Every week in Australia, 3,000 new roof top solar systems are switched on. 1.4 million Australian homes are sun-powered by now, and they are increasingly being helped by cheaper solar batteries to store the energy locally, and Internet-based technology to supervise it.
The solar industry is on the verge of disruptive change. To explain what is currently happening within the household solar market, our guest in The Sustainable Hour no 86 on 19 August 2015 on 94.7 The Pulse, is Christian Pritchett from City to Surf Solar Plus, and with us on phone from Sydney we have Claire O’Rourke from Solar Citizens – an organisation of 70,000 roof top solar owners which recently launched a national Stand Up for Solar campaign.
We also bring you Sustainability News Bulletin no 4 from our youth reporter Jack Nyhof, and Juice Rap News about Pope Francis’ encyclical.
Listen to The Sustainable Hour no. 86:
» To open or download this programme in mp3-format, right-click here (Mac: CTRL + click)
» Subscribe to ‘The Sustainable Hour’ podcast — via iTunes or via your own podcast/RSS software
“Solar energy will not pollute our air or water. We will not run short of it. But we must work together to turn our vision and our dream into a solar reality.”
, American president, 20 June 1979
MORE INFORMATION
Quotes, excerpts and links
…in relation to the 86th Sustainable Hour
Juice Rap News: ‘History is happening’
Juice Rap News is the show that says ‘History is happening’ – “an online show that provides a broader, saner context and analysis of current affairs, media and politics — all via the medium of rap, music and comedy — revolutionizing the news with a unique and riotous collision of radical satire, rigorous research, righteous beats, and razor-sharp rhymes.”
Created in a suburban backyard studio in Melbourne by Hugo Farrant and Giordano Nanni, Juice Rap News has racked up over 13 million views on Youtube from a globe-spanning and loyal cult following from around the world.
• Juice Rap News: Dope Francis Raps the 10 Climate Commandments
• Juice Rap News about The Great Barrier Feef
» More videos from Juice Rap News
» Juice Rap News on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/juicerapnews
Live Juice Rap News
Live Rap News has its first live show in Melbourne on Sunday 30 August – a “one-show-only, one-off event”. See more at www.shadowelectric.com.au
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Call for 100% renewables by 2050
Sign Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott: “Respond urgently to climate change by setting a renewable energy target of 100% by 2050”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu started this petition in the end of July. Three weeks later it had been signed by 223,000 supporters. Desmond Tutu wrote in his letter to Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, and Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon:
“Climate change is one of the greatest moral challenges of our time. It threatens the health of our planet and people; especially the poorest and most vulnerable. It threatens our children’s future and everything we hold dear. It is time for all of us to wake up and take action together — in our local communities, nationally and globally, as well as in our daily lives.
As citizens motivated by faith and other moral traditions, we recognize that there is a grave obligation to act on climate change.
We call on you as leaders to respond urgently to the threats of climate change and set a renewable energy target of 100% by 2050. We need bold action like this to keep global temperature rise below the unacceptably dangerous tipping point of two degrees, to phase out carbon pollution to zero, and to invest resources in sustainable development pathways to build a more flourishing, inclusive and balanced world.
We pledge to do our own part by embracing the moral responsibility to care for our world and for each other and by seeking to live better and more sustainable lives in greater joy and harmony.
Let us act now, boldly and together, to build a better life for all!”
» Sign the letter on www.change.org
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lismore Community Solar | Farming the Sun
“We’re creating Australia’s first ever community-council solarfarm!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Petition
———- Message ———-
From: Solar Citizens
Date: 2015-08-24 8:02 GMT+02:00
Subject: Time is ticking to save our Feed-in Tariff
The Victorian solar feed-in tariff is under threat and we have just one week left to save it. The Essential Services Commission will announce their final decision regarding their recommendation to reduce your feed-in tariff to a minimum of 5 cents per KWH next Monday 31st of August.
Nearly 2,000 Victorians have already signed the petition asking Energy Minister D’Ambrosio to step in and stop reductions to our Feed-in Tariff until a fair price for solar fed into the grid has been established. This coming Friday we will hand over the petition – this means we have just four days left to grow our numbers.
Let’s show our representatives that Victoria’s solar owners won’t stand for it. Please sign and share today.
Dan,
Director of Campaigns and Organising
PS: Please read my original email below for more details.
Last week the Essential Services Commission (ESC), the State body that determines minimum feed-in tariffs for Victorian solar owners, recommended a 20 per cent cut to the minimum feed-in tariff price. This means solar owners could get as little as 5 cents per KWH for energy exported to the grid by 2016*.
Solar owners like you have made the sensible decision to produce clean energy from the sun and deserve to be paid a fair price for your power. In fact, expert opinion suggests a fair feed-in tariff might actually be double the 5 cents per KWH the ESC is recommending*. If this proposal is implemented Victorian solar owners will be paid a pittance for the power you produce on your own rooftops, even as retailers continue to sell your solar power on to consumers at a much higher price.
The ESC’s draft recommendation** is due to be decided on in August this year, so we have just one month to stand up and fight for our feed-in tariff.
Luckily, our State Government recognises how important it is to determine a fair price for solar. In fact they have committed to a review determining what a fair price should be later this year, but this could be too little too late if the ESC feed-in tariff cuts get the green light next month as planned. It is absolutely ridiculous to introduce cuts to our feed-in tariff before the we know what a fair feed-in tariff should be. That’s why we’re calling on Energy Minister D’Ambrosio to delay these changes until the results of this review are available. Click here to sign the petition now.
Almost a quarter of a million Victorian households live under a solar roof – that’s over 10% of the State – and hundreds of thousands more want to make the switch. What’s more, the personal investment solar owners make benefits the whole State, helping to bring down wholesale prices and reduce pressure on the grid all while creating clean energy from the sun*.
If our Government is serious about controlling power prices and transitioning to the energy mix of the future they should be creating sensible energy policy that helps more people go solar. If the ESC’s proposal is allowed to proceed, our Government will be effectively punishing solar owners for doing the right thing and making it harder for more Victorians to go solar.
That’s why it’s so important the Government hears from us now, loud and clear, before this outrageous proposal goes through.
By standing together, Solar Citizens have defeated similar threats to feed-in tariffs in West Australia, and we can do it in Victoria too. Sign the petition today calling on Energy Minister D’Ambrosio to delay the ESC’s feed-in tariff cut until after a fair price is determined.
For a fairer future,
Dan
Director of Campaigns and Organising
* www.theage.com.au
** www.esc.vic.gov.au (PDF)
Solar Citizens
www.solarcitizens.org.au
-=-=-
Solar Citizens is an independent community-based organisation bringing together millions of solar owners and supporters to protect and grow solar in Australia. You can keep up with Solar Citizens on Twitter or like us on Facebook.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Podcasts and posts about climate change
Streaming live
» The Sustainable Hour is streamed live on the Internet every Wednesday from 11am to 12pm (Melbourne time):
www.947thepulse.com – click on ‘Listen Live’
Podcast archive
Hours and hours of sustainable podcasts
Listen to all of The Sustainable Hour radio shows in full length and in selected excerpts:
» Archive on climatesafety.info – with photo and direct link to podcast audio file
» Archive on climatesafety.info – with longer descriptions
» Archive on cpod.org – with even longer descriptions
» Archive on itunes.apple.com – mobile phone friendly
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Promote The Sustainable Hour
Print this A4-poster and put it on a wall or a board at your work place, a local café, shop or where ever you think there’d be people who’d find this information interesting. 
Go to our Facebook-page and give us a click on the LIKE-button. Let the The Sustainable Hour’s listeners know about your green product. To become a business supporter or sponsor, contact: Liz Carr, Marketing & Business Development, 94.7 The Pulse
94.7 The Pulse
» 947thepulse.com – Geelong’s Premier Community Radio Station
The Sustainable Hour on social media
» Facebook: Overview of all podcast front covers
» Catch up on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SustainableHour » Twitter tag: @SustainableHour
Share on Twitter
» Share this podcast on www.twitter.com
Sun-powered: It is happening on the roof tops http://t.co/hrlAZSBNeE pic.twitter.com/9V4wnEbWcD
— The Sustainable Hour (@SustainableHour) August 24, 2015
Share on Facebook
» If you’d like to share this page on Facebook, then copy this link:
(First paste the long link in a field on Facebook, wait until the photo has loaded, delete the link again, and then press ‘Post’)
Share on Pinterest
» Share this page on 
» More Sustainable Hour posts on Pinterest
“Participation – that’s what’s gonna save the human race.”
Pete Seeger, American singer