Northern Territory News
Friday 17/7/2009 Page: 11
AUSTRALIA'S red heart is leading the push for solar energy with almost 10% of Alice Springs' homes now harnessing the power of the sun. This equates to about 1000 households with almost $2.5 million spent on solar and energy efficient measures since March last year. "This is a major milestone for our town especially considering our goal was to reach 1500 by 2013," said Sam Latz, acting general manager for the Alice Solar City project.
"We have been overwhelmed by residents' interest to implement energy-efficient activities in their homes. "(This) will put a large dent in our town's greenhouse gas emissions." Mr Latz said solar hot water systems had generated the most interest. 175 systems have been installed in the last 15 months. "58 hones now have solar photovoltaic systems on their rooftops," he said. Also popular was the credit incentive, he said. "Households get a 10 to 20% credit on their power bill if they reduce their electricity consumption by 10 to 20%," said Mr Latz.
Other popular measures include painting the roof white, installing low energy lighting, installing or upgrading insulation and servicing existing solar hot water systems. Sixty businesses from the desert town have also signed up to various measures. Alice Solar City project is part of the federal government's $94 million Solar Cities initiative to test integrated approaches to urban energy management.
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