The Queen on the Brink of Fuel Poverty

We’ve come across a feature in the UK’s Financial Times newspaper this week concerning the Queen and her struggle against high energy bills. We only wish Her Majesty had stopped by the SmartNow office on her recent trip to Australia for some advice!

Never one to be left behind, the Queen’s five “occupied royal palaces” have been fitted with Smart Meters in an attempt to monitor and control energy consumption. Despite an initial drop in consumption there is no hope of lower electricity bills for Her Majesty with a shocking 20 per cent rise in the UK’s average combined gas and electricity costs. In fact, the Queen is close to “fuel poverty” whereby a household is spending 10 per cent or more of its income on heating the home.

Buckingham Palace is in need of various repairs and replacements to its archaic heating and electrical system. We suspect it is not the most energy efficient of homes. Whilst the article suggests that the royal household could exercise choice in its energy provider and even purchase energy in advance on the wholesale market, writer David Blair concludes the the Queen’s best option may be to turn to renewable sources of energy. Construction has begun on a hydroelectric scheme on the Thames which would enable another home of the Queen – Windsor Castle – to generate its own energy and sell any surplus back to the grid.

This is all well and good but it is the energy efficiency of the palaces themselves that should be tackled first and foremost. Insulation and overhaul of any ancient systems should be the priority as well as reviewing the lighting and seeing if energy is being wasted. We’d delighted to give her Majesty some advice or send her over an EnviR home energy monitor to get her started!

Read the full article here: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2bfc6e92-fbee-11e0-9283-00144feab49a.html#axzz1cPX25wJP

Sunny Days for Solar Overseas

We're seldom short of solar news from around Australia to bring you in these turbulent times for clean energy. Today, however, we're bringing you solar news from elsewhere on this lovely planet of ours.

First to the UK: construction has recently been completed on the UK's largest solar power plant. Completed in an impressively tight timeframe of just ten weeks, Spanish firm Isolux Corsan spent 40 million Euros on the 15 megawatt facility located in rural Cornwall. The fast turnaround to install the 22,000 panels was partly due to Britain's latest reductions to solar feed-in tariffs, a story all too familiar to the Australian solar industry.

It's great to hear of large scale solar projects like this being completed so quickly. All the UK now needs is some sunshine!

There is also positive solar news coming out of the US, where during the second quarter of 2011 solar PV installations increased by a huge 69 per cent. California is leading this surge, closely followed by New Jersey which has has the largest non-residential solar market in the US. Google has recently invested US$250 million into a residential solar project which will no doubt provide a fantastic boost for the solar industry in the US.

Another US giant, Walmart has taken a great initiative in renewable energy by placing solar panels on the rooftops of many of its stores in California, enough to generate up to 70 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year - an example which retail giants or owners of large commercial premises around the world would do well follow.

As the globe is gripped by economic uncertainty we hope that investment in clean energy will not wane. Even if residential installs slow down thanks to reductions in feed-in tariffs, we hope that large scale installations will thrive.

For information on how SmartNow can enable you to get the most from your solar panels and reduce wastage please visit www.smartnow.com.au.

Solar Power to Undercut Coal?

An interesting article here http://my.enewsplus.co.uk/cm/public/enews/index.php?enewsid=4&templateid=90&ticketid=PD4OJR2LIN&mm=3963 from the All Energy Team

Australia's reluctance to embrace solar power could well change dramatically over the next 20 years even without a carbon tax. Due to the massive leaps that China is making at the moment in production and the reduction in cost of solar panels, it might not be too long before the price per kWh of solar electricity is lower than that of coal-fired power stations. Yes, admittedly, there remains some serious work to do to be able to replace coal-fired power as a reliable source of base-load power - i.e. there needs to be some serious energy storage facilities built - but it's an interesting thought that coal-fired power could soon be considered the expensive option.

Roll on that day we say. Whatever the case maybe for base-load coal-fired power, there is a certain elegance to achieving our energy requirements through nothing more than pure sunlight instead of setting fire to things.

Turbulent Times for Wind Power

Instead of bringing you news of yet another blow to the struggling solar industry, today we bring you news of a crackdown on another form of clean energy - wind.

The Victorian Government is amending planning laws regarding wind farms, giving households the power to veto wind turbines within two kilometres of their homes. Turbines are also due to be banned in areas of natural beauty popular with tourists near to the Victorian coast and within five kilometres of numerous Victorian regional centres.

This will inevitably divert multi-billion dollar investment in regional Victoria interstate and is therefore seen as hugely detrimental to clean energy infrastructure in the state.

The Australian public seems to have mixed views on wind turbines and their potential impact on people's quiet enjoyment of their homes and surrounding areas. Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Matthew Warre has no doubts as to the negative impact that will have on clean energy investment in Victoria, citing the setback policy as "completely arbitrary".

To read the full press release from the Clean Energy Council click here: http://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/cec/mediaevents/media-releases/August-2011/MR290811-vic-wind.html

Or to read The Age's piece on this development click here: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/baillieus-wind-farm-crackdown-20110829-1jig4.html

For further information on SmartNow and how to save money on your power bills with our home energy monitors please visit www.smartnow.com.au.

Using the Current Cost USB Data Cable with Windows 7 x 64

Please find below some helpful links for those customers trying to download the Driver for the USB data cable, with Windows 7 x 64.

SmartNow USB Drivers Page

PLEASE NOTE - unbelievably, just because there is a newer driver available than the ones we have posted, it doesn't mean it will work!  The drivers we have on our site are tried and tested and work.  PLEASE do not go googling for newer drivers, as all that will happen is you'll wind up calling us because you can't get them to work.  Strange but True.

Alternative Software for the USB Data Cable

As most of our customers are aware, Google PowerMeter is due to close in September.

We’ve already brought you some updates on what Bridge users can expect when this closure happens: http://www.smartnow.com.au/2011/06/28/the-bridge-some-exciting-current-cost-developments-smart-now-home-energy-monitor/

But we know that many customers use the USB data cable to upload data from their EnviR home energy monitor.

Current Cost, manufacturers of the EnviR, have put together some very useful information regarding software options for users of the USB cable: http://www.currentcost.com/software-downloads.html

As you can see, there are plenty of options available to enable you to get the most from your EnviR, to eliminate wastage and reduce your power bill.

WA Solar Scheme Victim of its Own Success

This week the Western Australian government has announced that the current solar panel rebate scheme is being axed. It seems the popular scheme has been a victim of its own success and the budget couldn't be stretched to meet the huge demand for the scheme. Effective immediately, no new applications will be accepted.

The government already reduced the feed-in tariff from 60 cents per kilowatt hour to 40 cents and then down to 20 cents in May. Rebates will continue to be paid to existing users for the 10 year agreed payment period.

Unsurprisingly, the decision to axe the scheme so suddenly has angered solar industry experts and businesses who have questioned why they weren't given fair warning that the scheme was fast approaching its cap.

We're sorry to see the WA feed-in tariff reduce. It appears to have been a great success in promoting the installation of solar panels. We're not sure that it yet makes economic sense to install solar panels without a subsidised feed-in tariff as is claimed, but the proof will be in the pudding. It'll be very interesting to see how many solar installations happen this year. We don't think it will be half as many as the government expects.

In the meantime, we'd like to encourage the government to support medium and large scale solar in sunny WA. Now we've got 150MW of installed capacity on individual residential roofs, it would be good to see some large-scale installations on the tops of the commercial property out there. A prime candidate would be for supermarkets and shopping malls - solar can seriously reduce the load that the massive aircon units place on the grid on a sunny afternoon.

To read the full article about the scrapping of the scheme in WA click here: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/energy-smart/wa-solar-rebate-scheme-too-popular-to-continue-20110801-1i7lc.html

To learn how to monitor your solar generation and to reduce your electricity bill with an EnviR home energy monitor from SmartNow click here: http://www.smartnow.com.au/smartnow-current-cost-solutions/i-have-solar/

NSW Electricity Price Hike: A missed turning on the path to lower prices and emissions

There was an interesting opinion piece from Chris Dunstan in the Sydney Morning Herald this week regarding, you guessed it, rising power bills!

Electricity prices in New South Wales are due to rise by another 17 per cent today. This will bring the cumulative increase to 76 per cent since June 2007, with further increases in the pipeline.

Dunstan outlines the ongoing argument over the cause of the price rises. It has been claimed that the current level of power network investment is unnecessary - driven by industry "goldplating". Yet the industry and the federal Energy Minister claims the $9 billion per year spent on network infrastructure is essential.

This finger pointing is getting us nowhere, writes Dunstan, and suggests that instead of spending all their money on infrastructure to meet customer demand, networks could help customers save energy by reducing demand.

Very little is currently being spent on demand management and it is reducing peak demand in Australia by less than one per cent, compared to 4.4 per cent in the US. Dunstan reports that up to $1 billion per year in infrastructure costs could be saved by 2020, while elimination growth in carbon emissions in the building sector, simply by making homes and other buildings more energy efficient.

SmartNow is firmly in support of increasing energy efficiency in order to reduce demand. It is a simple way of saving individuals money on their power bills as well as reducing demand and decreasing our carbon footprint.

To ensure your home is not using more energy than it should be, invest in a Current Cost EnviR home energy monitor from SmartNow. You will be able to see exactly how much energy you are using in real time which will enable you to reduce your bill and potentially detect any faulty appliances.

To read the full article click here: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/the-networks-could-help-cut-power-bills-20110628-1gp2z.html

To learn more about the EnviR home energy monitor visit www.smartnow.com.au

The Bridge: some exciting updates from Current Cost

As many SmartNow customers are aware, Google has recently announced that Google PowerMeter will be shut down as of 16 September.

In our previous blog we told you that Current Cost have been busy adding new features and functionality to my.currentcost.com which will result in the portal being even more powerful than Google PowerMeter.

Current Cost has released a short video to guide you through some of the updates that have already been made. These include the ability to:

- Register multiple Bridges to the same account and to individually name each Bridge

- Name your location

- Make your Bridge public or private in order to share you data. Clicking the "share" button brings up a page which is accessible to anyone on the internet. There are various options to embed graphs on your own blog/website etc.

To view the video please click here: http://currentcost.posterous.com/mycurrentcostcom-new-features

We will keep you posted on these exciting developments.

For further information on how the Bridge and the EnviR home energy monitor can enable you to reduce your energy consumption and slash your power bills visit www.smartnow.com.au

Google PowerMeter to Close: the Latest News

This weekend Google announced that they are to close Google PowerMeter as of 16 September. Although we were aware that Google wouldn't be developing the software any longer, we were surprised to learn that the application is to be closed completely.

Although this will come as disappointing news to users of the Bridge who currently upload their information to Google PowerMeter, we actually have some positive news to report.

The Current Cost portal at http://my.currentcost.com (the place the Bridge sends it's data to prior to Google PowerMeter) is undergoing extensive and exciting upgrades that will be rolled out over the coming weeks and months. We can't reveal too much right now but we will post more info as soon as we can.

We are confident that you will find that the new features will make my.currentcost.com considerably more useful and powerful than Google PowerMeter.

In the meantime the Bridge can still be used with Google PowerMeter and the USB cable is available on our website which can be used with various different software options. The EnviR home energy monitor is a fantastic tool for managing your energy consumption and slashing your power bill, however you choose to upload your data.

We will release further information as soon as we have it so keep checking www.smartnow.com.au for further updates or visit our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SmartNow/114000321953472

NSW Solar Scheme Stabalised

A few weeks ago we blogged about the Solar Rally taking place in New South Wales to demonstrate against the Government's decision to retrospectively change the feed in tariff rate for 120,000 NSW households from 60c per kW/h to 40c per kW/h.

It seems that the efforts of the Australian Solar Energy Society and its supporters have paid off - these plans have now been dropped by NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell after failing to get the backing he needed to pass the law, and after an audit showed the cost of the solar scheme to be lower than originally forecast.

This is fantastic news for supporters of the solar industry. In fact it means 40,000 planned solar installs that were previously hanging in the balance can now proceed and those who signed up to support green energy and have these panels installed will not lose out. Many participants in the solar scheme had borrowed money to buy their solar panels and risked losing thousands of dollars if the feed-in tariff was cut.

The campaign doesn't stop here, however. Solar supporters are now urging the NSW government to put in a fair price going forward for electricity produced by solar panels.

The industry remains in crisis with one of Australia's largest solar panel retailers, Clear Solar, going into receivership this week and more predicted to follow.

Today The Age warned of rising power prices as electricity retailers are required to increase their contribution to the solar scheme.

One thing is for certain, solar will remain a hot topic as the future of the scheme is debated in the weeks to come.

To maximise the return on your solar panels invest in a Solar Monitoring Kit from SmartNow. You will receive an EnviR Home Energy Monitor and everything you need to monitor the energy consumption of your home and the generation of your solar panels. To learn more visit www.smartnow.com.au.

Power Bills: the Only Way is Up

There was an interesting, if somewhat hard to follow, piece in The Age recently warning that power bills are to double within six years.

On top of rising fuel and gas prices, TRUenergy - one of Australia's largest home and business electricity suppliers - has warned that uncertainty over the implementation of a carbon tax could reduce investment in the power industry and lead to energy shortages.

Whilst we don't know the fate of the carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme, there is little doubt in anyone's mind that prices are only going one way: up.

A great way to ensure you are not spending more than you should be on power bills is to invest in a home energy monitor from SmartNow. The Current Cost EnviR is a simple device which enables you to see exactly how much energy you are using in real time and what it is costing you, empowering you to take control of your usage. There has never been a smarter time to start using a home energy monitor.

To read the full article in The Age click here: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/energy-smart/warning-of-power-bills-to-double-within-six-years-20110522-1eym0.html

To visit our new website and learn more about the EnviR home energy monitor click here: www.smartnow.com.au

Another day; another price increase!

Electricity users in New South Wales are facing yet another price increase. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) says electricity prices for the average NSW resident will increase by 17.6 per cent by July.

This will come as very distressing news for many households who are already struggling to pay huge power bills.

The article quotes NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell telling of a family struggling with a $1400 power bill for a four-bedroom home. Assuming this is a quarterly bill and that they are being billed at $0.20 per kilowatt hour this equates to approximately 75 kilowatt hours per day - an outrageously high consumption of power.

There is no reason why a four-bedroom house should receive a $1400 power bill - there must be some serious wastage going on here, which if identified could enable the family to make huge savings. We have monitored large, inefficient houses in Perth who are operating pool pumps etc and are using around 50 kilowatt hours per day.

With some common sense and an EnviR home energy monitor a family with a bill as high as this should be able to reduce their usage down to at least 50 kilowatt hours per day. They could potentially cut their power bill by around one third which roughly equates to a saving of $1800 per year.

We can't control the price of electricity, unfortunately, but we can certainly control how much of it we are consuming.

To read the full article click here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/14/3191670.htm?section=justin

For more information on the EnviR home energy monitor visit www.smartnow.com.au.

The Green Thing

We’ve just come across a thought provoking piece on being green and whether it is really such a “new” idea. It makes for some interesting reading and has got us feeling rather nostalgic!

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But they didn’t have the green thing back her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

But she’s right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But that old lady is right. They didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Author unknown.

www.smartnow.com.au

Clocks go back; bills go up!

Daylight Saving ended in five states across Australia this weekend, signalling the official end to the summer. As cooler weather begins to set in, so power bills begin to rise.

Even if you're not bracing yourself for a Melbourne winter as we are at SmartNow HQ there are many factors besides just heating your home which can lead to a shock when your next bill comes in.

As the days get shorter many of us will spend more time indoors watching television and keeping the lights on. Children who may have played outside after school will be coming home and switching on the games console instead.

Now is a great time to think about what you could do to cut down power use in your home - invest in some LED downlighters, switch to energy efficient bulbs or think about how to improve your home's insulation.

Start monitoring exactly how much power you are using and how much it is costing you with a Current Cost EnviR from SmartNow. This will allow you to take control of how much you are spending and is a great way to teach kids about saving energy.

For more information visit: www.smartnow.com.au.

Being green shouldn't stop at home

We've come across an interesting article this week which shows that being green shouldn't stop at home.

The Age reported how Hilton Hotel worker, Benjamin Grimshaw, from Sydney has been nominated for a WWF Earth Hour Award having spearheaded a successful environmental policy at the hotel.

One of his first steps was to install 744 LED light bulbs in the hotel's guest corridors which is saving the hotel $30,000 a year and has reduced energy requirements by 35% in those areas.

Having formed an environmental committee, Grimshaw has also helped to cut water use by 2.3 per cent by installing sensors and restrictors in hotel bathrooms and has decreased the hotel's per capita energy use by 6.5 per cent.

The Earth Hour Award nomination is a sure indication that green initiatives in the work place are taken seriously and can reap benefits for the individual as well as for the business and the environment.

To read the full article click here: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/earth-hour/tiny-footprint-in-the-corridor-20110325-1c9f0.html

To learn how to monitor how much energy your home or workplace is consuming visit: www.smartnow.com.au.

Extend the range of your Current Cost EnviR

One of our wholesale customers has been kind enough to share with us an interesting observation regarding the range of the EnviR:

Range of the EnviR (line of sight) = 112m
Range of the EnviR when it’s sat in a metal meter box = 30m

He has bought a waterproof box from Jaycar (part number= HB6402) and mounted the transmitter outside his metal meter box, but inside this waterproof box, which has extended the range of his system.

Many thanks to Andrew Goodfellow at Aussie Home Inventories for this useful tip.

Solving issues with Windows 7

A couple of our customers have recently experienced some issues with accessing drivers for Windows 7. We've found that the following download will help: http://www​.cooldrive​s.com/lib/​cooldrives​/vista-pro​lific-chip​-driver-fo​r-serial-a​dapters.zi​p. Although it refers to Vista, we have found that this driver does in fact work for Windows 7.

Of course we can't guarantee that a particular driver will work for everyone - we're simply going by our own experiences and those of our customers.

EDIT - this driver is now on our website under USB Drivers

Solar panels: the next generation

Another exciting solar development to report: the next generation of solar panels - about one-20th as thick as a piece of paper - is being developed by Australian researchers. These panels, with a layer of crystalised silicon gas which collects sunlight, could eventually be used to overlay glass skyscrapers - transforming them into solar power stations.

The introduction of these panels will represent another step forwards in encouraging much larger scale solar installations and making use of commercial spaces; something essential in harnessing the vast potential of solar power.

To learn more about this development and to see the new face of the fantastic Earth Hour campaign visit The Age Environment page: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/energy-smart/plea-from-a-new-earth-mother--20110305-1bio9.html.

Large scale solar - some exciting news!

Last month saw a very positive piece of breaking news in the solar industry with the ACT Government passing legislation to introduce a feed in tariff (FiT) for medium scale solar in the ACT.

The gross FiT is now available for installations 30kW to 200kW in size, and specifically opens the market to larger commercial and industrial applications.

John Grimes, Chief Executive of the Australian Solar Energy Society said, "[t]his is an important move because it allows greater economies of scale in deployments, and also targets a part of the market where the electricity demand profile closely matches solar energy production."

The scheme start date and FiT rate have not yet been announced, but it is expected to start shortly with an initial rate of around 34c per kWh to be paid.

We're thrilled with this news which finally presents an incentive for larger scale solar installations - something we believe is very necessary to push clean energy progress forward. As touched upon in our previous blog, smaller scale solar installations can be less efficient and there is no logic in limiting solar generation in this way. We hope to see other states follow ACT's example.

Sydney's energy shortage: treat the cause, not the symptom

We've come across an interesting opinion piece from The Age's Christine Rau which discusses the predicament of finding an energy efficient way of regulating the temperature of your home, particularly in crowded neighbourhoods:

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/energy-smart/put-solar-panels-on-every-large-rooftop-20110209-1amed.html.

Whilst she makes some excellent points about the building quality issues that are prevalent in new suburban neighbourhoods, we believe that her proposed solution of getting the government to pay for solar panels to place on rooftops to cool these buildings can be improved upon.

The main concern we have with this idea is that because they are inefficient and require massive amounts of heating and cooling, we should address the symptom, not the cause. Even in these crowded neighbourhoods there is room for shading, for sun-sails and window-shades. Next time you drive past one of these neighbourhoods, have a look at the roofing - it is almost always dark or black. Paint the roof a light colour, stick in 30cm of insulation (the recommended level in Europe now) and watch that power bill fall through the floor as both heating and cooling requirements are diminished.

Another concern that we have is with the concept of getting the government to fund this. Why should the government fund the cooling of the building we have chosen to live in? If a taxpayer choses to purchase or rent a well-designed home, why should their tax dollars go towards putting solar panels on the roof of a poorly designed home or commercial building?

The next issue we have with the argument is that the power industry in NSW is privatised (rightly or wrongly), and hence it is not the responsibility for the NSW government to install generating capacity on people's roof tops.

Finally, if we need GigaWatts of solar power, why place it on roof tops at all? Not many residential roof tops are the perfect orientation for solar power, and there are inefficiencies involved in running many small solar installations. If the government is going to get into this game, it really should be in the form of solar farms that are installed on the ground or on the top of very large buildings and warehouses where the efficiencies of scale can be harnessed.

Cool down your house and save energy

The temperature is rising all over Australia and it seems the only option is to crank up the air conditioning as high as it'll go, but there are many other ways to cool your house down which use far less energy and won't leave you with a huge power bill.

Property journalist Caroline Boyd has come up with some excellent tips to cool down your house in what's shaping up to be a scorching hot summer: http://theage.domain.com.au/blogs/talking-property/tips-to-cool-down-the-house/20110201-1abbq.html.

You would also be wise to invest in a Current Cost EnviR from SmartNow. You'll be able to see how much energy you're using in real time, and what it's costing you, to ensure that you're not faced with a colossal energy bill at the end of the season.

Visit our online store and receive free shipping on orders over $50: http://www.smartnow.com.au/store.

Aussies do their bit as solar use surges. Will you invest in solar energy in 2011?

Before Christmas The Age reported that Australians installed more than 100,000 rooftop solar panels in 2010, more than in the entire previous decade.

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/energy-smart/aussies-do-their-bit-as-solar-panel-use-surges-20101221-193q3.html

The article highlights research from Clean Energy Australia which provides an interesting insight into how Australia uses renewable energy. This report showed that 8.67 per cent of Australia's electricity was provided by renewable resources in 2010. With electricity prices on the rise there has never been a better time to invest in clean energy.

If you are considering investing in a solar system in 2011, get yourself a Current Cost EnviR from SmartNow and hook it up to Google PowerMeter.

An EnviR will be particularly useful if you are on a Net feed-in tariff (where you are paid for every unused kWh which you push back to the grid) as it will allow you to monitor and reduce the amount of energy consumption in your home therefore maximising your payback and ensuring you make back the money on your investment faster!

For a detailed breakdown of how this can be achieved check out our previous blog: http://smartnowenvironmental.blogspot.com/2010/08/stop-read-this-before-you-buy-your.html

Visit SmartNow's webshop to view the Current Cost EnviR and our solar monitoring kits: http://www.smartnow.com.au/store/

Families' bills keep rising: monitor your family's energy consumption with the Current Cost EnviR

An article by Gemma Jones at the Daily Telegraph highlights the desperate situation many Australian families are finding themselves in when they have to switch off essential appliances in order to save money on ever rising electricity bills.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/no-heaters-but-power-bill-still-rose/story-fn6b3v4f-1225972428736

A report by IPART has found that households paid an average 24.4 per cent more for electricity, gas and water in the past two years. One in five low income families were spending 5 per cent of their income on electricity.

Ensure you are not paying more than you should be - monitor your energy usage with the Current Cost EnviR and Google PowerMeter, now available in Australia and New Zealand from www.smartnow.com.au and www.smartnow.co.nz. How much will you save?

New Zealand school installs EnviR and Google PowerMeter to go green and make savings!

A school in Khandallah, New Zealand has become the first school in the world to install Google PowerMeter to monitor energy use and save money.

Cashmere Avenue Primary School has already identified 2kW of energy use which can easily be cut, representing a saving of around $1500 a year. This is a valuable reinvestment opportunity at a time when schools’ budgets are stretched to the limit.

Read more here: http://katrinashanks.co.nz/index.php?/archives/383-Cashmere-Ave-Primary-School-Goes-Green-to-Help-out-Blue.html

At SmartNow we are currently developing our own not-for-profit venture: the SmartNow School Energy Education Program. To learn more about this project to increase energy efficiency and provoke interest in sustainability in schools click here: http://www.smartnow.com.au/schools.php

Ben from GeekZone reviews the Current Cost EnviR from SmartNow NZ

The Current Cost EnviR from SmartNow New Zealand has just been reviewed by Ben from GeekZone. Click the link to find out what he had to say: http://www.ben.geek.nz/2011/01/review-current-cost-envir-from-smartnow-nz/

SmartNow extends FREE SHIPPING offer up until Australia Day

We've extended our holiday offer right through to 26 January on all orders over $50. Visit our new webshop: http://www.smartnow.com.au/store/