Hi guys, I have recently heard of Sumo power's all you can eat electricity plan. Any thought on them? This is apparently very good for the winter, currently.
Here is the link: https://www.sumopower.com.au/all-you-can-eat
All You Can Eat Electricity
shinichiduy on 15/06/2016 - 19:05
Last edited 15/06/2016 - 19:15 by 1 other user
Last edited 15/06/2016 - 19:15 by 1 other user
Related Stores
Comments
Thinking about that, how is electricity generated in Australia generally? Are we still burning coal?
73% coal
13% natural gas
7% hydro
4% wind
2% rooftop solar
1% BioenergySource: Origin Energy
https://www.originenergy.com.au/blog/about-energy/energy-in-…I'd love to know the stats for hamster wheel generated power…
sad thing about it is if we dont burn coal some other country will burn it for us at 10 times the rate we could.
No. Why don't you stop using electricity, it's bad for the earth according to you.
I work for a major electricity distributor and we commission a massive householder survey into power usage annually. Of the 300,000 solar PV users we have on the network only 2% say they had it installed for environmental reasons. So to answer your question, I guess not. It's all about saving money.
Bitcoin miners rejoice?
Probably more likely it will be people growing hydroponic tomatoes.
At least hydro produces genuine value for the consumers, and is renewable!
The non-fruit bearing kind..
one of the things that really bothers me is how australia doesn't harness the abundance of sunlight exposure and use solar panels to generate electricity. just prop up a shit load of panels in the outback and hook up to distributors - should be easy right?
That's what happens when the coal, gas and electricity industry pays whatever government is in power so that they may continue to pollute rather than spend money on infrastructure. The reality is they could be made to do it via legislation. It's not for a lack of money given Australia's outrageous electricity prices.
You do not matter because you are not paying money to them so your vote will not steer legislation if the past is any guide to the future.
Not that easy, if it was it would have been done decades ago.
I never studied science or engineering but I understand the problems are:
Storing energy. It's not like we can burn coal and put it in a battery to save for later. We burn natural resources at the time we need to consume it. Generators burn petrol when needed, portable (AA) batteries burn through a chemical compound when activated. Solar energy can be stored but existing solar battery technology is very limited and wouldn't be able to power a household for an entire evening after the sun sets.
Transportation of energy. Instead of one central power station in the outback to power the whole of Australia, we have regional power stations because energy can only be transported so far due to the degradation and loss of energy (which turns into heat). With existing technology it's not feasible to collect solar power thousands of kilometres away and run it through cables to major cities.
Solve those problems and you may get a Nobel prize.
Consider the opposite too. Coal power stations must run round the clock to be able to meet peak loads, the reason why discount off-peak exists. Coal fired has the precisely inverse problem to solar/wind - it produces power and burns costly fuel even when you don't want it to.
As for 2, there is no shortage of sites for wind and even more so solar in this country, and close to where power is used. In fact, half my power use is generated 3m from my meter box, a huge saving compared to the hundred kilometre grid links to the nearest coal plant. Your second point is more about your first, it is saying shipping renewable power from where it is available to elsewhere doesn't work. The AEMO grid suggests for at least 1000km this isn't that big an issue, as the east coast grid was completed on the basis of coal power, not renewables. Even though SA wind farms are currently major beneficiaries.The simple answer is that for electricity, we can produce 90%+ of our power needs pretty easily from renewables using today's technology at prices similar to today's coal power. And likely cheaper than coal once the 40yro polluting brown coal plants in VIC need replacing.
For a good analysis of the costs and the requirements, see http://www.solarcitizens.org.au/hpp
I think they are largely right. It may end up costing a bit more than their projections, but so what? The fuel is free and the pollution is gone so it just means a bit longer pay back.I actually think we are 3 or 4 years from the tipping point for solar plus battery storage, but when we hit it, it will be quite revolutionary.
I actually think we are 3 or 4 years from the tipping point for solar plus battery storage, but when we hit it, it will be quite revolutionary.
Watch the daily connection charge sky-rocket..
interesting points, thanks
My house already has panels that generate more power than we use in daylight. The trick now is cost effective storage or load shifting. A kilo of coal has a lot of energy that is reasonably easily acquired, transported and stored, even though coal causes a million early deaths from pollution world wide each year.
It isn't as hard as the entrenched interests say, but it isn't as easy as promoters of renewables say either, as renewables don't scale and concentrate well. E.g. it would be hard to run an aluminium smelter from renewables.That doesn't mean running just about everything else via renewables isn't a good idea.
this is the problem I have too, during the day I'm producing more than enough energy to run household essentials plus a couple aircons and tv etc. It is night time when we churn up the kw
There is some emerging technology with storage but its not quite mainstream yet and the costs are still high with anything to do with renewable energy.
Nearly there. I reckon 2019 - 2020.
You will start by installing a $2500 battery box that soaks up you current grid output and re-plays it back each evening, probably 2 or 3 kWh. It will quickly grow, you will add another couple of boxes, then realise except for 20 or 30 days in the middle of winter you are providing all your own power.
The power companies will freak out and ramp up the access charges, pushing you to consider whether a few more batteries might be enough to get you by.@mskeggs:
"except for 20 or 30 days in the middle of winter you are providing all your own power"
That is the problem. Even if that was the only time you are not self sufficient, at that time you and everyone else would be needing to use a large amount of electricity requiring a grid that can cope and generators that can supply. But that grid and generators have a cost that is 24/7/365. Not only when the demand is there. Therefore access charges will increase, because if only usage charges were to increase then the ones that cannot afford to be mostly self sufficient will pay more to maintain a grid and subside the ones that can afford the solar/batteries equipment.there's the tesla wall battery which i think you're referring to. however, the cost is an issue which prevents achieving economies of scale but that's something the coal companies don't want.
how about solar roadways? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTA3rnpgzU
Fix our roads and generate power at the same time..
origin has had this for a while.
they basically average your previous year and thats what you pay.
the following year they average what you used again (so if you used double cos you think its unlimited, the new average for that year will be a lot more.you need to call them and discuss to get exact costs.
can you use one year then switch back to the normal pay for usage method?
I bet it's not that easy.
That's what I think. It is kind of like insurance rather than all you can eat at a buffet restaurant where they have no mean to keep track of how much you ate previously.
It's against their terms to make "abnormal or excessive use of the energy we supply" and they do energy audits to make sure you're not using too much.
When I first saw "All You Can Eat" I expected it to be really unlimited but it's not at all.As for whether it's cheaper than other energy providers, I can't say.
Almost all unlimited providers, be it mobile phone or food, include that term as a standard term. The question is whether they actually enforce it, how and how big before they consider it as abusive
Does any one care for the environment any more?