Being green should be easy

Herald Sun
Friday 26/9/2008 Page: 36

FAMILIES who retro-fit homes to make them more energy efficient should get help from the Federal Government, a sustainable building group says. And developers should get tax breaks for boosting energy efficiency in new homes, the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council says. Its climate-change task group chairman, David Parken, said retro-fitting homes would save struggling families money on power bills and cut carbon emissions by about 10 per cent and the cost of carbon permits by 14 per cent.

He said there were still two million homes without proper insulation and it was time for the Federal Government to intervene. ASBEC's ideas could reduce emissions by 52 million tonnes a year by 2030 and help save about $38 billion a year by 2050, he said. The building sector accounts for about 23 per cent of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. ASBEC is also arguing for a scheme to make energy efficiency a tradeable asset.

Mr Parken said that ASBEC's ideas could complement the Government's promised $90 million green-building fund. Mr Parken, also the chief executive of the Australian Institute of Architects, said poor people could be first to get help retrofitting homes. The Housing Industry Association's Victorian executive director Robert Harding said encouraging people to make homes more efficient would dwarf savings from new housing. Also, tax breaks would encourage more efficiency in building design and planning, he said.

has been a tax bonanza for all levels of government for several decades. There's room to look at tax concessions," Mr Harding said. The CSIRO has said it would build and monitor a new zero-emissions four bedroom house as a prototype for other homes. The State Government will provide $12 million for new sustainable building programs, including giving $6 million to four Victorian communities to showcase low-emission housing.