Kim (QuilterM) something of interest

**forestdale** · 11-02-2005, 02:20 AM

There was a new solar panel device showcased on TV here a few nights ago. It's light weight and uses new space technology. The good thing is that it's going to be considerably cheaper than the solar panels you can buy now. The government rebate on them here makes them a very attractive option for us. We are looking to install a couple of these next year. Hopefully, it will supply all our electricity.

Kim, you said that your DH used to install solarharts when he was in Hawaii. Can you show him this system and ask him what he thinks of it. It'd be very interested in his opinion.

This is from an email from the company:
The SunBall will be available Feb 2006 and will cost $1,613 inc GST or $8,900 for 4 SunBalls installed. Such a system should attract about $5,400 in installation rebates leaving an after rebate cost of about $3,500."

http://www.greenandgoldenergy.com.au/

**QuilterMom** · 11-02-2005, 07:30 AM

He's already headed out for work bright and early this morning, but I'd be happy to show him tonight.

**forestdale** · 11-02-2005, 03:00 PM

Thanks Kim. I know you are both busy. When he gets some spare time is fine.

**QuilterMom** · 11-02-2005, 10:30 PM

Ok, he says first off he doesn't know that much about solar for electricty (his specialty is water heaters and for swimming pools). He looked at some things on the link and says it looks very interesting. He heard of something similar (the tracking aspect) when we lived on Maui. There is nothing available here that he knows of that is like that and he would really like to know how well it works. He says he would think by it tracking the sun itself, it would be a very good system because it would make more power available to you.

He didn't have time to look at the whole site, but wants to explore it some more.

**forestdale** · 11-02-2005, 10:47 PM

Thanks Kim and please thank DH for me too. As I said, it's not available till next February so there's plenty of time to do some research. We thought that tracking feature was good too. It makes sense. My fear is that because my DH and I both really want this to be good, that we won't see any bad points. KWIM?

Anyhow, if he can get back to me when he has more time, that would be great. I really appreciate the time he's putting into it and I respect his opinion.

**QuilterMom** · 11-03-2005, 07:33 AM

I looked at it a bit more than he did (he was messing with kitchen cabinets LOL) and I noticed they plan to export it starting next summer. One thing I thought of (and maybe this is on the site and we didn't see it yet) is your cyclones. How are these installed to withstand one hitting? That would be a huge problem for us here whether it was installed on the roof or the ground.

**forestdale** · 11-03-2005, 02:47 PM

Although we get cyclones, we are at the bottom of the cyclone area so they are few and far between. My main worry is fally branches from trees near the house. We had a quote for one to be removed last week and they wanted $1500!!

I wonder if we could fit a steel cage around it when it was being installed. I'd have to check our insurance policy but I think things on the roof - we currently have TV aereals, the solarhart and a satellite dish - are covered.

**forestdale** · 11-17-2005, 01:32 AM

Kim, the inventor of the sunball has visited my permaculture online group. I wanted to know how many units I'd need for a 2 person family when we already had solar hot water. Here is the post from him:
How many units would I need and what do you think the cost will be? I'm on the Sunshine Coast, what about installation?

** Using the existing rebate scheme 3 - 4 SunBalls gives the lowest $/kWh. Going above 4 units lifts the $/kWh cost as there is only rebates on the first 1kW of SunBalls. On my site there is a easy to use calculator which makes the choice of how many SunBall to use easy to see. It also calculates the available rebates.

I've talked to some American friends about your sunball and sent them some links to info. They're very keen as well. It's due for OS release next September?

** Yes, assuming our US UL qualifications go well.

Thanks for answering our questions.

Hi Rhonda,

Thanks for the interest.

All the best,
Greg Watson
Green and Gold Energy
Adelaide, South Australia
+61 408 843 089
http://www.greenandgoldenergy.com.au
Online SunBall discussion group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sunball

**QuilterMom** · 11-17-2005, 08:29 AM

Very cool! Thanks for letting me know. This is one area that dh definitely wants to learn even more about and we are both anxious to go this route if and when possible.