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February 2011
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Solar power for the night A THERMAL battery that stores the sun’s power for use at night has been invented in Frankston North and is attracting interest from around the world. Stephen Bradbury, left, of Solar Flare International and team have found the holy grail of solar power generation and the principle has been successfully applied to base load solar power stations in South Australia, Spain, the United States and Middle East, but not on a domestic scale. Mr Bradbury has a trial set-up in a Mt Eliza home that stores 50 kilowatts of thermal energy and 20Kw of thermal electrical energy. An average family home uses 50Kw a day. The trial battery is charged to 220 degrees by two automated parabolic trough mirrors. They can be charged by any solar or waste heat generated by industrial ovens, kilns, generating plants and boilers. “Co-generation opportunities will soon to be available for homes and small businesses such as panel beaters, bakers and pizza makers that will significantly offset emissions and reduce energy bills,” Mr Bradbury said. The cost is about half that of an equivalent solar panel system. “The future of the world is electric and the best way of generating electricity is the sun. Our battery enables the energy to be available 24 hours a day. Micro power stations using the sun and recycle waste heat are the way of the future.” Details: Stephen Bradbury, 0415 463 425 or www.solarflareinternational.com
Saints not sinners
By Mike Hast FRANKSTON City Council has confirmed its support for St Kilda Football Club’s schools visiting program following the nude photo scandal. The football world was rocked on 20 December when a 17-year-old girl posted on Facebook a nude photo
Council backs school visits program
of captain Nick Riewoldt and semiclad Zac Dawson and Nick Dal Santo that had been taken by backman Sam Gilbert on the 2009 end of season trip to Miami, US. The photos were allegedly uploaded
by the teenager who claimed she fell pregnant after having sex with two AFL players earlier this year and had been badly treated after losing the baby at three months. The teenager was among a number
of students at Frankston High School who attended a Saints’ football clinic at the school last year, but she said she had not been pursued by Gilbert or any other Saints player that day and had not received a phone number from any player at the clinic. She met Gilbert and other AFL players socially for the first time in
Sydney after the round 1 St Kilda versus Sydney Swans match on 27 March last year. An AFL investigation into her complaint found the St Kilda players involved were not at fault and no police charges were laid. Continued Page 6
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