Beat the Bills and Cut your Carbon

“Energy efficiency improvements in buildings, appliances, transport, industry and power generation represent the largest and least costly savings [for emissions reductions]” – International Energy Agency

Energy efficiency is the unsung hero in confronting climate change. It is something that individuals can do to reduce emissions and at the same time, save money on our energy bills.

It is the most cost effective form of carbon abatement and according to recent studies could potentially reduce global energy use by 73%.

By simply upgrading our electrical appliances, glazing windows, sealing gaps and installing insulation, the collective result is huge amounts of avoided energy that can prevent the building of new power generation facilities. Since the 1970’s California has met ¾ of its rising energy demand by increasing the efficiency of existing appliances and electricity infrastructure. During that time, Victoria has simply responded by building three (and with HRL in the pipeline, perhaps four) brown coal plants.

The good news is that since 2009, Victoria has had an energy efficiency scheme in which 650,000 houses have enjoyed energy savings with 1,200 new jobs created. The scheme has established a market for carbon abatement by switching to more energy efficient products. Due to its success and value for money, the Baillieu government doubled the target and extended the program to small and medium-sized businesses.
 

Everyone benefits from reduced electricity demand - by 2015 all Victorian households will save twice as much as the predicted cost of the carbon price on their energy bills. Overall Victoria will save a staggering $3.9 billion in electricity over the coming decades under the scheme.

You could get a free stand-by power controller, upgrade all your light bulbs and shower heads at no cost to you or get a rebate for upgrading your appliances to more efficient models. Simply contact one of the registered businesses and ask them to help make your own home more efficient today.  

How Does the Scheme Work?
A complicated problem often has a complicated solution.

First an annual energy saving target is set by the government every 3 years. Currently it is 2.7 million tonnes of Co2 per year and the doubled target of 5.4MT begins in January 2012. The Greens want the target doubled again to 10.8 million tonnes per year in 2014.

Energy retailers are obliged to purchase certificates (1 certificate = 1 tonne) in proportion to how much of the market they supply. For example if Origin Energy has 25% of Victoria’s residential and business customers, they would need to buy 25% of the target, 1.35 million certificates (or tonnes of Co2) per year.

New jobs and businesses have cropped up to create these certificates for retailers. These green businesses do this by offering services within the approved activities of the scheme such as installing hot water systems, stand-by power controllers, efficient heating and cooling systems, pool pumps, efficient fridges, decommissioning fridges, draught proofing doors and windows or installing lighting and shower heads. To date, 78% of certificate creation has come from installing efficient light globes because this is the cheapest way to make certificates, but once this method has been exhausted, they will need to begin more costly activities to create certificates.

These businesses either contract with energy retailers to provide them with certificates, or sell them through a financial market. The price for a certificate on the spot market fluctuates between around $14-30 per tonne, which is an incredibly cheap way to cut Co2 emissions. The retailers can re-coup the costs of these certificates from all their customers. Theoretically this can increase bills, however overall bills will be reduced because less demand will drive down the wholesale cost of energy that retailers have to purchase. The government’s recently released study has shown that for every dollar invested in the scheme, the community will save $10 in power prices!

What we want to see happen to the scheme
The Victorian Greens main priority is to double the target again in 2014 to 10.8 million tonnes saved per year.

A growing target means more green jobs in this fledgling energy services industry. It also means that if a national scheme gets up and running Victorian businesses will have a competitive advantage to export their expertise interstate. 10.8 million tonnes is also a healthy contribution to meet Victoria’s 20% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020.

If you would like to know more details about the scheme, please call Jay Tilley at Greg Barber MPs office on
03 9348 2622 during standard business hours.