My Biggest Mistake With Solar Panels

Installing solar isn’t all plain sailing. In addition to the complexities of matching energy production to energy use, and the huge amount of math that goes into crunching whether you will or won’t break even, there are other obstacles. This article is about the biggest ‘trap for young players’ that I fell into when installing solar.

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Our plan to cut winter heating costs by 67%

I like to think of a motel as one big eternal cost-cutting operation. The way we can afford to pay our staff more is by keeping overheads as low as possible.

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Pros and cons of ebikes for seniors

The other day while I stopping by at a local cafe a gentleman buttonholed me before I got on my bike and asked whether I thought the ebike I was riding would be suitable for a senior. He clarified that a lady he knew had recently suffered dementia and as a result had lost her license. She was 69 years old with no form of transportation.

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The Levin Petrol Price Conundrum Calculator

I know that many people in Otaki are currently making the trip each week to Levin to refuel their vehicles because of the cheaper prices that are available up there.

So I’ve created a calculator so people can see for themselves whether the trip is really worth it.
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Why it’s a good idea now to start using inflation smart strategies

New Zealand is nearing full employment. The government has just announced a series of increases not only to the minimum wage, but to allowances and pensions as well. Fuel has jumped above $2 per litre for most parts of New Zealand, with a clear plan to increase the excise by 3c per litre per year. So why is now a good time, with all the money going around, to start to adopt some inflation-smart practices?

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Fuel savings calculator – how much do you save by travelling to work on an ebike?

I’ve finally figured out how to create calculators on this blog – so here is my first calculator, hopefully first of many! Just a simple way to roughly calculate the amount of money you save in fuel by transiting to work on an ebike.
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What’s the ROI for an ebike?

I got in the habit of riding my bike to work every day while visiting my mum up in the Coromandel and I’m finding it a rather hard habit to shake. The problem is, now my work is 25 km away instead of 5 km away. Could an ebike help with this situation?

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Excuse me, but why does anybody need solar power batteries?

Today I intend to lay out a system that works well in harnessing the power of the sun, without the need for any costly solar power batteries.
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