Time to see the light

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2007/nov/19/its-time-see-light/

Time to see the light

November 19, 2007

Would you fork out $5000 to save the planet?

That’s how much it will cost new home owners if Caloundra councillor Danny O’Kearney’s plan to have a solar panel installed on every new property comes to fruition.

But he reckons it’s a bargain.

“One kilowatt solar panel could power more than your hot water,” Mr O’Kearney, pictured, said. “In actual fact, you could probably power most of your energy requirements for instance, television and pool pumps, and put energy back in the grid.

“The reason I’ve gone for the minimum one kilowatt is because the federal government gives a subsidy of $8000 for them. This means it would only add $5000 to the cost of a new building.”

...

Mr O’Kearney is moving a motion at the next council meeting, this Thursday, for council to investigate what it will take to make solar panels mandatory.

He has also written to premier Anna Bligh asking her to change the Building Act in the Queensland Development Code to include a clause requiring new buildings to have solar power.

...

[Deja Q]

1. Yes I would.

K&R

[Captain Angry]

2. I have very specific guidelines for my next home.

And the primary ones are:

No restriction on solar power generation.
No restriction on the lawn/gardening. (Too many places want me to live like I'm on a golf course.)
No restriction on water collection / cistern.
No silly restriction on trees. (Some places say you get X trees per yard, in certain places of certain kinds. Only for cosmetic purposes. Shade trees are out of the question in many places.)

Right now, as I'm doing the apartment thing, I'm just working on reducing the power I need and the stuff I own so that I'm not being wasteful. I don't need a 2000 sq. ft. house. I live in 750 just fine right now. With a little more organization, I could probably cut that down even further.

So, to answer the question, heck yeah I'd spend the money.

[diane in sf]

3. I'd go for it--this sounds really affordable. You design your house to not

need heating and cooling using passive design and you can end up building it cheaper overall than conventional design.