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A Tyalgum resident poses with his electric bike
Community

Australia Decentralises

When folks first hear about Tyalgum, in East Australia they picture Mad Max.

Steampunk locals power this dieselpunk outpost with renewable, ethanol-based Guzzolene. Tyalgum has free Wi-Fi and a day spa.

Tyalgum is also going off the grid.

And for the people in this bohemian town in Australia’s east coast hinterland, the stakes are high.

A tourist may be forgiven for ignoring the harsh realities of climate change in such a picturesque spot, but the locals are serious. They’re concerned about carbon emissions and rising temperatures. They’re sick of relying on coal-fired power stations for their electricity.

They’re not the only ones. As the existential threat of climate change grows, people and communities across the world are growing frustrated with governments dragging their feet on environmental policy and investment in renewable energy.

Australia is deeply dependent on fossil fuels, with around 90 percent of the country’s energy generation coming from oil, coal and gas. Australia’s federal government is unabashedly pro-coal. While other nations turn to renewables, Australia contemplates building a massive coal mine in the northeast of the country. When debates about volatile power prices hit the news, Australian politicians call for the construction of more coal-burning power plants. In 2017, the deputy prime minister at the time said he would support clean energy targets — if they included coal.

But climate change is real, and Eastern Australia is feeling the effects. With unstable energy prices, statewide blackouts and a fierce debate over fossil fuels, more Australians than ever want to take action on electricity.

For the people of Tyalgum, solar is the future.

That’s where the Tyalgum Energy Project comes in. The ambitious project wants to power the entire town with 100 percent renewable energy and, one day, begin selling excess power to the wider local area, turning Tyalgum into a community-owned energy retailer in its own right.

Tyalgum isn’t alone. Far from it. Just down the road, the town of Lismore switched on Australia’s first community-owned solar project back in January. The 99kW solar farm floats on the overflow pond at the town’s sewage treatment plant.

From homeowners installing a few solar panels on the roof to entire community-owned solar projects, Australians are starting to take back their power.

There’s a reason Australia is called the “sunburnt country.” The continent has the highest solar radiation per square meter in the world, according to Geoscience Australia. Despite its sunny disposition, the country is 15th on the World Bank’s ranking for sustainable energy use.

Australian communities and businesses are beginning to switch to renewables, though. Elon Musk’s Tesla, best known for electric cars, just installed the “world’s biggest” lithium-ion battery farm in South Australia. AGL, one of the country’s biggest energy providers, has plans to convert one of its ageing coal-fired power stations into a clean energy hub. And the country’s biggest beer maker, Carlton United Breweries, is moving toward …

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Micro-hydro has the Duracell effect - it just keeps on and on
Energy

125 watts of Hydro is plenty for a family

Murray Peden, runs an off-grid auto repair workshop in his home in the hills high above the isolated rural community of Little River, Banks Peninsula.

He has lived here off-grid for 17 years, with his wife, Tori, and their two young children.

The steep southeast-facing section is 700 metres from the nearest power supply. “I thought that could either be a disadvantage or an opportunity. I looked at it as an opportunity.”

Peden realised the potential of the site when he saw the small spring-fed creek running through it. This provides their drinking water and has also been harnessed to drive a mini hydro plant.

Although the unit produces only 125 watts, which is less than that required to operate a large household light bulb, it is sufficient. The electricity is stored in a bank of batteries, and because it is charged 24/7 the battery pack doesn’t need to be large to cope with the fluctuations that would come from only using solar-powered photovoltaic panels, as most systems use.

His system has since been reinforced with 450 watts of photovoltaic panels, but as they receive only three hours of sunlight during a winter’s day, the hydro is essential.

“The idea of not having power, not being able to turn lights on, doesn’t appeal. I did research and worked out we could set up here and live, not just survive. I want to have the TV and a microwave, but the idea of not paying power bills is always appealing.”

A coal and wood-burning range heats the water, warms the house via under-floor heating pipes, and cooks the meals.

Operating an automotive workshop on alternative power has required some clever thinking. Most commercial machinery requires three-phase power, and this isn’t available from Peden’s system.

His vehicle hoist, essential in a workshop, operates on hydraulics, which require an electrical pump. A part from a forklift has been modified to do the job, and the A-grade mechanic is proud of his handywork. “I sometimes work in town, and their hoists are a bit slow. Mine’s better,” he grins. Tyre machines and compressors have also been bought with their power requirements in mind.

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Energy

In the future we will drive to the store to buy electricity

The Chevy Volt is showing the way forward for some off-grid families. Where one of the household commutes to work, they might charge their hybrid/electric car during the day, and then drive home with a full battery ready to power the home.

But as this ad from the early 1900s reminds us, it s actually a case of Back to the future — the earliest electric cars were pioneered a century ago and battery technology has scarcely advanced since then. GM say a Chevy battery can power a households for just TWO hours (see below). In fact it could power a household for up to a day with intelligent use of energy and a small solar panel to top it up.

The battery is the most expensive part of an electric vehicle, and once an “EV battery has reached the end of its life in an automotive application, only 30 percent or less of its life has been used,” said Pablo Valencia, GM senior manager of battery lifecycle management.

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Off-grid electricity: produce, save and store

Off-grid energy supply is a task that has to be analyzed on three levels:

  • producing the energy from any off-grid source, preferably renewable
  • reducing energy use,
  • storing it for future when supply exceeds demand.

True off-grid life means using only free renewable (sometimes referred to as alternative) energy sources. But solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines supply you with power only when the solar/wind power is available. There are only two ways to simple deal with this problem. But neither of them is a good one.

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Navajo go solar

Navajo Nation gets half a million from stimulus funds for solar power – others could do the same

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