Michael Bloch, SolarQuotes’ most prolific writer, died last week after a long illness.
Michael joined SolarQuotes in April 2017 and went on to write an extraordinary 3,363 posts over almost nine years. His final article was published on 22 January 2026. That volume alone is remarkable, but it only hints at the impact he had.
How Michael Built A Legacy
Michael’s path into solar and publishing was not a smooth one. After hitting a very hard patch in life, what changed his course was something simple and easily missed. A computer in a public library. That computer was connected to a strange new thing called the internet.
Sitting there, Michael taught himself HTML. He built a website around something he had cared about for decades: looking after the environment. That site led to work at a Melbourne company called Energy Matters.
At the time, in the early 2000s, Energy Matters, a fledgling solar installation business, needed help building a website. Michael was central to building it, shaping not just the words on the page but how the whole thing worked. Almost all of the company’s sales eventually came through the site Michael built, propelling the company to become a pioneer of solar retailing in Australia. In fact, Energy Matters helped launch the careers of many people who went on to build the Australian solar industry as we know it today. None of that happens without the website Michael built, using skills learned quietly in a public library.
In the mid-2010s, Energy Matters was sold to a large American company. The business changed, and not for the better. Around that time, Michael and I met, and he came to work for SolarQuotes.
When Michael joined, SolarQuotes was struggling for visibility in the search results. Michael fixed that. Part of the answer was simple and relentless. Straight news posts on the blog. Every weekday. Every year. Including public holidays and Christmas Day. No clickbait. No fluff. Just clear facts written for people who wanted to understand what was going on.
What most readers never saw was the work Michael did behind the scenes. The structure, the discipline, the quiet technical work that made sure our information reached the people who needed it. Without Michael, SolarQuotes would almost certainly be a much smaller and less useful site.
A Supportive Friend And Colleague
Those who worked closely with Michael knew his dry humour and his kindness. He noticed effort in others and gave praise quietly, often with nothing more than a short message and a few numbers showing a piece of work had landed well. It meant more than applause.
He also cared about tone. He reminded us that talking to readers should be calm, useful, and focused on the issue, not the person. SolarQuotes’ in-house installer Anthony Bennett summed it up simply: Michael offered a north star.
“We lost a good soldier last week. A bloke who should be celebrated more than he will be, but that’s fine because he’s not the sort who ever wanted a fuss made. In the war against hyperbole, marketing spin and energy transition disinformation, there were few better and certainty none more productive. Since 2017 Michael has been listening to the wind, gauging the sunshine, perusing the press releases and then cutting through the bullshit; to bring us news about energy, electrification, technology and policy. Third article in and he was already sticking it to the gas industry. Bless. I’m pretty sure he’d reject the notion, but we really owe him a debt of gratitude. And I don’t mean the royal we of SolarQuotes, rather it’s everyone who’s ever read an article here. Michael helped shape the web presence that made the site such a roaring success,” Anthony says of Michael.
Some of the SolarQuotes team at Michael’s service in Gawler.
Quietly Working To Change The World
Michael lived with cancer for some time. He took time away from work, then returned, glad to have something to keep him occupied. Even then, he continued doing a huge amount of unseen maintenance across the site, fixing, updating, and keeping things running.
Michael never wanted attention. He was private, modest, and happiest working in the background. He believed deeply in improving the environment, and he saw good information as a practical way to make that happen. Through his writing and his unseen work, he helped thousands of households move to solar. In doing so, he achieved exactly what he cared about.
He succeeded far beyond what most people ever know.
Michael will be deeply missed.
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Sad to hear that, 😕
I hope that Michael finds fair weather and following winds wherever he is! (Sunshine for the solar panels and wind for the turbines).
Peace
Rest in peace, Michael. Thank you Finn for a well written insightful article -memoir into this wonderful man. We didnt know Michael personally but we will all miss him and his wonderful work. Peter Napier
My condolences to Michael’s family and to the solar quotes staff.
My commiserations. Sorry at your loss.
Christopher Nagle
R.I.P God bless you 🥺
Thank you Michael.
I never knew that you had directed my learning. I had followed Energy Matters for a few years and then lost interest when their publishing philosophy changed. SolarQuotes then filled my need for the facts and honest opinion.
Michael you will be greatly missed.
The best people are found in public libraries! Great tribute Finn.
Very sad to hear, and condolences to family, friends and colleagues that knew him personally.
It goes to show that you never know what others are going through, and how bad your own situation might be, there is always someone worse off than you and your lot.
I’ll mention a favourite Jimmy Carr line, one he uses at his comedy shows when he seriously consoles an audience member who has lost someone close, and feeling the pain . . .
“A person dies twice, once when they actually pass, and again the last time someone says their name’.
Say their name aloud and often.
Michael will live on in his family, friends, colleagues, and reading his many articles whenever someone clicks on one in the vastness of cyberspace.
RIP Michael.
Thanks Michael, you made me aware of the importance of renewables.
We’ll all miss you.
A good tribute to an excellent contributor. I will miss Michael’s clear, sensible articles.
An old saying goes…. “when an old person dies, a library burns down”
Sometimes you don’t have to be old. RIP.
KENNY
Michael’s temporary absence was noticed. His departure is felt, even by those of us who knew him only through his writings. An autodidact arms himself to make a difference – and educating the many, to their benefit, is a life well spent. (For the herd is turning only slowly, too slowly for a soft landing. But Michael’s contribution has helped us lean into the corner.)
Having lost my younger brother at just 54, to the same foe, I’m reminded that it’s the good ones who go first. R.I.P.
So sorry to learn that Michael was taken far too soon. Condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. Dana
What a gem of a person! Sincere condolences to all. his friends and family.
Sorry to hear about Michael’s passing but thankful to have benefited from his work, both the articles he wrote personally and also all of the background efforts.
It’s one thing I like about Solar Quotes: real people with real personalities that we get to “know” over time.
Vale to Michael. I’ve read almost all articles in SolarQuotes and have benefited greatly from his wisdom, as yours too Finn.
Condolences to his family and work colleagues.
Michael will be sorely missed. 🌈
Michael’s principled contributions will be missed by all, in a time of confusing change and disinformation.
RIP
That’s very sad news. My condolenses to Michael’s family, friends and everyone at SolarQuotes.
I never knew Michael, thanks for sharing a little bit about him. What a great legacy he leaves. RIP
My deepest condolences to Michaels family and friends. I only had a few fleeting interactions directly with Michael, but your description of his talent and knowledge is right on the money – his great words will live on.
Rest in Peace Michael
Dear Finn,
Thank you so much for your loving comments about Michael and his passing.
My heart goes out to you, to all at SQ, and to Michael’s family & friends.
Thank you SQ for all the good work you do.
– Geoff Draper
Very sorry to hear this sad news. Thank you Michael for all the informative stories you have covered
I never had the chance to meet Michael but really enjoyed his posts over many years. I will miss him. Sincere condolences to his family and friends. Keith
Its very sad news. he was 100% instrumental to my success and the early success of Energy Matters. He purchased a solar panel in the very early days at EM (probably paid $11/watt), back in those days I stalked our customers to see what i could gleen from them, and noticed his web site was was better than ours. I stuck up a conversation and (after some cajoling from Markus Lambert) I flew to Adelaide and met him at his house and we had toasted chicken sandwiches for lunch. This was the only time i met him in person, but we worked together on various projects for almost 20 years.
He was such a well kept secret everyone at Energy Matters thought he was an alias I used to claim paychecks. He will be missed.
After a few days away without email, I was greatly saddened to read this news on arrival home today.
I worked with Michael and Max at Energy Matters and although never meeting Michael in person, we had many great conversations over the years. Environmental issues were always featured and as we were both deliberately childless, Michael suggested his gravestone should read:
“The Bloch stops here”.
I’m saddened that he passed away at such a young age and will miss him a lot.
Condolences to family and colleagues.
Hey Gordon!! Nice to see you again (online), Shane the circumstances aren’t better.
Very sorry to hear this news, condolences to those who knew him personally
I will miss his many articles
RIP Michael.
I’ve been reading so many articles you wrote and I have tremendously enjoyed them. Thank you so much for your great contribution to greener world.
Hopefully, where you go, nobody needs cleaner air and greener land so that you can rest in peace.
Your quiet reader.
D.
Thank you so much for all you’ve done Michael.
Karen
I’m new to SolarQuotes but have been impressed by Michael’s prolific and incisive pieces. My thoughts to Michael’s friends, family and colleagues at Solar Quotes. Thank you for the thoughtful eulogy.
Regards
David Robinson
The original Solar SEO guru.
Having had the opportunity to look under the hood at his work with Energy Matters, it contained a perfect combination of innovation and a lot of hard work. What a contribution he made to the industry and the environment. RIP Michael.
This is SAD NEWS ..
We use the old saying,”only the good die young” when our close and trusted friends are taken early as we are affected by our loss.
This is never a truer word spoken when a quiet mover consistently makes positive inroads and adds structure to what appears only a hope or a dream.
When, without their contribution this evident momentum would never have occurred.
I did not know the guy but I’m a direct recipient of his efforts to help free me from being manacled to eternal rising costs of energy.
We go about everyday standing on the shoulders of generous quiet industrious pioneers driven to improve the lot of people they don’t know and in a world they will relinquish prematurely, yet still persist in their endeavours.
Much appreciated..💝😎
Thank you for your enormous contribution Michael…RIP..
So well written Finn..
Michael will be missed! He was always so receptive of a press release or media pitch, provided great direct feedback, and covered stories with no bias. Communicating technical and complex issues that are easily understood by the masses is no mean feat; and Michael’s work was exemplary. My thoughts are with his family, friends, and colleagues who knew and loved him. What a legend.
GOD bless
Vale Michael Bloch
You will be missed
Thank you Michael and the team.
I didn’t know Michael personally.
However, when I started formally studying renewable energy systems and design around 2010 (?) the Energy Matters website was referred to as a de facto library for solar and offgrid equipment information and data sheets. It was the quality of the website that really pulled customers to the business in the early years, and sparked a lot of interest in the potential of renewables for the ordinary household.
So thank you Michael for your generous sharing of information and RIP.