Peter Friis is a Queensland resident living in Buderim. Peter decided to purchase the grid connected solar system as his contribution towards a more sustainable future …”I strongly approve of charging carbon costs for dirty fuel such as Coal, yet I am aware that, until we have sufficient clean electrical power, the cost of peak electricity will be beyond the affordable cost to be met by the lower income people; However we MUST allow the Market to make the use of coal unfordable and in my small way I must be prepared to do what I can”.

Peter is of the belief that the impact climate change will have upon Australia will be significant…”I do not even trust the Rudd Government to do enough by 2020 to balance the increase of Global Warming, and by then we will have little chance to avoid the release of gases from the frozen tundras, the loss of of the Great Barrier Reef, with its protection of our coastal regions, the declining ability of corrals and crustaceans to form their calcium skeletons, the rising and flooding of the seas and the millions of those seeking refuge from catastrophes. A20% reduction in the use of dirty fuels by 2010 would be possible in Australia, but we must also do more to help others reduce their dirty energy; if we can do all this, the impact will still be high but less so for some countries with such benefits as we have for clean energy supply”.

Peter remains confident that climate change can be stopped, …”it will take time and we will have to adjust by avoiding the wastage such as long distance transport by internal combustion engine and transport our goods by electric trains. We will find that Distance is one of the most expensive means of provision of resources of electricity, goods and of services, we must decentralize where energy is wasted, but also shrink the distances between housing, education, child minding, public transport and workplaces, making the need for private transport less essential. Eventually the world will become healthy again, but that may not be in our lifetime.

Peter also buys green power in addition to his grid connect solar panel system, “I buy Green-Power when and where I can and can afford it, it did influence me to buy the photo voltaic system, though without the Governments assistance I could, as a pensioner, not have afforded it, but being connected to the gird is part of my view that we have to help others who need more than we do”.

Peter has the ability to use view his energy usage and history from his Fronius inverter however he has not yet been able to familiarize himself with the functionality of the system yet “the Fronius Grid Inverter, which seems to provide information on production use and everything, is explained in 70 pages of the 85 page booklet and I ave not yet received the billing of use and reduction of cost from the billing company; it seems that the “Fronius IG” booklet does give everything if I only knew how to use it”.

Peter’s home energy usage is quite low “I have no idea what the average use is in Kwh’s, but the average billing charge per quarter has been just over $127″.

On the issue of future grid solar system purchases, Peter feels that he will not be relocating nor purchasing any future system, “I have no intention of moving my accommodation; possibly I might go into a place of care, as my age is already almost 79, but that is something that I have presently no reason to concentrate on. All would depend on who wanted the house and did or did not value the presence of the photo voltaic system in the house and if not I could donate it to a charity; I am though still interested in increasing the number of cells by lots of 3 at a time, as I can afford it, but that would be at a cost of several thousand dollars and be a slow process of affordability”.