I can't find a better one....

I was looking for a clip of waster moulding in plaster - I found this... but is there something better?

The bottom fell out?

So we live in a contracting economy? Not the first bubble to burst but this could be one of those crashes that they warn us about in the Limits to Growth... followed by oscillations until we reach some sort of stability. If it were not so obvious that humans only respond to crises then we could plan for an orderly contraction to a reasonable level of consumption and production so that we had a pleasant life without over stretching the environment.

You could start by saying that for mortgages the ratio of equity to the total price will remain fixed - except for repayments - so that as the value of the house drops the size of the mortgage drops - the bank absorbing the pain just as the home owner does.... not so silly really - just a spreading of the risk and it would mean that people on a mortgage won't be so pressed to use their stimulus package money for debt reduction. They'll know that their house will always be worth more than they owe on it.

And of course when (if) the economy picks up again the ratio will be preserved up to the point it was at in 2007. So for someone who just sits tight and spends their money they will be in the same position (and so will the bank) at the end as at the start. So you can spend the stimulus package money on a solar hot water service, or buying green power, or a bike....

If you know that things are going to contract why not do it sensibly and work out what we want to achieve - it is like moving to a smaller house - it is a blessed relief to throw out/sell/recycle/give away all those things that you don't really want and that are not contributing to your happiness. Much of our wealth is a burden - why are we so obliged to run the rat race? There has to be a better way.

The Neighbour's Water Tank

September was dry - October is dry - the neighbours put in a water tank to save their garden. Well that should multiply their water supply times 4 - the garden is a small part of the site when you are in units. And they had a problem with access - the tank is too heavy to lift over the garage - so the best thing was to bring it in my back gate - before the studio is built - in the window of opportunity as it were. It all worked like a charm - in fact you couldn't tell that anyone had been through the place... and there's the water tank sitting under the eaves waiting for the heavens to open.
The sweet thing was they brought me some flowers to say thank you.... bless them - ephemeral beauty of the soul. I hope their garden prospers.

The New Home

The new home is wonderful - Mary, the previous owner, is a great gardener and this spring every day brings new flowers. What with the water shortage there is a heavy investment in plastic pipes to take the water from the washing machine to the garden.
The next step is building a studio to work in. Not so easy if you need a planning permit.. but such is life - I have a home and the ideas keep flowing. It will all go on.

Not So Smart Meters?

I'm not so sure about the “smart” meters being installed to tell consumers what their power is costing at any given time of the day. This sounds like a perpetuation of night rates electricity; the aim of which was to increase power consumption at night. A time at which people wouldn't otherwise use it but so that the coal fired power stations had a more even load. This was needed because coal fired power stations aren't very responsive to fluctuations in demand - they need hours if not days of notice in order to vary their output.

If our aim is to increase the use of sustainable sources of electricity then we want to encourage hydro, wind, biomass and solar. Hydro electricity can be very responsive to fluctuations in demand and solar is mainly generated during the day - solar thermal of course being the most effective on hot days.

So instead of asking consumers to time their demands why not charge the consumers a flat rate for electricity - $ per kilowatt the same no matter what time of day - so people will use the power when it's convenient and they won't use any more than they have to because it all costs money.

But we should pay producers of electricity a variable rate depending on the level of demand they are serving - so they would get paid very little to produce electricity in the middle of the night when activity is minimal. And they would get paid heaps on a hot day when the air conditioners are running flat out.

A household with photovoltaic cells on the roof is both a consumer and a producer of electricity. This system automatically sets the feed in tariff at a better level than the rate customers pay when they are home and the wheels of industry have slowed for the night. It would be up to the government to set the differential rates of payment to encourage more flexible electricity supply.

Similarly any new building could have a cap set for its demand on peak power supplies – encouraging new buildings to approach energy neutrality and sustainability. So “smart” meters are smart if they operate “backwards” with a variable rate and “forwards” at a fixed rate.... are they that smart?