Well, we’ve just signed off on the deal: Church Park is going to be the first neighbourhood in all of Australia to be entirely powered by commercial solar. This is truly a great day for all of mankind, and the Church Park Restoration Committee! We should have a party of some kind, I’m thinking.

Of course the work isn’t yet over. We still have to do all the ordering of the commercial solar. Providers in Melbourne perhaps even abroad, all of them will be vying to be part of this history, I’m sure. A true, golden step towards a brighter future for humanity: who would NOT want to be part of this slice of history? 

The grand plan is to construct much of the roofing in the new community out of solar panels, as well as dedicating last swathes of parkland to be solar optimised. There will still be plenty of lovely green space for the new residents, of course. It’s just that they’ll be sharing the space with solar panels, 100kw systems, a few different…bits and bobs. We currently have THE finest creative minds in Australia figuring out how we can turn them into art installations. If Church Park is going to be a pioneer in solar technology, there’s no sense in hiding that fact. We should flaunt it on every street corner, build statues out of solar panels, have giant billboards displaying the commercial solar panel calculator status. It will be a beacon of progress. A very shiny beacon. The shininess will come from the solar power, but I guess also from how clean everything will be. We also have a very robust cleaning and street sweeping program currently being developed. There may also need to be some…ground rules. As in, rules regarding what you can throw on the ground, which will be nothing, because that’s the main ground rule.

Industrial solar: Church Park is making it a phenomenon. Follow us on Visage-Tome and Tweeter!

-Cindra

Oh dear…now I have to explain to my family the concept of energy storage. And trust me, the Jacoby clan do not specialise in electronics. I only know about them because I took a vague interest in high school that eventually blossomed into me starting the Electronics Club. The club is going well, despite me being the only member, although our school DOES only have 26 students, so I wasn’t expecting any big numbers.

If it came to 70 different ways to milk a cow, or how to service a problematic tractor, our family have it down. But now that I’ve discovered that commercial solar systems in Melbourne can cut down on our spending by almost 40%? The thought of trying to tell Ma and Pa makes me wish I’d never done the research. It’s true, though…everyone in Melbourne is picking up commercial solar, so it would help us around the farm if we did the same. I’m not saying we need to clear the cornfield and replace it with a vast plane of solar panels, but a few on the roof would be enough, for now.

I know what Pa is going to say. He hates anything to do with that ‘new-fanged techie-palooza’, and Ma will probably think that the some of our power is going to the government. Ma thinks the government are involved in everything. The chickens aren’t laying as much as they used to; must be the government. Cousin Abigail has come down with a case of the pox; gotta be the government!

I can’t predict what she’d do if I ever mentioned the sensible concept of adopting commercial energy monitoring for Melbourne business practices. That actually sounds like something the government would do. Suppose I’ll have to start them slow…a few solar panels here, and there, and then I’ll show them how much they’re saving in our daily upkeep. The hardest part is getting to the solar panel stage.

-Forrest Jacoby