Calm Code

Electric Dreams

A long time ago when I was a wee little lad (too many medieval movies) I built a solar house for a school science fair.

It had a real solar panel, a car battery and a small fluorescent tube light. It wasn't small so it took a couple of guys to move around.

During the day I had it outside to charge and later we moved it into a dark classroom for maximum effect.

Very few people took notice. I explained that it was the future. Sri Lanka had very cheap hydro electricity at the time and solar panels were very expensive. It was a hard sell.

Later in 1998 when I got my first internship at a software company I had the privilege to work at the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). My job was to update some systems ahead of the millennium crisis.

At the entrance of the CEB head office they had a future centre. It showed off the latest compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL) and solar panels. The posters said that this was the future. I was impressed.

Back then solar wasn't very viable for most people. Today things have changed and residential solar has picked up rapidly. The government incentives and dropping solar panel costs have helped immensely.

In 2019 with the help of the Solar Homes Program I was able to get solar panels setup at my home. It has since halved my winter power bill and I pay only about 20AUD a month in summer. We have shifted to working with the sun to optimise electricity usage.

We have come a long way and I continue to be impressed.

That boy standing in a dark room selling the idea of solar and a more sustainable future thanks you. 🙏🏼

Let's keep going! ☀️