Green Energy Great

I’ve only been in Australia for a few weeks, but already I like a lot of the ways they do things. I like the idea of anyone being able to go to ANY cafe. Back in my home country, there’s a system for cafes and other public eateries so complicated that you can grow up there and still sometimes get confused. Social rules for the ages of people who can eat there, certain times of day are only for elderly folks, and if the person running the place decides that don’t want you to enter they can and will just turn you away at the door. Sometimes for something as simple as being a new face.

Those are the rules. Not in Melbourne. At home it also doesn’t have what you’d call a robust green energy system. In fact, having any sort of commercial solar solutions is seen as extremely niche, and to some more traditional people, stealing from the sun. No young person I know holds to any belief like that, but old habits, you know? I’m doing a bit of work for the electricity sector at the moment, so I’m making a lot of inevitable comparisons. I also like how power saving is so public here. There’s that giant battery in the middle of the city that people can use to charge their phones, that new display of commercial LED lighting that’s controlled via dance, and apparently there’s also a vigilante running around with a battery pack suit. Not sure about that last one, to be honest. I read it in the Trumpeting Moon, and everyone in the office said that it’s a tabloid full of lies. But…they had pictures…

Anyway. I think you can tell a lot about a country by how green their energy is. If i went back to my old office and told them I’ve been using a commercial solar panel calculator, no one would have a clue what that even was. Give them a few years, though. My people are always looking to get into the latest Australian ‘trends’. Kinda wish it was more even in that respect.