Just came across this blog. It’s a family going green in Australia.
They’ve got a great directory of the green energy rebates available from the government in Australia on this page:
http://green-change.com/australian-rebates/
Energy Efficient Homes Package
The Australian Government recently announced the new Energy Efficient Homes Package. Under this program you can get:
* free ceiling insulation worth up to $1600; or
* a $1600 rebate on the costs of installing a new solar hot water system
* an insulation rebate for landlords to upgrade rental properties
The insulation and solar hot water rebates are not means tested, which is great news. The Australian Government estimates that up to 40% of homes in Australia are not insulated.
For those in the GreenJoyment community from the land down under, you’ll likely find this information very useful.
The rebate is not on offer anymore. Too many shonky operators got involved in the insulation industry and did bad jobs – people died, many houses burnt down – so the government chose to abandon the scheme.
That’s tragic. Do you know what’s available now?
Nothing right now in the way of subsidy for insulation. They messed up the industry badly, bankrupted many operators and, needless to say, the price of insulation has gone down as there is so much surplus around. It was a good idea but the scheme was rushed in without enough thought and consultation. It was a big factor in the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd’s, being kicked out of office. He said the buck stopped with him, and he didn’t consult with his fellow parliamentarians and this is what happened. it is a right scandal!
There may still be some rebate on solar electricity, in that they buy electricity from you at inflated prices and feed it into the grid, then the government taxes you for the income! However, there is a lot of community backlash about this system as poorer people who cannot afford solar are having to subsidise those with solar. So they have now reduced the price they pay for solar from homeowners. They also give a rebate from the price to buy the system in the first place. I am waiting to find some sort of technology that is green (green batteries??) so I can keep away from the grid and the government because they mess up everything they interfere with. They will be shortly selling our electricity infrastructure in our state (New South Wales) as has been done in many other states and prices are expected to skyrocket.
A couple of questions…
1. Who are they selling the infrastructure to? (Hopefully it’s companies domestic to Australia?)
2. Why are they selling the infrastructure? I have heard and seen that the Australian economy is actually really strong.
3. If anything reading this knows about unique battery ideas or new ideas for really efficient storage of power, I think that is a HUGE market that’s up-and-coming. We need to do some investigative research around this topic I think because home electricity storage can only be as good as the batteries backing up the system. But if we all had batteries in our homes (and even apartments) that would meet 20-40% of our average daily needs as households, it would create amazing improvements in many areas.
There is a rebate for solar and gas hot water systems at:
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/rebates/ccfhws.htm
but this is a state scheme, not a federal scheme. The govt underestimated how much interest there was in solar and the scheme has cost them a bomb!
Thank you for sharing the information with us. The Australian government has set up so many green energy rebates that it encouraged people using green power in our life. It will protect the environment and save the resource as well.
Thank you for sharing the information with us. The solar power is considered as the new energy for us and it is green power for the environment. We should encourage more people using it in their lives.
Much agreed!