Hass letter to parliament

Dear Mr. Whitby:

I hope this email finds you well. My name is Tyson Bortolotti, and I am a year 8 student at All Saint’s College. I’m writing to you today to talk about Western Australia’s renewable energy. I have researched how we can improve renewable energy sources that Western Australia is already using and I would like to share my thoughts with you.

In 2019 the government spent 3.5 billion dollars installing rooftop solar panels in residential areas.  This is a great investment because it will reduce electricity costs to users and does not require extensive maintenance.

Solar doesn’t produce any greenhouse gasses making it environmentally friendly and after the initial installation cost there are zero fees. A large portion of Australian families are dual income homes meaning they both work during the day and then return to their homes as the sun goes down to begin using electricity hungry appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, air conditioners and heaters etc therefore, they are using the majority of their power after the solar panel has stopped producing energy.

The inclusion of a battery/ energy storage in the home would make solar panel power a far more effective resource benefiting both the homeowner and more importantly the environment.

Education in the community of the benefits to include this in all homes is an important first step as it is one step closer to becoming a fully sustainable country.

Whilst the government has done a great job of implementing solar panels I now feel funding the installation of batteries is the next step forward.

Funding together with education would be beneficial for our community and environment.

Kind regards

Tyson Bortolotti

Bibliography

References

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James, A. (2013, May 13). Three Ways to Increase Hydropower Efficiency and Revenues. Renewable Energy World. https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/baseload/three-ways-to-increase-hydropower-efficiency-and-revenues/#gref

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Mullane, J. (2021, May 20). Pros & Cons of Solar Energy | Costs Vs Benefits – Canstar Blue. Canstar Blue. https://www.canstarblue.com.au/solar/pros-cons-solar/

Pros & Cons of Solar Panels (Watch this video before you invest). (2014a). Greenmatch.co.uk. https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/2014/08/5-advantages-and-5-disadvantages-of-solar-energy

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Scientists design solar cell that captures nearly all energy of solar spectrum. (2017). ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170711220514.htm#:~:text=The%20new%20device%20uses%20concentrator,can%20be%20developed%20cost%20effectively.

Solar energy. (2018). Australian Renewable Energy Agency. https://arena.gov.au/renewable-energy/solar/

Steering wind power in a new direction: How to improve production. (2019a). Stanford Earth. https://earth.stanford.edu/news/steering-wind-power-new-direction-how-improve-production#gs.0hh1se

Steering wind power in a new direction: How to improve production. (2019b). Stanford Earth. https://earth.stanford.edu/news/steering-wind-power-new-direction-how-improve-production#gs.0vkst1

SunPower. (2019, June 24). The Pros and Cons of Solar Energy. SunPower – United States. https://us.sunpower.com/pros-and-cons-solar-energy

What are the problems faced by renewable energy? | Regen Power. (2021, May 25). Regen Power. https://regenpower.com/articles/what-are-the-problems-faced-by-renewable-energy/#:~:text=Renewable%20energy%20sources%20generate%20most,energy%20and%20wind%20are%20unpredictable.

Why. (2014). Why Wave Power Has Lagged Far Behind as Energy Source. Yale E360. https://e360.yale.edu/features/why_wave_power_has_lagged_far_behind_as_energy_source#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20long%20contended%20that,generate%20electricity%20from%20the%20sea.

Why aren’t we looking at more hydropower? (2021). MIT Climate Portal. https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/why-arent-we-looking-more-hydropower#:~:text=Hydropower%20can%20also%20cause%20environmental,fish%2C%20birds%20and%20other%20wildlife.

Why Clean Energy is Important | Buy Clean Energy. (2017). Buycleanenergy.org. https://buycleanenergy.org/why#:~:text=Energy%20Security-,Renewable%20energy%20provides%20reliable%20power%20supplies%20and%20fuel%20diversification%2C%20which,conserve%20the%20nation’s%20natural%20resources.

Zafar, S. (2021, June 29). 5 Actionable Tips to Use More Renewable Energy. BioEnergy Consult. https://www.bioenergyconsult.com/tips-to-use-more-renewable-energy/

Science Sleek geek

To find the video go to Microsoft stream and search science Sleek geek and click the most recent one.

The project we have been working on was the coke and mentos experiment. We decided to use this experiment to demonstrate how change happens and what type of change it is.

We organised our group by every lesson making sure we all had something to do and if it wasn’t finished then it was their responsibility to finish it before the next lesson. We all gave input on what we thought would work and then we created our idea based on the most liked idea. If I was the repeat this activity I would try and work better as a group so that there is a more even spread of responsibility across the group.

Our group had very similar thoughts and ideas so they were little to no disagreements whatsoever. We did need to use any strategies to resolve any problems because there weren’t any. Something I would do to improve the work aspect of this task is to spend more time in the green room and make sure the script is good English/ makes sense.

We managed our time ok I would have liked to manage it a bit better so we weren’t as rushed and so we didn’t waste as many lessons as we did. Besides all that we managed to finish our project on time just not to the standard, I would have wanted. Something I would have improved if I got another chance is making sure that we were ready for the next lesson and didn’t have to do any at home.