It has long been an irony that Germany instals more solar panels than any other country, yet it receives only a fraction of the solar irradiation of a country like Australia or Spain. “At the moment, Germany dominates the solar market in Europe with a 90 percent share. But strong growth in other European countries, especially in southern Europe, will see Germany’s share fall to about 50 percent in the next few years,” Christoph Wolfsegger of EPIA told RenewableEnergyAccess.com.

Looking for news of info on renewable energy but don’t know where to look? Try searching AEoogle, the alternative energy search engine put together by Alternative Energy News and powered by Google. However there is no Australian search option, unlike Google.

Many oil industry analysts, such as Matthew Simmons, claim that the world has reached peak oil. For a visual but non-technical display of what that means click here.

Australians have an enormous appettite for fossil fuels. In 2006 Australia consumed 28 billion litres of petrol and deisel.  And Australian cars average 12 Litres per 100 kilometres. That’s very thirsty when you consider a conventional petrol car such as a Fiat Punto will use only 4.4L/ 100km.  We continue to buy large 4 wheel drives and our governments insist on spending billions on highway upgrades. Meanwhile the Parramatta to Chatswood rail line is delayed and shortened to stop at Epping. When it is built this line will include a station at Macquarie University. This will be Sydney’s first university to have its own train station! On your bike.