Welcome to Australia, will you be choosing electricity or food?!

[Lacessit]

5 minutes ago, totally thaied up said:

I will never have to shell out any money for rent. I have more than enough to buy a house outright. Most cannot do that, so years of hard work previously paid off.

 

My praise for Australia would not be less muted. When you are ill, have a free healthcare system here that provides and gives you all most everything, your born in a lucky country. Just recently I was accepted into a study for free. All of my medications have been free, all the DNA testing free and it has benefited me no end.

 

No Thailand is okay but I understand now which side my bread is buttered on and it certainly is not Thailand.

You are looking at Australia through the prism of someone who has ongoing serious health problems. In your position, so would I.

Within Thailand, I can travel freely to all parts of the country on a budget of less than $100 a day. That's food, good accommodation, and petrol. Motels alone anywhere in Australia would blow that budget out of the water.

I've worked hard too. The Australian Family Law system screwed me out of a lot of my wealth. You are lucky it didn't happen to you.

[totally thaied up]

Most do not see they are getting old. Within the next heartbeat, you could be placed in nursing care. Over the last three months I have seen friends in there seventies, struck down with illness. One has cancer and could not fly back to Australia as he was in ICU. His bill is over two million and it has broke him. Another friend has spent 17 days in hospital here, again could not be sent home and it is going to break him. The worst part is they are going to be broke when they are forced home.

 

No one here thinks of the future. Most of my friends could not afford fulltime nursing care in Thailand. For everyone here it is going to come to a end one day and for the life of me or my wife/family, I will not leave a mess in Thailand for them to clean up due to no proper planning.

 

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by totally thaied up

[tingtongtourist]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

Different strokes for different folks. IMHO your praise of Australia would be much more muted if you had to shell out 50% of your pension on rent. Doesn't leave much for food and electricity if one lives in Victoria or Tasmania.

As for pussy, it's  about looks as well as cost. I would have to roll most of the women I see in Australian supermarkets in flour.

um excuse my ignorance but what does rolling them in flour achieve?

make them look thinner or are you gonna batter them?

lol

[Lacessit]

1 minute ago, tingtongtourist said:

um excuse my ignorance but what does rolling them in flour achieve?

make them look thinner or are you gonna batter them?

lol

PM coming

[soalbundy]

On 6/6/2019 at 7:53 AM, steven100 said:

Australia has become one of the most expensive countries in the world and consumers largely have the Government to thank, new research suggests.

Bananas, books, cars, housing and retail are all areas where Australians are paying too much, according to Dr Hartwich.

"We are always told we are living in this miracle economy, the envy of the world, the one economy that survived the GFC, and it's all true, but ordinary consumers do not feel they are living in this blessed economy - they actually feel ripped off and overcharged," Dr Hartwich said.

Australia is more expensive than in New Zealand, the UK, France and the US.

In the UK it's different many people have to choose between paying the rent or eating. Australia has lots of sunshine, what's wrong with solar power.

[ThaiBunny]

1 minute ago, soalbundy said:

In the UK it's different many people have to choose between paying the rent or eating. Australia has lots of sunshine, what's wrong with solar power.

I read a very good article on a US site yesterday - millions are living paycheck to paycheck, yet their homes are full of shoes and clothes they rarely wear, their car is only a couple of years old etc. etc.

[totally thaied up]

Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with Thailand. I like the place but for most, it was for its affordability but that has slowly died off.  My biggest grip there is no stream for PR if you are married to a Thai. There is no protection for myself and my wife. In fact, no protection for even a Thai unless you have money. None of us would be welcome here if we did not have money. At least Australia has has a form of social protection and the such. No,  Thailand is okay as long as the powers to be see you have money.  

 

8 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

I read a very good article on a US site yesterday - millions are living paycheck to paycheck, yet their homes are full of shoes and clothes they rarely wear, their car is only a couple of years old etc. etc.

Most people don't know how to budget. I see there shopping trolleys full of name brand junk food.  No wonder why they are not saving. 

Edited June 8, 2019 by totally thaied up

[ThaiFelix]

On 6/6/2019 at 8:17 AM, mfd101 said:

I think you'll find the fault lies largely with State governments & their incompetent bureaucrats, not with the Federal government (whose powers in this area are quite limited).

The fault lies with the people for allowing it!!  Governments should fear the people, not the other way around.

[ThaiBunny]

1 minute ago, totally thaied up said:

My biggest grip there is no stream for PR if you are married to a Thai.

Basically the Thais just want a tick-and-flick approach to immigration. Determining that someone is genuinely married rather than buying a marriage of convenience is simply too much trouble and besides, appearance ("face") is everything and beats substance every time. Hence you have no right of abode because proving your marriage is permanent falls into the ATFH basket

[Odysseus123]

1 hour ago, totally thaied up said:

Most do not see they are getting old. Within the next heartbeat, you could be placed in nursing care. Over the last three months I have seen friends in there seventies, struck down with illness. One has cancer and could not fly back to Australia as he was in ICU. His bill is over two million and it has broke him. Another friend has spent 17 days in hospital here, again could not be sent home and it is going to break him. The worst part is they are going to be broke when they are forced home.

 

No one here thinks of the future. Most of my friends could not afford fulltime nursing care in Thailand. For everyone here it is going to come to a end one day and for the life of me or my wife/family, I will not leave a mess in Thailand for them to clean up due to no proper planning.

 

 

Very,very true...

[soalbundy]

My sister lives in/around the outback in Queensland running a cattle farm, the have no mainline electricity but rely on solar cells on batteries, for heating when it gets cold they have a wood stove, works well for them.

[totally thaied up]

8 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

Basically the Thais just want a tick-and-flick approach to immigration. Determining that someone is genuinely married rather than buying a marriage of convenience is simply too much trouble and besides, appearance ("face") is everything and beats substance every time. Hence you have no right of abode because proving your marriage is permanent falls into the ATFH basket

Yes, you are correct.  It is a bit hard to plan something over the next coming 20 years of your life when you have nothing to back you up. That's the hardest part. We can make plans but how stable can you be. We all want a degree of stability. 

 

[soalbundy]

Just now, totally thaied up said:

Yes, you are correct.  It is a bit hard to plan something over the next coming 20 years of your life when you have nothing to back you up. That's the hardest part. We can make plans but how stable can you be. We all want a degree of stability. 

 

Life isn't stable, things happen and you have no control over what happens. Death is stable and if you need nursing care at an advanced age that will come soon enough.

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, ThaiBunny said:

I read a very good article on a US site yesterday - millions are living paycheck to paycheck, yet their homes are full of shoes and clothes they rarely wear, their car is only a couple of years old etc. etc.

It used to be called keeping up with the Jones's. The Thais have it badly - everything has to be new to impress family, friends and neighbours. Face feeds it as well.

A lot of people would be better off by embracing minimalism. Why rent a house when all one's needs are served by a studio apartment? Why buy new clothes when there are plenty of secondhand shops at a fraction of the price? Why buy a new car which loses 10 - 20% of its value as soon as the key is turned?

Credit is a disease of modern society. I only buy what I have money available for. Have only had debit cards for the past 30 years.

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

My sister lives in/around the outback in Queensland running a cattle farm, the have no mainline electricity but rely on solar cells on batteries, for heating when it gets cold they have a wood stove, works well for them.

A wood stove in Queensland? Where's she living, Stanthorpe?

[madmen]

40 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

It used to be called keeping up with the Jones's. The Thais have it badly - everything has to be new to impress family, friends and neighbours. Face feeds it as well.

A lot of people would be better off by embracing minimalism. Why rent a house when all one's needs are served by a studio apartment? Why buy new clothes when there are plenty of secondhand shops at a fraction of the price? Why buy a new car which loses 10 - 20% of its value as soon as the key is turned?

Credit is a disease of modern society. I only buy what I have money available for. Have only had debit cards for the past 30 years.

A single guy rarely rents a house and a family will not rent a studio. To much generalisation. Also business people and high end income earners can give the government 50% tax or they can put it towards tax deductible items like a BMW (if not office bound) and the latest Iphone and really nothing to do with impressing anyone

Edited June 8, 2019 by madmen

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

My sister lives in/around the outback in Queensland running a cattle farm, the have no mainline electricity but rely on solar cells on batteries, for heating when it gets cold they have a wood stove, works well for them.

After reading another thread, I've been learning to build a yurt.

Seems easy enough.

 

[Ozman52]

2 hours ago, soalbundy said:

In the UK it's different many people have to choose between paying the rent or eating. Australia has lots of sunshine, what's wrong with solar power.

Half the problem is right there, people with no knowledge entitled to an opinion, and influencing politicians to act.

What else is wrong with solar power:

Availability - the rating of a solar panel is at direct sunlight. At all other times it is reduced by the cosine of the angle of incidence from vertical. For fixed panels, this varies both daily and seasonally, and direct incidence may never be achieved most days. For 8 hrs/d maximum @ less than 60 deg you will have more than half your panels rating, reduced by atmospheric dust, clouds, shading. Typically 18% of 24hrs output is returned if located in a desert.

Variability - as well as the known, weather can reduce output with little notice. To counter this, fossil fuel spinning reserve is required. IE generation available but not being used. this is NOT FREE.

Location - most solar farms are located away from city centres, where land is cheap. This creates a need for extended transmission lines, and causes transmission losses. Bulk buyers are now pricing the energy they buy accordingly, reducing the viability of some solar projects.

Storage - we still need energy 16hrs/day when solar is unavailable. Australia's usage is around 200TWh/y approximately 500GWh/day. that is 16,000 times the SA battery which cost $90,000,000 and which will need to be replaced in under 10 years. Snowy 2 will take a tiny fraction. 

System stability - at more than 30% renewable (variable) input such as wind and solar, the grid becomes unstable. Google the problems they are having in Germany, where they have had to ask neighbouring countries to take excess energy.

 

In brief, experience shows the higher the percentage of renewable energy, the higher the cost per unit to households. eg Germany, SA.

 

BTW I worked in the NSW electricity industry for 20 years, my Elec Eng Cert was based on transmission and system control.

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by Ozman52

[ThaiBunny]

Domestic solar panels are only half the solution at best. During peak times (when no-one's at home) you're "selling" the surplus back to the grid for peanuts, only to be charged by the grid when the sun goes down. To make optimal usage you need battery storage. Modern batteries can be programmed so that they don't feed you power from their storage at the cheapest time of the week day (night or off-peak) but you buy it from the grid instead. During sunlight hours the surplus you don't use can be stored to flatten out your usage at peak and shoulder times and on weekends

[kevvy]

19 hours ago, Chrisdoc said:

I'm outside Melbourne on holiday now. Low of 4 degrees tonight. Only first week of winter

Sent from my Lenovo TB-8304F1 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

mate bring me back some pine nuts ... scarce as rocking horse <deleted> here heheh

[kevvy]

4 hours ago, tingtongtourist said:

um excuse my ignorance but what does rolling them in flour achieve?

make them look thinner or are you gonna batter them?

lol

roll them in flour means they are fat and the flour will show the wet spot ...hahahah

[Ozman52]

2 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

Domestic solar panels are only half the solution at best. During peak times (when no-one's at home) you're "selling" the surplus back to the grid for peanuts, only to be charged by the grid when the sun goes down. To make optimal usage you need battery storage. Modern batteries can be programmed so that they don't feed you power from their storage at the cheapest time of the week day (night or off-peak) but you buy it from the grid instead. During sunlight hours the surplus you don't use can be stored to flatten out your usage at peak and shoulder times and on weekends

The daily demand curve for NSW looked much like a high day time plain, a low night time plain, with savage peaks around brekkie/start of work and dinner/TV. If you have a solar installation feeding back into the grid you will also have a new "smart" meter which savagely increases tariffs during those peaks. Definitely the time to use your battery.

 

With so much solar coming on line costs of day time power are also dropping. Some ff generators are prepared to sell energy at cost or even a small loss as it is cheaper than shutting down and restarting. The 660MW Toshiba units installed in NSW are designed for near constant use; stop/start would reduce their life considerably. 

 

 

[Lacessit]

3 hours ago, Ozman52 said:

Half the problem is right there, people with no knowledge entitled to an opinion, and influencing politicians to act.

What else is wrong with solar power:

Availability - the rating of a solar panel is at direct sunlight. At all other times it is reduced by the cosine of the angle of incidence from vertical. For fixed panels, this varies both daily and seasonally, and direct incidence may never be achieved most days. For 8 hrs/d maximum @ less than 60 deg you will have more than half your panels rating, reduced by atmospheric dust, clouds, shading. Typically 18% of 24hrs output is returned if located in a desert.

Variability - as well as the known, weather can reduce output with little notice. To counter this, fossil fuel spinning reserve is required. IE generation available but not being used. this is NOT FREE.

Location - most solar farms are located away from city centres, where land is cheap. This creates a need for extended transmission lines, and causes transmission losses. Bulk buyers are now pricing the energy they buy accordingly, reducing the viability of some solar projects.

Storage - we still need energy 16hrs/day when solar is unavailable. Australia's usage is around 200TWh/y approximately 500GWh/day. that is 16,000 times the SA battery which cost $90,000,000 and which will need to be replaced in under 10 years. Snowy 2 will take a tiny fraction. 

System stability - at more than 30% renewable (variable) input such as wind and solar, the grid becomes unstable. Google the problems they are having in Germany, where they have had to ask neighbouring countries to take excess energy.

 

In brief, experience shows the higher the percentage of renewable energy, the higher the cost per unit to households. eg Germany, SA.

 

BTW I worked in the NSW electricity industry for 20 years, my Elec Eng Cert was based on transmission and system control.

 

The argument for baseline power is getting a little bit tired, no? Households with modern powerwall batteries can operate outside the gold-plated grids. I suggest you do some reading on the alternative uses of solar energy, such as creating a fuel that does not emit carbon dioxide.

I was one of the first people in the state of Victoria to get solar panels fitted. With them, my power bill was less than $10 a month thanks to feed-in tariffs.

Power companies in Australia have been predators for decades. They are now shitting themselves the gravy train is ending and their market is shrinking, because wealthier households are opting out and installing solar panels to the point they are basically independent of the grid. All they have left is the poorer customers.

I'd like to introduce you to a farmer in the Nymagee area of western New South Wales. However, given the monopoly behaviour he was subjected to by his electricity company on the issue of transmission, he might want to string you up from one of your own power poles.

[Lacessit]

3 hours ago, madmen said:

A single guy rarely rents a house and a family will not rent a studio. To much generalisation. Also business people and high end income earners can give the government 50% tax or they can put it towards tax deductible items like a BMW (if not office bound) and the latest Iphone and really nothing to do with impressing anyone

Not sure what your point is. Business people and high end income earners don't need to be minimalistic. They are a minority of the Australian population. I'm talking about the majority.

The Australian tax system is crying out for rort reform, but I don't expect you to agree with that.

In my condo, there are several Thai families renting studios.

Edited June 8, 2019 by Lacessit

[Ozman52]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

The argument for baseline power is getting a little bit tired, no? Households with modern powerwall batteries can operate outside the gold-plated grids. I suggest you do some reading on the alternative uses of solar energy, such as creating a fuel that does not emit carbon dioxide.

I was one of the first people in the state of Victoria to get solar panels fitted. With them, my power bill was less than $10 a month thanks to feed-in tariffs.

Power companies in Australia have been predators for decades. They are now shitting themselves the gravy train is ending and their market is shrinking, because wealthier households are opting out and installing solar panels to the point they are basically independent of the grid. All they have left is the poorer customers.

I'd like to introduce you to a farmer in the Nymagee area of western New South Wales. However, given the monopoly behaviour he was subjected to by his electricity company on the issue of transmission, he might want to string you up from one of your own power poles.

I have no problem with households generating their own energy, but don't let the fact that you were grossly overpaid by govt subsidies for the energy you sold get in the way of facts. The number of solar panels and wind turbines needed to generate 500GWh/day, the number of batteries needed to store most of that for peaks and night use, is truly enormous and hugely expensive. What do we do on a cold, still cloudy day, or week - stay in bed?

I assume the fuel you are referring to is Hydrogen. Having worked with and generated it for 28 years, I will tell you it is a most dangerous substance. Tiny molecules leak very easily, its explosive range is huge, it self ignites through static spark, it burns with an extremely hot clear blue flame difficult to see in sunlight, and all work on Hydrogen equipment is done with bronze tools to reduce the risk of sparking and fire. 

But hey, you had solar panels on your house, so you must be an expert.

[billd766]

On 6/6/2019 at 12:24 PM, ParadiseLost said:

My daughter mentioned this week that my grandchild had lost her jersey at school ...to replace it - $55! She is 6 years old.

My son is 14 and I bought 2 sets of blue shirts and blue tracksuit bottoms from my sons school at 470 baht a set which at KBanks forex TT rate came to AUD 21.96. And I thought I was being seen off.

[tingtongtourist]

5 hours ago, kevvy said:

roll them in flour means they are fat and the flour will show the wet spot ...hahahah

yes i just been explained that.

im not so keen since flour can also make sticky fudge chocolate!

[Lacessit]

7 hours ago, Ozman52 said:

I have no problem with households generating their own energy, but don't let the fact that you were grossly overpaid by govt subsidies for the energy you sold get in the way of facts. The number of solar panels and wind turbines needed to generate 500GWh/day, the number of batteries needed to store most of that for peaks and night use, is truly enormous and hugely expensive. What do we do on a cold, still cloudy day, or week - stay in bed?

I assume the fuel you are referring to is Hydrogen. Having worked with and generated it for 28 years, I will tell you it is a most dangerous substance. Tiny molecules leak very easily, its explosive range is huge, it self ignites through static spark, it burns with an extremely hot clear blue flame difficult to see in sunlight, and all work on Hydrogen equipment is done with bronze tools to reduce the risk of sparking and fire. 

But hey, you had solar panels on your house, so you must be an expert.

I agree hydrogen is very dangerous. That's why CSIRO has developed technology to transport it safely in the form of ammonia, then reconstitute it at the point of use. The Chinese are lining up with open wallets to develop the system past pilot plant stage. I guess you were so focused on putting me down your reading didn't get that far.

Australia gets more sunshine than anywhere else on the planet. It's only the retards in politics and the fossil fuel industry that are preventing us from being a premier supplier of renewable energy.

I'm a retired research scientist from the private sector, so your argument ad verecundiam doesn't cut any ice with me. Save the sarcasm for someone else.

[ThaiBunny]

8 hours ago, Ozman52 said:

I have no problem with households generating their own energy

We can rest easy in our beds

[Ozman52]

4 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I agree hydrogen is very dangerous. That's why CSIRO has developed technology to transport it safely in the form of ammonia, then reconstitute it at the point of use. The Chinese are lining up with open wallets to develop the system past pilot plant stage. I guess you were so focused on putting me down your reading didn't get that far.

Australia gets more sunshine than anywhere else on the planet. It's only the retards in politics and the fossil fuel industry that are preventing us from being a premier supplier of renewable energy.

I'm a retired research scientist from the private sector, so your argument ad verecundiam doesn't cut any ice with me. Save the sarcasm for someone else.

Well research scientist, I would love to hear your solutions for storing the energy required, and the number of renewable generators we would have to install to supply it.

Strangely enough, I also worked on a Kellog ammonium plant in Newcastle for nearly 10 years, hence my experience with Hydrogen, and know how nasty it can be. 

Could you give me a guesstimate of how many tonnes/day would need to be produced to cater for 400GWh, or do you stick to platitudes like Australia has more sunlight than anywhere else? some hard numbers go a long way to establishing credibility.

Political retards have the near impossible task of converting ill-informed voters pie-in-the-sky ideas into practical reality. 

BTW you didn't mention your field of research.