chedet.com has apparently surpassed the 1 million hit mark, which is an interesting milestone of achievement for our ex-PM. This proofs the theory that he is still a relevant voice in our irreverent times.
While I do not agree with all his policies, it is the nature of communications today that even such views find their audiences one way or another... 1 million hits, I have a feeling this is just the tip of the ice berg...
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, April 03, 2008
The Truth and Nothing But
The political tsunami hit with hardly a warning. The repercussions reverberated across 5 states. The people have spoken... so how much more obvious can we say... it's all about the arrogance stupid!
Reading senior members of the government spewing reasons why BN performed the way they did is like watching an object lesson in denial. It's the bloggers they say, and promptly some churn make shift blogsites to ride the popular wave. It's the SMSes that made the difference and suddenly aspirants find their names associated with naughty SMS rumor-mongers...
Just when will the powers that be realise that the important element was the message, not the messenger or even mode of delivery. The message found a way to get out. And the message mirrored what a lot of us felt. It was the message that we had enough.
Now Singapore shudders at the significance of this. In some ways they have less to worry about... at least KJ is only Malaysian.
Reading senior members of the government spewing reasons why BN performed the way they did is like watching an object lesson in denial. It's the bloggers they say, and promptly some churn make shift blogsites to ride the popular wave. It's the SMSes that made the difference and suddenly aspirants find their names associated with naughty SMS rumor-mongers...
Just when will the powers that be realise that the important element was the message, not the messenger or even mode of delivery. The message found a way to get out. And the message mirrored what a lot of us felt. It was the message that we had enough.
Now Singapore shudders at the significance of this. In some ways they have less to worry about... at least KJ is only Malaysian.
Friday, December 21, 2007
WITNESS - Money falls from the sky in Germany
By Erik Kirschbaum
BERLIN (Reuters) - My father warned me "money doesn't grow on trees" and he was right, of course.
But I have discovered that money can fall out of the sky -- if you have the equipment to catch it.
In an age of global warming, rising fossil fuel prices and dwindling natural resources, I've learned that in Germany and a growing number of countries, solar power can give you more than just a feeling of "doing something" for the environment.
It can also give you a steady stream of income.
My roof has been turned into a cash machine, thanks to a state-mandated "feed-in tariff" that requires utilities to pay anyone who installs a photovoltaic system more than double the market rates for the electricity produced for the grid.
The 34 sleek black panels, measuring about 1 metre by 1.5 metres each, lie inconspicuously on the slopes of the roof as they quietly harvest enough power for two households -- and generate annual revenues of some 3,600 euros ($5,300).
In other words: Every day about 10 euros ($15) worth of energy from the sun (or even daylight) lands on the roof and is converted into electricity through the wonders of photovoltaic.
The local utility is required, by law, to buy it off me at a fixed rate of 49 cents per kilowatt -- guaranteed for 20 years.
The entire supply of rooftop power spins through the metre into the grid at the elevated rate and the power used returns through another meter in my basement at the market rate of 20 cents per kilowatt.
A London friend who installed a PV system on his roof earns the market rate of 9 pence (13 cents) per kilowatt that he feeds into his grid and has to pay 12 pence (17 cents) for what he takes in from the grid.
It annoys him that Britain is one of the few countries without a higher feed-in tariff to promote private investment in the green technology. He reckons in the long run his outlay was still worthwhile because it added value to his house and freed him from the whims of power company price increases.
SILVER BULLET FOR CLIMATE CHANGE?
Yet no one should feel any pity for the utilities paying out the higher feed-in tariffs for they simply pass along the costs (nearly 1 billion euros a year in Germany) to their customers.
Thus, those with no solar panels are subsidising those who have them. I'm not sure that's fair. But it's the law.
About 47 countries -- including Spain, Greece, Portugal, France and Italy -- have adopted laws modeled on Germany's 2000 "Erneuerbares Energie Gesetz" (Renewable Energy Act).
It may not be the silver bullet the world is looking for to solve climate change but the abundance of solar energy means photovoltaic produces fast results in reducing CO2 emissions.
Germany now has more than 300,000 PV systems and that is projected to triple by 2013. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says he will put a PV system on his roof at home.
Even though Germany is often covered by clouds, the EEG has helped the northern European country become the world's leader in PV and eliminate 10 million tonnes of CO2 each year. Some 55 percent of the world's total PV output comes from Germany.
Some farmers in Germany derive more income selling the electricity collected from solar panels on their barn roofs than they do from their harvests or livestock.
Germany gets 3 percent of its electricity from photovoltaic.
The total worldwide peak power of installed PV was about 6,000 gigawatts (more than 3,000 from Germany) at the end of 2006 and was forecast to rise to 9,000 gigawatts this year. In Germany, some predict 100,000 gigawatts of PV within 10 years.
OVERCOMING INERTIA
The idea of installing solar panels had been on my mind for years but there were always reasons not to do it -- it seemed costly, my roof was not pointed south, and there was always a worry solar panel prices might later plunge.
But when I took a close look, I saw I could turn a profit.
So instead of a just plundering my savings for a 3 kw system to produce enough for a family, I got a bank loan to double the size of the investment to about 30,000 euros for 7 kw.
Ever since I've been happily answering a deluge of questions from neighbours, strangers and colleagues about the nuts and bolts of whether it really works. It does. It's magic.
-- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on:
http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/
BERLIN (Reuters) - My father warned me "money doesn't grow on trees" and he was right, of course.
But I have discovered that money can fall out of the sky -- if you have the equipment to catch it.
In an age of global warming, rising fossil fuel prices and dwindling natural resources, I've learned that in Germany and a growing number of countries, solar power can give you more than just a feeling of "doing something" for the environment.
It can also give you a steady stream of income.
My roof has been turned into a cash machine, thanks to a state-mandated "feed-in tariff" that requires utilities to pay anyone who installs a photovoltaic system more than double the market rates for the electricity produced for the grid.
The 34 sleek black panels, measuring about 1 metre by 1.5 metres each, lie inconspicuously on the slopes of the roof as they quietly harvest enough power for two households -- and generate annual revenues of some 3,600 euros ($5,300).
In other words: Every day about 10 euros ($15) worth of energy from the sun (or even daylight) lands on the roof and is converted into electricity through the wonders of photovoltaic.
The local utility is required, by law, to buy it off me at a fixed rate of 49 cents per kilowatt -- guaranteed for 20 years.
The entire supply of rooftop power spins through the metre into the grid at the elevated rate and the power used returns through another meter in my basement at the market rate of 20 cents per kilowatt.
A London friend who installed a PV system on his roof earns the market rate of 9 pence (13 cents) per kilowatt that he feeds into his grid and has to pay 12 pence (17 cents) for what he takes in from the grid.
It annoys him that Britain is one of the few countries without a higher feed-in tariff to promote private investment in the green technology. He reckons in the long run his outlay was still worthwhile because it added value to his house and freed him from the whims of power company price increases.
SILVER BULLET FOR CLIMATE CHANGE?
Yet no one should feel any pity for the utilities paying out the higher feed-in tariffs for they simply pass along the costs (nearly 1 billion euros a year in Germany) to their customers.
Thus, those with no solar panels are subsidising those who have them. I'm not sure that's fair. But it's the law.
About 47 countries -- including Spain, Greece, Portugal, France and Italy -- have adopted laws modeled on Germany's 2000 "Erneuerbares Energie Gesetz" (Renewable Energy Act).
It may not be the silver bullet the world is looking for to solve climate change but the abundance of solar energy means photovoltaic produces fast results in reducing CO2 emissions.
Germany now has more than 300,000 PV systems and that is projected to triple by 2013. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says he will put a PV system on his roof at home.
Even though Germany is often covered by clouds, the EEG has helped the northern European country become the world's leader in PV and eliminate 10 million tonnes of CO2 each year. Some 55 percent of the world's total PV output comes from Germany.
Some farmers in Germany derive more income selling the electricity collected from solar panels on their barn roofs than they do from their harvests or livestock.
Germany gets 3 percent of its electricity from photovoltaic.
The total worldwide peak power of installed PV was about 6,000 gigawatts (more than 3,000 from Germany) at the end of 2006 and was forecast to rise to 9,000 gigawatts this year. In Germany, some predict 100,000 gigawatts of PV within 10 years.
OVERCOMING INERTIA
The idea of installing solar panels had been on my mind for years but there were always reasons not to do it -- it seemed costly, my roof was not pointed south, and there was always a worry solar panel prices might later plunge.
But when I took a close look, I saw I could turn a profit.
So instead of a just plundering my savings for a 3 kw system to produce enough for a family, I got a bank loan to double the size of the investment to about 30,000 euros for 7 kw.
Ever since I've been happily answering a deluge of questions from neighbours, strangers and colleagues about the nuts and bolts of whether it really works. It does. It's magic.
-- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on:
http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/
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