Regional Housing Retrofit
Building on the success of the Regional Housing Retrofit pilot run in 2004, the Regional Housing Retrofit project aimed to develop a personalized-approach targeting local residents (1-on-1), which helped them save money and reduce their household's greenhouse gas emissions, and which is also transferable to other communities.
In total, 200 households across the region received a free Energy and Water Audit from a trained Energy Consultant in March - June 2005.
Households also received a free Switch your thinking! (syt!) 'Retrofit Pack' thanks to the support of program partners. 'Retrofit Packs' contained energy saving items including 3 compact fluorescent light globes (CFLs), a 5-min shower timer, an energy-smart thermometer, door snake, and optional worm farm, as well as special offers from Syt! sponsors.
Western Power and Alinta Gas account details were collected by the Energy Consultant to enable effective monitoring of the program.
Evaluation of the project indicated that 96% of participants learnt something new as a result of having the Energy and Water Audit.
100% of participants implemented one or more of the energy / resource saving items in their 'Retrofit Packs', and 91% of participants indicated they had changed their energy / water use behaviour as a result of having the Audit and gaining new knowledge.
The project helped reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions by 121.7 T -eCO2 p.a. (608 T -e CO2 over 5-years), whilst helping participating households save an average of $30 p.a. on their energy bills. Although financial savings averaged across all 200 households were not huge, results of data analysis from Western Power and Alinta Gas indicated that approximately 35% of participants saved over $350 p.a. on their electricity, gas and water bills in the first 12-months following the Audits.
