'm wrong, i have decided to not take up smoking ever again!! I gave it up in 1990!! Michael

Going 'green' is just the next money spinner that's all. Water restrictions on households is a joke - heck on average 20% of water use is residential, the rest is business/industry etc. So what's the point??

Don't get me wrong, these's no point in wasting water/electricity etc. I've planted 150 odd trees on our 5 acres and reckon I could fit another 1000 in easy but will I get a rebate for doing it? I don't think so... :) I've also got an 80,000lt rain water tank but because I have mains water running past my block I still have to pay a connection fee so I might as well use it on the garden...!

The only real way to help is to reduce the world's population to about 2-3 billion, that'll help more than only having a 3 minute shower... :)

Don't know if global warming is an issue here in Tas! Seems like the opposite. IMHO, I think global warming/climate change has become completely political and it's just another one of those BS scare campaigns. Sure, we are to look after the environment, it's our obligation, but within reasonable measures.

Hope I haven't struck a nerve by saying this!

Cheers.

I brought a 50cc Scooter to use round town instead of the 4WD, plus save money on fuel.

Hey, Bro, you cancelled all your desert trips too?

Here's good news: George W. Bush says that he is committed to fighting global warming. Yeah, well, he nipped that in the bud, didn't he? ... President Bush says he's really going to buckle down now and fight global warming. As a matter of fact, he announced today he's sending 20,000 troops to the sun"

Climate change has been around since the planet was first formed and is an inevitable fact of life. What I find arrogant is that the scientific community seriously thinks that we humans can affect it in a major way. One good volcanic eruption can do it in 5 days - can we match that?

The buzz word two years ago was global warming but trying to find this phrase in a publication is now becoming quite hard. I wonder why? The 'climate change' buzzword is what's going around now and I ask myself - what's happened to 'global warming'? (I won't go into that.)

However, those clever and greedy politicians have found a wonderful new tax, all based around those carbon emissions which supposedly cause climate change. It works this way. Let's tell the pubic that carbon emissions are bad for the atmosphere and introduce a scheme where companies are taxed for carbon emissions which cause those nasty greenhouse gases - shame/boo - (which they will then, of course, pass on to their customers). This is called a carbon trading scheme. Oh my God, what a wonderful idea. I can trade my carbon emissions with the Govt and still carry on as normal though slightly less out of pocket. It's just like going to confession. The Govt will absolve me of all my carbon emission transgressions. (Bless me Prime Minister for I have sinned...)

Just consider this. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air (meaning it sinks rather than rises). If our production of CO2 has increased (a fact) then how does it get into our upper atmosphere to create a 'greenhouse gas'?

We don't breathe O2 but a combination of about 70% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and other gases which go to make up our atmosphere.

The use of the word greenhouse effect (creating global warming) suggests to the populace that there is an umbrella of gases in our upper atmosphere that affects the way solar radiation interacts with this system. The basic idea is that large concentrations of trapped gases in our upper atmosphere restrict the planets ability to reflectthe heat from the sun. CO2, according to Al Gore and friends is the main contributor to this and should be dealt with.

The scientific facts don't concur. The concentration of CO2 in our upper atmosphere is that small that it can't possibly re-reflect heat back down onto the planet but the media still blames this gas (which has its biggest concentration at the lowest levels).

The biggest 'greenhouse gas' is actually water vapour which does have the ability to both form in the upper atmosphere and reflect heat back down. The chemical formula for water is, of course, H2O - I don't see the symbol for carbon - 'C' - in there anywhere.

If you want to see a real greenhouse effect, just wait until a couple of the worlds larger volcanoes have massive eruptions at about the same time. It will make man's efforts to affect the planet with his technology seem totally insignificant.

Nothing, other than trying compact fluorescent globes, only to find that they are hopeless.

Ask the soothsayers of doom why the Murray River dried up to a series of biillabongs between Swan Hill & the river mouth in 1913,
or even better still, what caused the Ice Age?

Willem

Congratulations on the way you have set up your house - I'm sure it gives you a lot of pleasure to have done the projects and live with the results.

I was raised on a farm in WA and the way we are being recommended to live now is very similar to an older farm environment - just go back to the simpler way of doing things such as good water for drinking and poorer water for everything else.

The bit that frustrates me about the Government and its hangers-on is that they think they will be able to influence the rest of the world by taking a leadership position on carbon trading. What self-centred bull! I'll be very disappointed if any money is spent on anything in Australia other than water sustainability. I don't care about Australia's carbon problems when considering our position in the world.

Cheers, Rod

Given that methane is supposed to be 20 times worse than CO2 I have given up eating baked beans.

Pete

Willem


As i live in the country Instead of having two bonfires a year of fallen trees, i bought a petrol powered mulcher and now mulch/chip branches up to 60mm and use these on the gardens

Dont know if it is a saving as the mulcher produces green house gas, and the mulch breaking down still eventaully relesaes carbon.

But i dont send huge plumes of smoke upwards.

Alan

I reckon some on here could hold their breath and that would even some things out!!!!!!!!! ( I won't mention any names of course.. K, DL,.......oopppssss!)

Willem,

The best things what you can make to reduce your personal “carbon release” is you stop buying anything made in China. ABSOLUTELY no jokes here. Our stupid government nightmaring (??? Is there such word?) and making us pay more and more for everything, but at very same time Chinese government declares that “at this stage China’s priority is economical growth”. Thus they give a s_h_i_t on all matter what you concern about. And when you buying ANYTHING made in China you DIRECTLY contribute to carbon dioxide pollution, regardless how many trees you have planted.

Sweet dreams
Serg

PS even if you stop using electricity altogether no-one notice it – it is a drop in the ocean comparing to industrial consumption - think of manufacturing of aluminum. Only government support of nuclear electricity plants can make changes. But it looks like we have to wait for new election – current numskulls pro-green idiots see nuclear power as “not an option”

Strewth Willie,
I'm nowhere near as lateral-thinking as you are mate!!! The only measure I've been able to come up thus far is to fart into a bottle and connect it to my BBQ. Only trouble is my cooking is now even chittier-tasting than it was before!!!! hahaha