Australia To Commence Electric Hot Water System Phase Out In 2010

 

From January 1, 2010; the Australian Government will begin a phase out of electric hot water systems in order to boost the uptake of more efficient forms of water heating such as gas, solar hot water and heat pumps.
   
With 50% of Australian homes still currently using electric hot water systems, the phase out will result in the reduction of greenhouse gases by about 30 million tonnes over ten years from 2010-2020.
   
The phase out will occur in two stages. From next year, electric hot water systems will no longer be able to be installed in any new detached, terraced and town houses and any existing detached, terraced and town houses where there is access to piped natural gas, except where an exemption applies.
   
In 2012, electric hot water systems will no longer be able to be installed in any existing detached, terraced and town houses and any new flats and apartments with access to piped gas except where an exemption applies.
   
While gas hot water services do reduce emissions, they are still quite expensive to run. By installing a solar hot water system, home owners can not only dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also save up to 75% on water heating costs.
   
The Australian Government and some state governments are currently offering generous rebates on solar hot water systems and heat pumps, making the switch to renewable energy for water heating and even more attractive proposition.
     
Federally funded rebates of up to $1600 are available  to install solar hot water systems and up to $1000 for heat pumps installed to replace electric storage hot water systems in existing privately owned homes. The Government says the rebate will be available until March 2012 and applies throughout Australia; however, there have been 3 instances in 2009 alone where rebates relating to solar power have been pulled with little or no warning.
     
More information on the Federal rebates and additional state based incentives for making the switch to solar hot water can be viewed on the Energy Matters web site.
   

Australian Solar Institute Issues $11 Million In Grants

 

The Australian Solar Institute (ASI) announced last week it would make $11 million available to help fund five research and development projects in order to support and accelerate the growth of Australia's solar technology sector.

The ASI is part of the Australian Government’s $4.5 billion Clean Energy Initiative (CEI), which includes the Solar Flagships initiative. 

The 5 projects are:

- University of New South Wales: Development and commercialisation of high efficiency silicon solar cell technology

This project builds on the Solar Industrial Research Facility (SIRF) and will aim to demonstrate lower cost commercial production of high efficiency solar cells.

- University of Newcastle: Fabrication of thermionic devices using directional solidification / sintering processes for high temperature concentrating solar thermal applications.

Thermionic devices for solar energy harvesting offer the potential to generate electricity directly from heat. This project aims to develop and demonstrate a thermionic device for electricity production using advanced ceramics.

- Australian National University: Plasmonics for high efficiency photovoltaic solar cells using nanotechnology to capture more light.

This project will undertake research to increase the light captured by thinner layers of silicon through the use of plasmonics. The plasmonic solar cell will use nanoscale metal particles on the cell surface which act like tiny antennas, directing the light into the solar cell; making it more efficient.

- University of Queensland: New materials and architectures for organic solar cells - beyond the Shockley-Queisser Limit.

This project will take advantage of ideas which have been shown to dramatically increase the efficiency of traditional inorganic PV cells and apply these principles to Organic photovoltaic solar cells (OPVs). The Shockley–Queisser limit is the maximum theoretical efficiency of a solar cell using a p-n junction to collect power from the cell. The limit places maximum solar conversion efficiency around 30%

The ASI board says it has also authorised further discussions relating to several other promising project to have emerged from the first round of applications.
 

News for Friday 18 December, 2009

 

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