Solar Hits Grid Parity

 Whilst the price of dirty coal produced electricity has continued to rise over the last decade, the price of solar has fallen... and fallen... and fallen. So much so that today in NSW, solar has become as cheap to generate coal.

About 5 years ago my family placed a 1.5kw solar array on their roof, at the time this cost AU$16 000 (not including rebates) The same arrays just five years later are advertised for just $3000. This is excellent news for the solar industry, no longer can the proponents of dirty coal claim that renewable energy uneconomical, its just as cheap, and in the near future will be even cheaper.

When you think about it, its a no brainer. Coal power plants are expensive to build, to run, to dig the coal from the ground and transport it to the power plant. Solar on the other hand is a one off investment, the panels are manufactured and installed, then run on a free and abundant power source with next to zero maintenance costs for decades to come. Its a simple, one off capital investment that pays dividends for the rest of its life. If we actually factored in the real cost of coal to society, the loss of farmland to mining, the health impacts of toxins released into the air,  the future impacts of climate change in destroying infrastructure, homes, agriculture, biodiversity and lives for generations to come, the cost of coal is astronomical. Now is the time to invest in clean energy, coal can no longer hide behind economic arguments not to.

A Spek of Dust

This image shows earth from 10 million km away, a distance that is almost inconcevable yet is just a stones throw away in galactic terms. A speck of dust, suspended in the sea of space. Our world is so small, so seemingly insignificant when compared to the vastness of the universe, against the trillions of other stars, planets, galaxies and nebulae. On that speck, countless species have evolved and become extinct, civilisations have risen and fallen, wars have raged and great feats have been achieved. In the blackness of space it is the smallest jewel, but the only one we have. Look at the blackness, if we spoil our home there is no where to go, only the blackness of space, no second home, no place to take refuge when man in his stupidity destroys the thing that gives him life. It may seem an insignificant speck, but it is not, for on it there are 7 billion of us and a trillion other species that make this speck so very special.