It has been a while...........blackout aftermarth

So I haven't been writing much on the blog. I guess living life in the summertime gives one less chance for reflection. Which is not always such a bad thing.

So '07 has started fairly interestingly - both professionally and personally.

I have met some more interesting people in my line of work - one of note is Dr Alan Pears. He is a Professor at RMIT and also the original designer of the Energy Efficient stars on electrical equipment sold in Australia. Currently we use a rating system designed in 1996 (updated in 2000) which uses a 6 star system (although it is really only a 5 star system as every appliance that is sold gets one star as long as it passes basic safety standards ie doesn't blow up). However, the energy efficiency measures put into practice by developers of appliances now mean that many appliances already receive the 6 out of 6 possible stars - and given the way it is calculated some appliances could reach up to 10 stars. Some appliances such as airconditioners and heaters can use a heap of power - especially older models. So if your in the market for an airconditioner - look beyond the stars and check the SRI (Star Ratings Index) - a score of 4 or 4.3 equates to a 4 star rating. But for example a Daikin FTK25SE Split system has a score of 8.07. If you purchased this one and double that up with some extra thick insulation and proper window cover (ie curtains) you could easily drop your energy use and greenhouse emissions by 50% to just installing any old air-con system.

In Melbourne on Tuesday we had our highest ever energy usage day - air-conditioners around the city were really running flat out - and at 40C who could really blame people? However, a bushfire (now burning in Victoria for 3 months) tripped the main interconnector between NSW, the Snowy Hydro scheme and Melbourne - which nearly took down the entire system. I was without power briefly but many people in suburbs around Melbourne were without power for large parts of the night. It really goes to show how vulnerable we all still are to so called "acts of god". The Australian blames the Victorian state government and Alan Moran in the Age blamed the governments pandering to green groups - though his ridiculous statement that a new interconnector could not be built because of environmental fervour. He should now that a new interconnector will not be built because it will cost too much money - I mean who would argue that $2 billion for a 1 in 10 year event so a few shops aren't blacked out is a good investment. With the entire cost of the Victorian Renewable Energy Target Scheme coming in at $250 million over 20 years - that doesn't seem like a bad investment to make 15% of our generators Renewable Energy generators (and in the process build about 5 new windfarms, 1 reflective solar plant and countless smaller renewable generation plants).

I guess we have to accept a small chance that we may not have power for an hour or two when extreme events occur, it will cost far too much to take that away - and I think the priorities of people now is to make sure we are spending our money on outcomes that are sustainable and have a long term focus - such as dealing with the possibility that our actions may have had some effect on the reasons behind this years tinder dry conditions in Victoria this year. But I could be wrong, perhaps people will get more angry about not having airconditioning for one hot evening in January rather than the long term effects people might be having on the planet. I guess one might even call that human nature (whatever that means - outside of a Motown singing Australian boy band that received there first ARIA in 06 after a decade of being overlooked by judges - for highest selling album - as they sing ...there aint no mountain high enough....).