It's Not Easy Being Green
01/07/2011 09:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaOnce again struggling with the crappy cranky old Portkeys but finally got connected after five or so attempts
Happy New Year to all the goblins out there. May it be prosperous and profitable and may pesky greenies and insufferable shareholder activists and other communist pinkie lefties never diminish your big fat bottom line
The goblins at Borders and Angus and Robertson are far from happy but will save that gossip about the vulture serpent's stash for next week when they finally darken their gloomy bookstore doors
Still not done a proper serpent budget for the bright shiny new financial year. But so far kept the to the resolution of no unnecessary munchies. While keeping away from the groceries, indulged a bit in the Jacksons toy store instead. Art supplies, pretty papers and books are such an irresistible temptation.
Presently listening to the rain pouring down outside and lamenting the fact that it could have filled the tank ten times over in the last week or so.
It is just over two years since getting it installed. The original intention was to get the rainwater tank plumbed to the house so that it could be used to run the loo and laundry. That way it would constantly be emptied and refilled during the winter when it rains rather than the ridiculous situation of sitting there big fat and full because you don't need to water the garden when it is raining
But the cost of connection to the house would involve the installation of an electrical pump and new piping and the services of both plumbers and electricians. That would have been an extra $3,000 of which only $500 could be offset by government grants which have since been discontinued. That would make it very expensive water indeed.
The previous state government did intend to bring in legislation requiring all new residential houses to be plumbed in such a manner that a rainwater tank or grey water system could be just plugged in and ready to go. The present lot listened to the whingeing of the building lobby groups who claimed it would add to much to the cost of new housing
This rule would be no use to the serpent but it would be of enormous benefit to those wanting to instal rainwater tanks some 20 something years from now.
And then there's the insulation. When the government was subsidizing the cost completely, they set up the scheme in such a way that sharks and shonks just appeared overnight and soon crowded out the more reputable firms. It also meant that everyone was picking the low hanging fruit - the single storey houses in the city and suburbs. Two storey houses and those out in the country areas hardly got a look in. Got turned down by one of the reputable companies and did not want the shonks - free or not.
But after the summer from hell, figured that there was no way we could endure it again for another summer so bit the bullet and called Bradford
Business is quiet these days since folks no longer want to pay for what the government had been giving away for nothing. So even the good guys would be desperate for work
But not that desperate it turns out. The man who came to do the quote said that for health and safety reasons their installers require a minimum of 4 metres height and the ceiling of the Lair was only 3. This problem could be solved by accessing the ceiling through the outside of the roof. But that's mainly for single storey houses.
He also added that they guarantee their work for five years. He said the ceilings are starting to sag and will not bear the weight of insulation for that long. That with the limited access meant that their company did not consider the job worth taking on. But he suggested that we could always get some one else who would be prepared to do it
So basically the options now are to pay loads of money to get the ceilings restored so that they can support new insulation, sizzle again for next summer or go over to the dark side and instal an air conditioner
At least it's not all doom and gloom. Some time on Wednesday afternoon the little inverter 'clock' ticked over to 4,000 kilowatts. That's 4 megawatts in electro geek speak. That is for three years and three months worth of sunshine.
Vernon and Petunia were rather intrigued and fascinated with the pretty solar panels and thought it was a pretty good idea. That was until November 2008 when their darling Dudley darkened the door.
This is a creature whose house and garden is full of car parts, and bodies of half dead rust buckets - half of them Hummers and other assorted suburban assault vehicles.
He has about ten roadworthy offerings - all of them gas guzzling beasts. So he flies half way around the planet, visits the Izzie one sunny November afternoon when the panels have clocked up a rather respectable 4-5 kilowatts and sneers about what a waste of space they are and how the evil greenies have conned the gullible masses to adopting this time and money wasting useless technology
Ever since then, the old folks have been regaling Izzie with the latest sob stories from "A Current Affair" and "Today Tonight" how solar panels cause cancer, set your house on fire and 101 assorted awful side effects.
Even when the government lifted the freeze on electricity prices which kept them at a ridiculous 13 cents per unit for a good 12 years or so, it still did not convince them. It was in fact knowing that 2009 was going to be the start of the price hikes that was a major motivator in getting in at the ground floor before the mad rush and while the government subsidies were still quite good. That was before they brought in the crazy phantom credits and renewable energy certificates - a pathetic scame that would make even an Enron accountant blush with embarrassment
Then the state government brought in a 40 cent net feed in tariff last August and suddenly the whole market went feral. It was a bit like the insulation schemes where all these fly by night solar panel installers popped up like mushrooms. One even has ridiculous full page adverts promoting its 'female friendly service" with silly pink type face and the inspiring title "A Woman's Spark" What next - a kosher company that produces solar panels that are programmed not to collect sunshine on Saturdays?
In the meantime, the serpent smirks smugly while all the muggles at the day job complain about their astronomical electricity bills. Now that the new financial year has started, the price has probably gone up again. Somewhere above 20 something cents per standard unit. Izzie's on a smart meter with peak, off peak and shoulder rates. Even a greenie pays attention to economic incentives.
The next big expense is the ant man. Thanks to the heavy rains of the last week and the lousy design of the Lair where the back garden slopes towards the house, all that rain that was falling too fast to be absorbed by the soil ended up pooling outside the glass sliding door and slowly seeping through and forming bit fat stinking puddles in the carpet.
Only just torn it up today and tossed a big slab of it outside. The smell of damp and mould was becoming unbearable and unlike after the soaking it got during the hailstorms of March 2010, could not leave the doors open for the sun to shine in and dry it all out.
All this rain and damp has turned the Lair into termite heaven. In the meantime, must find some way of keeping the rest of the rain away from that door.
Some boxes of books soaked up the sludge and ended up consigned to the weekly landfill collection. Lucky they were mainly second hand pulp fiction things acquired from op shops. Had previously rescued a most gorgeous book from that box full of pictures of the quirkiest hand made houses.
But the delightful Anthony De Mellos and Hofstadter stuff was less than a metre away from the scene of the crime. Did manage to move that very heavy book shelf away from the danger zone but will not happy until they are safely upstairs.
You know you've got an addiction when you got so many books that you did not even know you had stuff until you have to throw it out.
Yessss - no buying unnecessary munchies and no new books are the two biggest resolutions for this new financial year. Let's see if we can make it past the first week
Happy New Year to all the goblins out there. May it be prosperous and profitable and may pesky greenies and insufferable shareholder activists and other communist pinkie lefties never diminish your big fat bottom line
The goblins at Borders and Angus and Robertson are far from happy but will save that gossip about the vulture serpent's stash for next week when they finally darken their gloomy bookstore doors
Still not done a proper serpent budget for the bright shiny new financial year. But so far kept the to the resolution of no unnecessary munchies. While keeping away from the groceries, indulged a bit in the Jacksons toy store instead. Art supplies, pretty papers and books are such an irresistible temptation.
Presently listening to the rain pouring down outside and lamenting the fact that it could have filled the tank ten times over in the last week or so.
It is just over two years since getting it installed. The original intention was to get the rainwater tank plumbed to the house so that it could be used to run the loo and laundry. That way it would constantly be emptied and refilled during the winter when it rains rather than the ridiculous situation of sitting there big fat and full because you don't need to water the garden when it is raining
But the cost of connection to the house would involve the installation of an electrical pump and new piping and the services of both plumbers and electricians. That would have been an extra $3,000 of which only $500 could be offset by government grants which have since been discontinued. That would make it very expensive water indeed.
The previous state government did intend to bring in legislation requiring all new residential houses to be plumbed in such a manner that a rainwater tank or grey water system could be just plugged in and ready to go. The present lot listened to the whingeing of the building lobby groups who claimed it would add to much to the cost of new housing
This rule would be no use to the serpent but it would be of enormous benefit to those wanting to instal rainwater tanks some 20 something years from now.
And then there's the insulation. When the government was subsidizing the cost completely, they set up the scheme in such a way that sharks and shonks just appeared overnight and soon crowded out the more reputable firms. It also meant that everyone was picking the low hanging fruit - the single storey houses in the city and suburbs. Two storey houses and those out in the country areas hardly got a look in. Got turned down by one of the reputable companies and did not want the shonks - free or not.
But after the summer from hell, figured that there was no way we could endure it again for another summer so bit the bullet and called Bradford
Business is quiet these days since folks no longer want to pay for what the government had been giving away for nothing. So even the good guys would be desperate for work
But not that desperate it turns out. The man who came to do the quote said that for health and safety reasons their installers require a minimum of 4 metres height and the ceiling of the Lair was only 3. This problem could be solved by accessing the ceiling through the outside of the roof. But that's mainly for single storey houses.
He also added that they guarantee their work for five years. He said the ceilings are starting to sag and will not bear the weight of insulation for that long. That with the limited access meant that their company did not consider the job worth taking on. But he suggested that we could always get some one else who would be prepared to do it
So basically the options now are to pay loads of money to get the ceilings restored so that they can support new insulation, sizzle again for next summer or go over to the dark side and instal an air conditioner
At least it's not all doom and gloom. Some time on Wednesday afternoon the little inverter 'clock' ticked over to 4,000 kilowatts. That's 4 megawatts in electro geek speak. That is for three years and three months worth of sunshine.
Vernon and Petunia were rather intrigued and fascinated with the pretty solar panels and thought it was a pretty good idea. That was until November 2008 when their darling Dudley darkened the door.
This is a creature whose house and garden is full of car parts, and bodies of half dead rust buckets - half of them Hummers and other assorted suburban assault vehicles.
He has about ten roadworthy offerings - all of them gas guzzling beasts. So he flies half way around the planet, visits the Izzie one sunny November afternoon when the panels have clocked up a rather respectable 4-5 kilowatts and sneers about what a waste of space they are and how the evil greenies have conned the gullible masses to adopting this time and money wasting useless technology
Ever since then, the old folks have been regaling Izzie with the latest sob stories from "A Current Affair" and "Today Tonight" how solar panels cause cancer, set your house on fire and 101 assorted awful side effects.
Even when the government lifted the freeze on electricity prices which kept them at a ridiculous 13 cents per unit for a good 12 years or so, it still did not convince them. It was in fact knowing that 2009 was going to be the start of the price hikes that was a major motivator in getting in at the ground floor before the mad rush and while the government subsidies were still quite good. That was before they brought in the crazy phantom credits and renewable energy certificates - a pathetic scame that would make even an Enron accountant blush with embarrassment
Then the state government brought in a 40 cent net feed in tariff last August and suddenly the whole market went feral. It was a bit like the insulation schemes where all these fly by night solar panel installers popped up like mushrooms. One even has ridiculous full page adverts promoting its 'female friendly service" with silly pink type face and the inspiring title "A Woman's Spark" What next - a kosher company that produces solar panels that are programmed not to collect sunshine on Saturdays?
In the meantime, the serpent smirks smugly while all the muggles at the day job complain about their astronomical electricity bills. Now that the new financial year has started, the price has probably gone up again. Somewhere above 20 something cents per standard unit. Izzie's on a smart meter with peak, off peak and shoulder rates. Even a greenie pays attention to economic incentives.
The next big expense is the ant man. Thanks to the heavy rains of the last week and the lousy design of the Lair where the back garden slopes towards the house, all that rain that was falling too fast to be absorbed by the soil ended up pooling outside the glass sliding door and slowly seeping through and forming bit fat stinking puddles in the carpet.
Only just torn it up today and tossed a big slab of it outside. The smell of damp and mould was becoming unbearable and unlike after the soaking it got during the hailstorms of March 2010, could not leave the doors open for the sun to shine in and dry it all out.
All this rain and damp has turned the Lair into termite heaven. In the meantime, must find some way of keeping the rest of the rain away from that door.
Some boxes of books soaked up the sludge and ended up consigned to the weekly landfill collection. Lucky they were mainly second hand pulp fiction things acquired from op shops. Had previously rescued a most gorgeous book from that box full of pictures of the quirkiest hand made houses.
But the delightful Anthony De Mellos and Hofstadter stuff was less than a metre away from the scene of the crime. Did manage to move that very heavy book shelf away from the danger zone but will not happy until they are safely upstairs.
You know you've got an addiction when you got so many books that you did not even know you had stuff until you have to throw it out.
Yessss - no buying unnecessary munchies and no new books are the two biggest resolutions for this new financial year. Let's see if we can make it past the first week
