Guest Cozzy Posted October 18, 2011 Report Share Posted October 18, 2011 Hi There, Im a 40 year old Plumbing and heating engineer currently working in the domestic boiler installation field and have been for a long time. I run my own company in South England and where it is so full on here i havent had much time to do any extra training in the Renewable Energy areas ie; Solar, Air to Air, Ground source heat pumps etc etc. Now my question is this (And it is probably directed at similar engineers who have gone over to Perth already) Do I/ Should I do any training in England in these fields prior to coming over next year? Or just wait and do the training there. Im aware that the qualifications wont stand in Oz and that if i want to work in this area i will need to retrain over there any how. But having already had prior training already i will be able to fast track through a bit and get to earning money quicker! (Thats the plan anyway!! Ha!) Has any one done anything like this in Perth?? Is there much demand for Renewables there?? Is the training expensive?? Is there alot of Solar in Perth?? (Is that a silly question!) Are the Oz Goverment pushing Renewables over there?? Im afraid that being an old school Gas fitter i never really imagined that the damn stuff would run out as such. I went to a Worcestor Boilers seminar for renewables the other day and the guy said that the plan is that by 2016 there will be NO gas run into ANY new builds in England!! I found that very hard to get in my head around!!.... And it dawned on me that my skills which are high demand here might not be much use in Perth as such. Any feed back is greatly appreciated and if anyone wants to offer me a full time job please feel free!! Im coming over next summer and have been in this game since the tender age of 16 so I aint a bad fitter !! (Ha!...Worth a Punt!) This is my Company in England; http://WWW.XCELPLUMBING.BIZ Thanks Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portlaunay Posted October 18, 2011 Report Share Posted October 18, 2011 Hi, I'm no heating engineer or plumber but I can give you a layman's point of view albeit a very immature one as I've only been here a few months. I'm staggered at the lack of development of renewable energy. Considering the amount of sun I expected to see solar panels everywhere and I see just a handful of houses with them especially in areas like Fremantle where the local authority fiercely protect the look of the old buildings. I hear that this is the worlds third windiest city too but I've yet to see a turbine and since water is such a scarce resource it's incredible how little rainwater collection there is. As far as I'm aware you're also not allowed to do much with rain/gray water except use it on your garden so even with effective filtration you can't bathe or shower in it. It's the one thing I'm most disappointed about life here; the environment here is rich in renewable energy but it is underutilised and concrete housing continues to dominate. I would love to know why this is and just before we came Ben Elton (yes, that Ben Elton who lives in Fremantle), gave a lecture about renewable energy and green issues. Sadly I missed it but he raised some important points I believe and there is a growing population concerned with this. Personally I don't think it can continue here as it does so any skills and experience you can bring may allow you to exploit a gap in the market and surely couldn't be a bad thing. The universities here run environmental courses but I'm not sure they're what you'd be looking for. Check out this as a start point; http://www.trainingwa.wa.gov.au/trainingwa/detcms/portal/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cozzy Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Hey thanks again for an interesting reply. It is quite amazing that they havent made the most of the natural resources out there and it does sound like something i need to look at. There is houses being built in England right now that are totally self sufficient and are able to sell energy that they produce back to the national grid. Gary Neville the footballer has just had such a house built....Zero energy bills and almost zero emissions! Not a bad investment for your future id say. I will look into the link, Many Thanks. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portlaunay Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 There are few building projects pretty close to you that I really like; the Resource Centre at the Horniman Museum, the Bedzed housing project in Sutton and further afield, the housing projects that Hemmingway Designs have worked on. There's a load of examples of eco-builds in the UK, some more successful than others but I was surprised and really disappointed by the number of exciting projects here that seem disinterested in environmental issues. It has to change here, a lot of people complain at the price of water when a few years ago it cost very little. Talk now is that in the future a considerable amount of water will come from desalination plants, a process that consumes a huge amount of energy and is very costly. I don't intend on buying here, I'd much rather build my own or better still, transform an existing structure into a dwelling. When I do so I'd certainly like to use it as a showcase for eco design so you never know, we may have a conversation about this in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackboots Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 We have just bought our first house here in Perth ( in March ) the first things we did were to pop in Solar Water and Solar Electic , again you sell back to the grid .. i also find it facinating that they don't do this as standard with new buildings now a days and some sort of grey water sytem for the gardens ... Price ?? maybe .. shame though sorry not much help with the Jobs advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cozzy Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 Thanks for the replies and yes please do stay in touch. Kind Regards Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vinny1275 Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 Don't live in Perth (yet), but with the new carbon tax plans, I can't see it being long before the Aussies start taking renewables more seriously - You could easily make the standard Oz house more efficient, and it wouldn't cost much to do at build time - like with anything, it's far cheaper to design it in from the start. If I was building my own place, I'd spec hemcrete blocks, cavity wall insulation, double (or maybe triple) glazed self-cleaning windows, grey water and rainwater collection, solar panels on the roof and maybe a couple of small wind turbines. At the moment I think the cost of energy in Australia isn't sufficiently high to warrant the investment in renewables, but in a few years I think it'll change. This is just me looking on from the sidelines, not from any massive amount of analysis. Havind said that, I was looking at some housebuilders adverts online the other week, and a few seem to be throwing in free solar panels and controllers as sweeteners on new houses, so it must be starting to get into the mainstream consciousness... Cheers Vince Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 Don't live in Perth (yet), but with the new carbon tax plans, I can't see it being long before the Aussies start taking renewables more seriously - You could easily make the standard Oz house more efficient, and it wouldn't cost much to do at build time - like with anything, it's far cheaper to design it in from the start. If I was building my own place, I'd spec hemcrete blocks, cavity wall insulation, double (or maybe triple) glazed self-cleaning windows, grey water and rainwater collection, solar panels on the roof and maybe a couple of small wind turbines. At the moment I think the cost of energy in Australia isn't sufficiently high to warrant the investment in renewables, but in a few years I think it'll change. This is just me looking on from the sidelines, not from any massive amount of analysis. Havind said that, I was looking at some housebuilders adverts online the other week, and a few seem to be throwing in free solar panels and controllers as sweeteners on new houses, so it must be starting to get into the mainstream consciousness... Cheers Vince Ha ha the govt is on its way out over The carbon tax , state gobts are cutting back rebate tariffs on solar and WA has cut the rebate on installation , WA and oz is only afloat because of mining coAl , iron ore gold . Chinese economy catches a cold and were rooted the mining industry Is the hub of all the other satellite industries , solar power was popular with the rebate tarriffs to subsidize the high bills with aircon systems , when the rebates were phased out there were loads of contract to supply solar cancelled --- I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-31.632056,115.702647 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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