Thor harnesses power of the sun

The $20 million home, which the Hemsworth’s are expected to occupy next month, has been under enormous renovations for some time, with many locals apparently stunned at the size of the finished product. The original property featured a Balinese-style villa, now the property better resembles the entire island of Bali itself.  

Recent photos reveal the Hemsworth’s, noted environmental activists, have installed hundreds of solar panels on their mansion’s rooftop. However, the sprawling estate overlooking Seven Mile Beach has been lambasted by some locals as “obscene, greedy, flashy and vulgar”. Of course, by locals, I mean local millionaires irate with their own greed and envy at the arrival of a multi-millionaire. 

Particular umbrage has been taken with the fifty-metre rooftop infinity pool; no doubt paid for by Hemsworth’s performance in last year’s blockbuster, Avengers: Infinity War. Surely, if anything should be labelled “obscene, greedy, flashy and vulgar” it is not a megastar’s meagre Olympic-length swimming pool but that meretricious and infatuating movie. At least an infinity pool can hold water, Infinity War only holds you captive for three hours and somehow releases you younger and stupider than when you went in.  

Other Byron Bay locals have likened the property’s size to that of a Westfield’s Shopping Centre, raising questions as to how a Byron Bay local would know what a Westfield’s Shopping Centre looks like considering they only purchase locally sourced organic produce delivered to their homes via an Amazon paddle board.  

A much better analogy for the sprawling mansion is not the shopping centre but the Balinese-style resort. And how could that be a negative? One less Australian family Balinese locals don’t have to pretend not to hate.  

Awareness of the environmental and financial savings provided by solar PV is strong in the Byron Bay region. Indeed, the Byron Shire Council itself has made a substantial investment in a 5 MW large-scale solar project as it looks to move toward its zero-net emissions and 100% renewable energy goals. 

Byron Bay’s own Smart Energy, a nationwide solar company, spoke to pv magazine Australia last month about its move to NSW’s Northern Rivers. The company, which now boasts 11 offices across Australia and with plans for offices in the U.K., the U.S. and New Zealand, thought Byron Bay to be the perfect location for its HQ.