Its Too Expensive

I have recently had some interesting events happen at work not to mention some extremely interesting conversations over lunch with some of my fabulous colleagues. The most recent spate of conversation has been around a couple of things that interest. Firstly the things we take for granted. At one of our work events I was engaged in a interesting conversation about energy and how we as human being take the energy that we use for granted. In fact it occurred to me that until I began working at Horizon Power I had not put a lot of thought into the energy that we use other than to turn the lights off because I would like to reduce the cost of my electricity bill. However since working at HP my thoughts are turning towards other forms of energy like sustainable energy, wind, turbine and solar energy. When you think about the environment that we inhabit here in WA there are areas of the state that would benefit greatly from any of these types of energy sources whilst keeping costs down for energy users. However when i mention this to whomever wants to listen I seem to get the same response 'it's too expensive'. This comment has baffled me a little because I am still trying to figure out which part is too expensive. Is it too expensive for the initial installation of sustainable energy sources? Is it to expensive to run? Is it too expensive in terms of the cost of materials? Is it too expensive to build? 

All of these questions enter my over active brain and when I ask for clarity I get the same answer 'its too expensive'. 'Yes' I say but which part is 'too expensive'? I understand the response what I don't understand is that when I ask for clarity nobody seems to be able to respond adequately. This leads me to the conclusion that nobody really wants to answer the question.

My thoughts (and they are totally random uneducated thoughts about sustainable energy which I know nothing about other than the basics), is that nobody can clarify the answer because the truth is it may be expensive in the short term; in the long term it is probably going to put a lot of people out of work if we build sustainable power stations. Realistically energy resource centres could be run electronically using natural resources to harness the energy needed to power entire towns, cities etc. I think if we where truly engaged in the process of sustainable energy as a future building block to reduce carbon emissions we could have done so by now. We have the science and the technology to produce sustainable energy resource centres.

So what's stopping us 'ITS TOO EXPENSIVE'.

Secondly, I had a stimulating conversation about water and the use of water and the effects on our environment and about the lack of drinking water in WA. To add to that concern is a thought that has been floating around in the back of my mind and that is that we are not experiencing enough rainfall this winter? One of the interesting things that came out of my conversations with my colleagues is that the Boab tree which grows so beautifully in the Kimberley is a natural water storage container. Therefore you would think that Boab trees are registered as a protected plant species. Well I would have thought that our lack of water would have given someone the idea that a Boab tree should be registered purely as a water vessel. But alas no, you guessed it our Boab tree is not registered as a protected plant species. Why you ask? I don't really know the answer to that but I will take a stab int he dark and suggest that it probably has something to do with the abundance of the plant. For a plant to be protected it needs to be close to being extinct. My theory is that the Boab only grows in the Kimberley and I am not sure if it grows in the NT, however if it does it is still rare because it is only growing in certain areas, although it is abundant in those areas. Despite that it should still be protected not because of the abundance issue but more so because Boab trees do store drinking water. The natural water bottle so to speak.  

Of course the other reason may be that 'ITS TOO EXPENSIVE'.

Who would have thought...lol!

Life is good....!