Green Team Australia

A New Green Mini D

Our Production Manager Mal Proctor and his partner Margaret have just become the proud owner of Australia's greenest car – the Mini Cooper D (D for diesel).

The fuel consumption for the Cooper D is officially rated as 3.9 litres per 100 kms (combined country / city), that's 72 mpg in the old money, 'but we'll be keeping a close eye on it and trying to do better' says Mal.

With a CO2 figure of only 104g/km the green Mini has only just been beaten by the new Toyota Prius as the cleanest car on Australian roads, but it's a race that is hotting up as manufactures release a growing list of cleaner and more fuel efficient vehicles in response to consumer demand.

Mal and Margaret reckon it will be a while before anyone matches the Mini for pure style and driving pleasure in a green package.

Despite stalling at the first set of traffic lights (another fuel saving feature!) it was smooth sailing all the way to Tassie .

Sales Manager Paul of South Melbourne Mini Garage points out some of the advanced technology thats helps deliver the Mini's exceptional performance.

All smiles as the keys (actually a smart chip) are handed over.

Green Team goes solar

Two of Green Team's team - Interactive Producer, Troy, and Production Manager, Mal - have chosen to take advantage of the Fed Govt's solar panel rebate scheme, installing panels on their Tassie homes. This is what they had to say about it...

Troy Daniels 

"We have always wanted to have PV Solar Grid interactive panels on our little Franklin, Huon Valley, 'shed' [see pic below], but a few years ago the cost was prohibitive. With the $8000 government rebate now in effect, it made the cost of the investment more affordable. The initial quote for the 1 Kilowatt system was approximately $14,000, and the out-of-pocket expense was going to be around $$3600. Then our local solar panel installer offered a $0 expense system, and we decided to take advantage of it! We average 7 Kw per day of electricity use; with the solar panels we hope to generate an average of 3-4 Kw per day with peak northern exposure, hopefully reducing our power demand to the 30-40% range and contributing to grid for the power we don't use. We should have the system installed sometime in the next 3 months over the carport area - we'll update you then!"

Check out Troy's straw-bale house-in-progress at www.ecohaustasmania.com

Mal Proctor

"Why am I going solar? I love the way my little solar panel keeps my boat batteries charged. My batteries are still in excellent condition after eight years of service; prior to solar charging this battery life was unheard of. I also loved managing the Maatsuyker Island Remote Area Power System when I was there [see Mal's Green Team blog entries]: monitoring the input and output was a daily task and I got to see how much benefit we received from the solar panels (and wind generator).

So why not do it at home! I feel strongly about Australia's poor performance in the solar energy world, given our natural advantages and, with the generous start-up rebate, it's a no-brainer. After years of criticising Australia for lagging behind Europe and the world in going solar, I figure doing it at my Coningham, D'Entrecasteaux Channel, home is the way forward for me. Hopefully, more people will do the same, and Australia might begin to make use of our amazing natural resources."