SEEMING or DOING

Going Solar

I recently read an article in a Sydney newspaper regarding the current generation’s desire to SEEM to be doing something about everything.

They SEEM to be concerned about global warming and like to go to concerts so they can be seen to SEEM to be doing something. They buy a T-shirt at the concert that says ‘I CARE’ and they buy a CD because the band play says the concert is to RAISE AWARENESS about global warming.

Well, if we are not aware by now we must have our heads in the sand. How many more reports form eminent scientists do we need to become AWARE?

People love to SEEM to be aware but, actually taking some action to show they DOING something rather than SEEMING to be DOING something is very different and very rare.

The concert they went to, to SEEM to be DOING something, they would have gone to anyway because they like the band and the concert was free. The T-shirt they bought was cool and they could wear it to SEEM to be doing something.

It is only fair that I comment on Australia as I really don’t know the facts about other countries (except China). So I will pose the question, how many in Australia are really DOING something rather than just TALKING? Even if Global Warming is not permanent and is simply a climatic condition that will reverse in time, shouldn’t we be embracing new technologies that will help us be less dependent on coal and petroleum? Both of these cause heavy pollution and shouldn’t we be concerned about what we are putting into the air and water and which we eventually breathe or ingest? Shouldn’t we be concerned about the animals that we may be destroying simply because it is easier and cheaper to stay with what we now have?

In China, all new apartment buildings have a solar water heater on the roof for every apartment in the complex. Street lights are run by solar panels and storage batteries in new areas. They are so far ahead in the public use of solar, it is embarrassing.

So I decided it’s time to DO something rather SEEM to do something. I have gone solar.

The first stage was completed in the first week in January this year with the installation of a solar water heating system. When I have my morning shower, it is good to know that the hot water I use will be replaced by the sun for free and with out a load on the electricity grid. I can’t replace the actual water but the energy to heat it is free. It’s a good feeling.

Stage two was completed on Easter Saturday just passed. It would have been a month ago but there was a hitch with the size of our roof. But it is finished now and churning out free electricity. The nice government made it cheaper by bringing in benefits to create work to assist getting Australia through the GFC.

So now I am producing all the electricity I use during the day to run refrigerators, washing machines and may other things. Of course, I can’t use it at night and I don’t have storage batteries (not yet!). But the government buys all the electricity I produce and bills me for what I use. So I should be getting a cheque rather than an invoice every quarter. I am producing enough electricity to supply our house and our two neighbours.

I am not bragging but, now I can say I do not SEEM to be doing something but I have actually DONE something and I really feel good.

One final thing, Anji is becoming quite the little gardener now that she has her own yard.

Cheers