Dense Suburbia, Solar power in Boronia Heights
As suggested by the title this study examines the possibilities of solar power in the dense housing of the suburb of Boronia Heights.
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Location – A suburb with a population of over 7500 individuals, Boronia Heights is situated about 6 miles south west of Logan City and about 18 miles south from Brisbane GPO. The western and northern sides of this suburb are completely bordered by the neighboring area of Greenbank. To the east it is bordered by Park Ridge and Regent parks, and to the north by the locality of Hillcrest.
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Real Estate – Boronia Heights was named after the first housing estate of the same name that was built in this area. Already a densely developed suburb with all the land release used up long ago, Boronia Heights does have real estate, but mostly in the form of built houses or recycled farms offered as suburban homes after re-development. There is also a section of it as a protected reserve namely the Boronia Bushland Reserve which is of course not up for development. Houses here are sought after as most of the homes are fairly affordable with prices ranging from 250,000 Australian dollars to about 300,000 dollars.
There are also a few exclusive homes and sub localities which are more expensive, depending on the offering. Some house to the west which have a larger yard area and more built up space often go for more than 500,000 dollars.
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Solar power potential – The solar power potential in Boronia Heights will be completely centered on Providing power supplement or alternative to individual homes and to public infrastructure.
It will be difficult to put in solar power in already established homes as families running from the grid will be reluctant to switch to solar power. This is due to the high initial cost of setting up the infrastructure. Some houses which are being redeveloped may be offered with pre-installed solar power, but that is few and far between.
With incentivized plans and some subsidization of solar power equipment suburban areas like Boronia Heights can be encouraged to take up solar power. Otherwise it would seem a mighty difficult task.
Public infrastructure like street lighting, water supplies and other amenities is one area where power consumption and reliance on the conventional power grid can be reduced by the use of solar power. Suburbs tend to be a huge drain on any locality’s resources. Power generation for utilities and peripheral services for densely populated suburbs contribute quite heavily to emissions of greenhouse gases.
With the use of solar power in these fields a lot can be achieved. From street lighting, water supply, water filtration, waste management can be at least partly run with the help of solar power becoming more energy efficient.
Suburbia is set to grow in the areas of Southeastern Queensland. Solar power for
Boronia Heights may be tricky but newer developments need to be put on the solar power path for good reasons. Before the growth itself, the plans need to be in place to push for renewable sources like solar power.