The Age reported yesterday that Victorian's water bills will increase by 51 to 64 percent over the next 4 years. The water price rises, approved by the Essential Service Commission, will help supliment water saving measures by the Victorian Government. The Government's water saving measures will include the Sugarloaf and North-South piplines, Eastern Treatment Plant and the Desalination Plant.

Could be a good time to install a water tank!

This is probably not something you'd do to the new Beamer sitting in the driveway but if you've got an early 90's or even 80's car sitting around, then you might like to try a little DIY and have a crack at converting your car to electric energy.

This Guide to Converting your Car To Electric shows how a couple living off the grid were able to convert their car to electric power and spend less than $20 per month to rechard their car.

This build your own electric vehicle guide will show you how to:

• Cut Fuel Costs to Nearly Zero
• Clean Up The Environment
• Get Massive Tax Refunds
• Step by Step how to convert a car to electric

So if you don't want to fork out $40k for a new Prius, but would love to convert your existing car to electric, go check out How To Convert Your Car To Electric.

If you're thinking of installing a rainwater tank to harvest rainwater, use the checklist below to ensure you get the best out of your rain water tank.

1. Make sure you roof is suitable for collecting rainwater.
2. Reduce the amount of debris that will end up in your tank by installing gutter mesh.
3. Fit gutter outlets to the underside of the gutter to prevent obstruction of water flow.
4. Fit leaf eater-beater rain heads to downpipes stop gutters blocking. Leaf eater-beaters deflect leaves and debris and keep mosquitoes out of pipes that hold water.
5. Install a water diverter to prevent the first flush of most contaminated rainwater from entering the tank.
6. Ensure a tank screen is installed at the water tank entry point to filter water and keep mozzies and pests out.
7. Find your nearest rain water tank supplier.
8. Choose a suitable size tank for your home and consumption volumes.
9. Attach insect-proof screens or flap valves to the end of all pipes to the tank screen and to the tank overflow outlets to keep mosquitos and pests out and ensure the tank is well vented.
10. If necessary, utilise a tank "Top-Up" system to automatically top up the tank with mains water when water levels fall to the designated minimum level.
11. Select a water pump system to distribute water for use inside or outside the home.

Here's a great guide that will help you create a sustainable living environment in your home. This book will teach you how to:

• Understanding why you should Go Green;
• Learning to adapt your lifestyle to benefit the planet;
• How and What to Recycle to save our resources;
• Reduce the amount of waste in landfills;
• Help your community;
• Live a healthier life;
• Saving energy and put money in your pocket;
• Recycle home waste products
• Buy the right products with recyclable packaging
• Compost kitchen and yard waste
• Perform Home Energy Audit
• Buy local
• Install rain water tanks
• Plant drought tolerant plants
• Buy energy saving light bulbs (CFL)
• Shop for Energy Star Saving Appliances
• Calculate your carbon footprint

If you're interested in learning more about you can reduce your carbon footprint and living green, check out Going Green, the comprehensive book on home sustainability and living green.

The Age reports that water rates will double by 2011 due to increases is charges by Melbourne Water to water retailers. New water infrastructure programs such as a desalination plant and the north south pipline will significanty bump up water rates.

The Age also reports that this week water storage levels in the state fell to their lowest level since the Thomson Dam was built in 1984.

Read the Full Article in The Age.

Dr Peter Fisher writes about desalination plant alternatives for Melbourne's water woes in The Age today. The article title "Big solutions for our water needs will use more energy" explains the energy hungry nature of desalination plants and puts forward some innovative alternatives to water production.

Read the full article at The Age.

The NSW Government has extended rebates for solar hot water systems rain water and  tanks until 2011. You can now claim up to $2,800 solar hot water systems and $2,000 for rainwater tanks, through a combination of state and federal rebates.

Check out the NSW Dep't Environment & Climate Change website .

In this day and age of environmental awareness I find it difficult to swallow the Vicrtorian governments conviction that large scale desalination plants are the best solution to our water crisis.  Converting salt water to fresh water by means of a desalination plant plant is a highly inefficient way of creating fresh water.

High energy use and consequent high greenhouse gas emissions are the major issue with desalination that need to be addressed. A plant similar to Perth's, even with energy recovery capability, will consume about 24 megawatts of electricity to produce about 45 gigalitres of water per year. This represents about 185,000 megawatt hours of energy per year. - Desalination Report

According to an Environment Victoria report, rainwater tanks are five times more energy efficient than desalination plants, and if fitted to all suitable houses in Melbourne could save up to 84 billion liters of water a year.

Professor Pat Troy's book titles "Troubled Waters", writes that mandatory rainwater tanks, greywater recycling and drycomposting toilets in all new homes would cut potable water use in those homes by 70%.

Personally I agree with making water tanks mandatory in all new homes in Melbourne and Victoria and hope that the Victorian governement decides to put these measures in place before buidling a desalination plant.

We recently launched Australia's fist Rain Water Tanks Directory website.  The Water Tanks Directory currently list water tank suppliers in most major Australian capital cities including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. If you're looking to install a rain water tank in your home, check out the water tank directory for your nearest rain water tank supplier.

It's good to see an Australian wesbsite hosting services catching on to green website hosting. Digital pacific is offering green website hosting in Australia (aff).

Everything that Digital Pacific uses in the operations of our business, including servers, routers and air conditioners are eco powered so not only are you hosting your website on state of the art hardware you are also showing your commitment to a more sustainable world.

The purchase of Digital Pacific hosting services will be equivalent to planting several acres of trees or removing several cars from the road. We have calculated our carbon footprint (emissions) which represent the impact of everything that Digital Pacific uses in the operations of our business, including the hosting servers, routers and air conditioners. In order to neutralise these emissions we have purchased carbon credits to offset emissions.

Digital Pacific's has two data centers, one here in Australia, the other in the states.  All orders are automatically  hosted at the Australian data center unless otherwise requested.  Hosting plans start from just $4.90 per month.

If you're interested in greening your website (aff), checkout Digital Pacific.