Less than two years ago a few people in our Valley decided it was time to go solar and now, as you walk down Waterworks Road, you will see that the Valley boasts some 10 solar hot water systems installed, with others waiting to be installed.
The one shown is Ian Fletcher’s — he installed it himself. (Ian and Tess live in a small cottage at the top of the valley and do great work looking after injured wildlife.)
The solar initiative was pulled off by negotiating a bulk buy and things just grew from there. In fact, we couldn’t stop it growing. We’ve ended up supplying solar hot water units to buyers from Port Arthur to Bruny Island and the number installed has grown to around 200.
Not wanting to be in commercial business, we have now externalised the solar acquisition scheme, and have set up a non-profit business — EcoTasmania. The solar arm is licensed to Mark Rickards who provides a 5% return to sustainability projects. (Anybody interested in going solar can contact Mark on 6224 0166 or email Mark).
Meanwhile John Tolhurst at 194 Waterworks Rd has been compiling information on water tanks, some community members being keen to see if we can do a similar deal on water harvesting.
This one is a tad more difficult because there are so many different kinds of tanks and sizes and everybody’s need seems to be different. We’ve made this a target for the coming year, so keep tuned.
2 comments ↓
My interest is in our use of water, eg Michael Mobbs using it at least 3 times before we dispose of it and I am also interested in collecting run off for potential usage in micro hydro schemes especially seeing as we live on the side of a hill and most of the energy is lost in the stormwater being disposed of in the Sandy Bay rivulet. We have a potential access to a few potential resources and I do think there is potential for demonstration exercises at the local level. I can imagine something will come thru’ soon from Federal, State or Hydro. So I want to see if we can position ourselves to be in on the ground floor. I would also like to put to ideas to Helen Burnet, Phil Cocker and Bill Harvey.
Of course I would like to get it into some presentable form so that an appropriate investigation can be undertaken.
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