It's all about the sun...well here at least

The first week I arrived at the Permaforest Trust for my two month stint here it was raining, which to me is a great way to really experience farming in harder conditions than just sun (although sun can be a bit harsh at times too).

But what became really clear to me is that because we are running on solar energy exclusively (except the fridge which is on gas in the winter and then switched to solar in the summer months) to run pretty much everything. This means that when you want to recharge your computer or check the internet you have to ensure that the amount of energy we are getting into our solar powers is still sustained at a high level (rather than drawing them to the bottom).

Wow cool...but how does that concern me?

Well...the power was enough to actually be able to check the internet (read: run the server to connect to the internet) but not actually charge my laptop. Actually, during a trip to town in the middle of the week I ended up going to a cafe and charging my laptop from there just so that I could get a few things done for Cycle for Sustainability that I had previously promised to do.

It's a pretty interesting experience because it makes you really aware of how energy it takes to a) create that power b) charge something c) use something that has a battery d) easily waste that power.

Recipe (If you're bored or want to test this out)

Step 1: Find something that runs off a battery (preferably a laptop or electronic device)

Step 2: Use that device running it completely on it's battery and note how much time it lasted

Step 3: Recharge that device and note the amount of time it took to recharge that device

Step 4: Go to Energy Australia and calculate your usage (http://www.energy.com.au/energy/ea.nsf/Content/Ways+Small+Appliance+Calculator)

Special Considerations

Consideration 1: Remember that if you live your laptop plugged into the wall and the power point on that means that you are still drawing a bit of energy in this case. This is true in most homes with anything that is plugged in.

Consideration 2: Most of the energy we create here in Australia is done through Coal which actually has huge environmental impacts.

When you calculate this you probably will find that it only creates about 17 kg of C02 for running the appliance for 3.5 hours (well that's what my laptop was at least). But I think the point I'm trying ot drive home is that the amount of time required to create energy in the first place is a great deal. We don't see that part because it's done somewhere far far away from our little homes...but there is a cost associated with the coal being burned.

Cool ideas can be found here at New Dream (http://www.newdream.org/) and Tip the Planet (http://www.tiptheplanet.com/index.php?title=Main_Page)!

Peace & bike grease,

Shane