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If you have solar, smart meters are essential as standard meters are unable to deal with feed in tariffs. I am a VPP (virtual power plant) & buy sell electricity on the wholesale market. My monthly average buy price at the moment is 18.3 cents/kWh & my average FIT is 20.3c/kWh. I have a 18.64kWh battery & sell power to the grid usually from 5pm to 7pm when the price is high. This is all managed by my system provider as the spot price is checked every 5 minutes and my system is told what to do. It even curtails my solar production when the battery is full and the spot FIT goes negative so I do not pay for exporting to the grid.

That is her problem. She is a Trump Yes woman, though everyone who works for him has to be that or they are fired. Getting out before that happens is pretty rare. Anyone with a conscience wouldn't work for the orange man but her salary would have been better than she would ever get anywhere else I imagine, plus of course being in the limelight is something very attractive to some people.

She was/is exceptionally good at her job of defending the indefensible and attacking the press. You have to admire her talent and confidence. She's only 28.

Takes a grubby type to destroy the only worldly possessions of people with nothing.

Trump goes to his doctor and takes off his hat to reveal a huge toad on the top of his head. “When did you notice that?” asked the doctor. And the toad answers: “It began as a boil on my ass.”

Do you mean a out standing Comedian? I know, No prize for second place....... I'll get my hat.

Is he a Stand up Comedian? Nev

Creating a questionnaire in order to get the correct sort of information it aims to get is a very difficult thing. Questions have to be carefully worded so that they cannot be misinterpreted. That is one of the problems of the written word. How many time here amongst ourselves has someone posted what appears to be a very clear comment or statment and it has been taken the wrong way by someone? That is the cause of most of the arguments here, or the missing of jokes.

A guy hears a noise outside at his shed. He looks out the window and sees a burglar trying to break into the shed. He quickly calls 000 and explains the situation. The operator says "Sorry sir, we have no resources to send." The guy looks out again, and says, "You have to come. He's stealing my mower." The operator again says," I told you sir, we have no resources to send." Then the guy says, "Oh, don't worry about it, I just shot the twat. He's dead on the lawn.' Within five minutes, there were two helicopters, six police cars and fourteen police swarming around his house. There was no body on the lawn. The police said, "Sir, you lied to us. You didn't shoot anyone." The guy said, "You started it by saying you had no resources."

It seems to be the elephant in the room when it comes to politics. It's only my opinion, but in our three tiered system of government I consider local government the weak link in the chain. There are good local governments (unfortunately mine has never been in that category), but there are are lot of bad ones. They can be either corrupt, wasteful, inefficient, incompetent, arrogant, bullying or a combination of any or all of those things. My state over time has handed local government too much autonomy in my opinion, and I'd like to see more oversight by the state local government department. I don't have statistics on hand, but I've read in the past that other states have retained more control over local government than ours has. There was always a problem with some councils, but the amalgation several years ago led to super councils and made the whole issue a lot worse. Inconsistencies between councils is another issue. As an example, on the news today the Moreton Bay council announced they are dedicating a local park to rough sleepers and homeless people and letting them use the council toilet and shower facilities there. Their idea is to have the homeless in a more manageable situation regarding facilities and support services. On the other hand, the Gold Coast council is issuing heavy fines to rough sleepers, and confiscating and destroying their gear.

I am so glad we have compulsory voting here. One of the best features of our electoral system.

The Farage party are claiming it as a victory. But, the parliamentary investigation into his £5m undeclared gift has resumed and if found he violated the rules of parliament, a recall petition is put to the electorate and if a certain percentage agree, it will trigger yet another by-election. The reality is that Clacton is one of, if not the most deprived electorate in the UK and immigration, of which Farage is a one trick pony politically, is being blamed by Clactonians for all their problems will mean that the recall petition is unlikely to get the numbers. Reforms winning electorates are all in deprived areas, and is more a protest about them being relied upon for votes be Labour and the Tories more than anything else.. and I would say the apathy of the electorate is partially the result of decades, if not over a century now of being promised the earth and still being sucked dry compared to those who live in marginal electorates. Pork barelling is alive where it will buy a seat. But, Reform's claims to a mandate by the people of Clacton are as hollow as the promises made to the people of Clacton. with a 44% voter turnout against an average turnout of around 65%, it represents 27& of the voting public of Clacton who have voted for him. Of course, we can't predict which way the other 66% pg voters in Clacton would have voted if casting a ballot was mandatory - I would imagine the spoiled ballot count would be high despite the onerous requirement of putting a tick against one person only; but I have a sneaking suspicion Farage would have found the numbers far tighter than the headline suggests.

Possibly unpopular with clothed people too 😊

David Clayton-Thomas, the unmistakable voice behind some of the biggest hits from Blood, Sweat & Tears, has died at age 84, marking the end of an era for one of classic rock’s most distinctive frontmen. According to his publicist, the singer died peacefully in a Toronto hospital. No cause of death has been publicly disclosed.

Former Young Talent Time host Johnny Young has died aged 79, his family announced on Friday morning, following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.

Cannot work . There is no perpetual motion machine possible let alone one with spare power. Nev

A lot of truth in that. Smaller rural councils generally are a lot more in touch with the community and there's only a few bad eggs among those councils. A lot of the bigger councils have totally lost the concept of being there to serve the community and a lot think they are our masters rather than our servants. I've never been one for party politics in councils like they have in the city councils, but taking into account the inept rabble we have posing as our local council, it makes me wonder whether party alligned councilors would make it easier to turf the lot out at an election. As it stands, some councillors lose their jobs at election time and some major offenders remain, so things don't get any better. If it was party based, would it make them perform any better. Maybe it would if they thought the whole bunch was at risk or at least a majority of them. Another factor is that it's not only the elected councillors that are the problem. The council bureaucrats have a lot to answer for as well. My advice to anyone who has a good, well performing and honest council is to appreciate what you have because a lot of people don't have that.

Today I rang Red Energy and arranged swapping to them after my next Origin bill due in a couple of weeks. It was very refreshing to talk to Australian based customer support. Everything worked well and went great just like it used to with Origin before they outsourced their customer support overseas. Sub standard customer support is the number one reason I'm leaving Origin; the data breach incident is just another contributing factor. At the end of this month it's good riddance Origin. Price wise, they're fairly close. Based on my useage, Red Energy is about $100 per year cheaper than Origin. When I get settled in to Red Energy, the next step is to get a smart meter installed and that will remove the problem of the contract meter readers who don't like going off the bitumen on to rural properties. I could deal with estimated bills if the meter readers were honest about their reasons given for not accessing the property but they're not. It's another case of good service going to the pack when things get contracted out. When Energex (the primary supplier/wholesaler) employed their own people to read the meters they quite happily accessed the property for 30+ years without a problem. I think the roll out date here for smart meters ends in 2030, so sometime in the next couple of years I would be compelled to swap to a smart meter anyway.

What's the diffeence between in-laws and outlaws? Outlaws are wanted.

I worked on that project in the 1990s. It takes a while to get mines going.

You might have heard about USA's critical shortage of Air Traffic Controllers. Fret not, the problem is solved. (Air traffic controllers who are easily bored and seek instant gratification, and have a game over - restart button, yeah that'll work.)

Yes they are. That would provide perhaps 10% of what they need, same as Australia.

You would have thought these countries would be perfect fits for solar + batteries?

"roads were made for horse and cart, but now you want to ditch them for these newfangled automobiles... It'll never work..."

Logic dictates that we should move with the times. A long time ago, burning coal was a great step forward. Times change and new less toxic methods of making energy are developed. No need to stay locked into the old era of the industrial revolution, powered by burning fossil fuels. Every system has its drawbacks, and its solutions. Let go of the old. Move on.

IF Nuclear is so good More of it would be being ordered. It NEEDS lots of Water and with the Climate changing that water cannot be guaranteed. Things that Need cooling are adding heat to the equation. The heat energy that solar uses comes here anyhow reliably,safely and free.. OF all Places on earth, Australia Has to be one of the best Places for it. Nev

We used to have empires, run by emporers. Then we had kingdoms, run by kings. Now we just have countries, .........

He can have the Largest most Gaudy Cript and Buildings and airports etc named after him. He's doing that Now. He wants to be remembered " More than any person in History". See HE has this Superiority Complex and Giant EGO problem. He WILL be remembered but not the way HE wishes. Nev

I don't recall anyone on these forums suggesting the extraction of energy from renewables is free.. maybe out in the big wide world they have.. .Clearly that is a fallacy. We have already dealt with the costs per mw/h of renewable sources v fossil fuels for electricity generation. And renewables generally win - although there are cases where it doesn't. But it is not just the cost of extraction - there is the cost of distribution and then there is the efficiency cost. And of course, the cleaning up costs and decommissioning costs.. Still for electricity generation, the costs generally favour renewables.. There is a cost that fossil fuels don't pick up (and to be honest, neither does the renewables pick up) and that is the inherent damage to the environment. There is no cost applied and effort performed to remove things like the additional CO2, which seems to be a major contributor to what is looking more like a looming climate emergency.. you know the thing the pesky scientists predicted using real facts and models.. and it seems to be coming a darn sight quicker than they had hoped. The cost of toxins such as nitrogen oxides and other respiratory and cancer linked toxins is early termination of people and in countries such as Australia, the taxpayer picks up the tab through the health service. Yes, this is also the case for the manufacture and operation of plant/technology for renewable energy extraction, but I would guess (but am happy to be corrected) it is a lot lower than that for fossil fuels - after all, accessing the renewable sources is a lot easier than accessing fossil fuels - I don't have to dig under the sea for it.. do I... And even sea born renewable energy - waves - are pretty accessible. But renewables don't pay for their emissions either (well, there is a carbon trading market, still, somewhere). But again, and I haven't done the research and am happy to be corrected - this cost from renewables technology is probably a lot less because they do a lot less of it. Yes, Li-Ion batteries - especially for cars - have a heavy CO2 footprint at manufacture - much more than an ICE engine. In early technology, the average technology meant it was about 5 years before the electric car broke even with the average emissions of ICE cars, after which the drop in CO2 emissions for the lifetime of a BEV over an ICE car increased dramatically. Here are the current numbers: The time even on a wholly coal grid is still 4 - 5 years, but batteries are lasting at least 8 (on average) and going a lot more.. So, even with the dirtiest grid, they are still doing well. But, we move to grids such as in Europe, Australia, Canada, and China, and the payback is down to 2 years, well within most ownership cycles of cars and well within the life of the vehicle. In Australia, the depreciation cycle is 5 years, so you are effectively getting, say 3 years almost emissions free driving in comparison. Obviously, the coal and gas and maintenance are emitting, as are replacement of service items - which are much less in a BEV than and ICE engined car.

Wife : "My husband beats me up every morning." Husband: "Yes. I get up at 6:30, she gets up at 7 o'clock"

Cockatoos chew wooden houses everywhere and Kangaroos are all over the Place in the bush. . This is Awestralia. Nev

My response was on two items, I should have been more specific. One was energy density, which Siso has addressed. The other is the UK powering itself by wind. That is like the old saying that ten litres of a toxin was enough to kill everyone in the world. Maybe, but it ain’t going to happen.

Sorry - couldn't resist A leader resigns and decides to not contest the next election. Hardly news, is it?

OME was being diplomatic.

I call BS on that. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Not around here. We don't even have that many smart people, let alone meters.

Back when folks were worried about pollution and water shortages, US coal and nuclear power companies toyed with air cooling instead of water cooling. The use of air reduced the power station outputs. Especially during heat waves. The idea was largely ditched due to that loss of efficiency. Same here in Australia. Although, more recently, Kogan Creek thermal power station uses air cooling. Water is not plentiful out west.

I would think that the middle east power station planners might be a little concerned about their unstable warring situation. It's bad enough to hear about bombing of civilian infrastructure, but there is a big difference between a big crater, and a big crater that used to be a nuclear power station.

Now that's commitment. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-11/eltham-pilot-turned-baker-quit-flying-for-climate-change-vic/106945332

The middle east runs on oil they pump from the ground. However, they are looking to nuclear for the future. Iran has the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant: this plant has one operational reactor and provides around 2% of the country's electricity. It was completed in 2011 and is part of Iran's extensive nuclear program (!) Barakah Nuclear Power Plant: Situated in the UAE, this plant consists of four reactors and is expected to add two more. It generates about 25% of the UAE's domestic energy needs. Egypt's El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant: This facility is nearing completion and will have a total installed capacity of 4,800 megawatts. It is part of Egypt's comprehensive energy strategy and aims to provide clean electricity for sale abroad.

The system knows that and is built to cope. It's NOT built to cope with a Massive failure like this situation Causes. There's none so blind as those who will NOT see.. This IS a Catastrophe that will cost a fortune in Lost Productivity.. There's also a safety risk. Nev

Aahhhh, that were surely the toffs version!

I helped a friend pull the engine out of his car yesterday. The problem for both of us was getting up again after we got down underneath to undo bolts.

What good does it do a man to be the richest person to be buried in the cemetery?

Don't stomp on the Cornflakes or you may be arrested as a Serial Killer. Nev

It's mountain out of molehill stuff.. Australia has, for as long as I can remember had this requirement. For the automatic UK citizenship issue, there is virtually no chance of coming a cropper because of it. They have no idea if your grandparents are British, and if you have no idea you become a citizen as a result, and don't declare it on your ETA application, you will enter as an Aussie citizen.

Here is a bit of red tape that is hard to understand the reasoning for. This came to my attention in a conversation with my son when we were visiting him in NZ. There are some either new rules or old rules now being enforced regarding passports that seem absolutely crazy to me. So my wife and I are Australian citizens, but by virtue of the fact we were both born in the UK we retain British citizenship. This now means that if we were to travel to the UK the UK government now requires that we have British passports. UK passport changes leave Australians with dual citizenship scrambling before border rules kick in That is inconvenient enough, but it gets worse for my son. My son was born in Australia, but by virtue of the fact that both his parents are British citizens, he also is considered to be a British citizen. My son moved permanently to NZ and is a citizen of NZ. The rules that apply to travelling into the UK also apply to travelling into Australia. This means that if my son were to travel to the UK via a stopover in Australia, he would need an Australian passport (because he retains Aus citizenship), a British passport because he retains British citizenship, and to get back home to NZ he needs an NZ passport. Here is an AI summary of the situation: "Because you and his other parent were Australian citizens at the time of his birth, your son is automatically an Australian citizen by birth. Since he also holds British citizenship (from you) and New Zealand citizenship (by naturalisation), he is a triple citizen. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] This status changes the passport requirements for his travels: Document Requirements by Destination Traveling to Australia: He must enter on an Australian passport. The Australian Government requires all citizens to enter and leave the country using an Australian passport. He cannot use his New Zealand passport to get a Special Category Visa anymore, as visas cannot be granted to people who already hold Australian citizenship. [] Traveling to Britain: He must enter on a British passport. As a British citizen, he cannot use an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) or a foreign passport alone to clear UK border control. [1, 2, 3, 4] Traveling back to New Zealand: He must use his New Zealand passport to seamlessly re-enter his home country."

He means a BUBALUS (Latin for gazelle)