Peter Pedals demonstrates pedal-power, Websters Creek, 1993 Image: © Harsha Prabhu
Three decades ago, I visited Nimbin’s Rainbow Power Company for the first time pondering a change of lifestyle and career. It felt like I had landed in an alternative universe.
I found a ramshackle collective of Aquarius Festival survivors who had built a business out of saving the planet, creating right livelihood and mandating employment equality well before such issues were mainstream.
Recently one of their founders tragically passed away; the inimitable, visionary and wonderfully quirky Peter Pedals. This story is dedicated to Peter, his legacy and his vision.
When the company launched in 1987 there was literally a tiny handful of solar companies selling solar in Australia. The regulations to allow you to connect solar to the grid hadn’t even been created so it was exclusively the domain of homeowners who wanted – or needed – to go off grid. Read more…