January marks the last month a new house can be built in the ACT with an inefficient hot water system, due to ACT Greens’ legislation. From February onwards, only low emissions hot water systems, such as solar, heat pump, or efficient gas, can be installed in new ACT houses and townhouses.

“We can save greenhouse gases and money with targeted energy efficiency standards like this,” said ACT Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur.

“Water heating alone accounts for a quarter of the energy used in an average home. Replacing an electric system with gas-boosted solar uses about 95% less energy and can save around $700 a year.”

The laws also phase in water-saving shower heads for ACT homes. Householders replacing existing hot water systems must now ensure that any attached showers use water efficient shower heads.

“The Greens would like to have seen energy efficient hot water phased in for all existing systems in need of replacement, but neither the Government nor the Liberals would support those changes.”

“This means that many existing homes will continue to waste money and energy on hot water production.”

“The Greens have pushed the agenda on this issue in the ACT – without our Bill, the Government would still have been promising but not delivering on energy efficient hot water for the ACT,” Ms Le Couteur said today.

ACT Greens MLA for Molonglo, Shane Rattenbury has called on the ACT Government to extend the feed-in tariff to include larger installations which will encourage growth in the solar sector in the ACT.

“The domestic feed in tariff has provided a spark for the solar sector, now there is an urgent need extend the scheme to include large-scale installation on the rooftops of warehouses and shopping centres.” said Mr Rattenbury.

“The feed-in tariff has been the most effective government policy overseas to grow green jobs in renewable energy. The guaranteed price paid to solar generators encourages companies to make the upfront investment into green technology.”

“Until the ACT scheme is expanded to cover larger installations, our vision of a ‘Solar Canberra’ will be just a pipe dream.”

“For an extra 65 cents a week to electricity customers we could add 10 megawatts of generation from clean safe energy sources onto the grid.”

“This is an investment not just in reducing our emissions, but also growing local jobs in the green economy.” Mr Rattenbury said.

The release of the latest ACT Greenhouse Gas Inventory shows that the Labor Party has failed to take climate change seriously since they were first elected to office in 2001, according to Greens spokeperson on climate change, Shane Rattenbury MLA.

The report shows that the ACT’s emissions in 2006 were 25.2% above 1990 levels, and 10.4% above 2000 levels.

“In particular, the report shows that ACT Labor has failed to take climate change seriously since it was elected in 2001. The report notes that:

• ACT emissions have increased at an average rate of 1.7% per year since 2000, more than double the national average annual increase of 0.7% over the same period

• ACT per capita emissions have increased by 0.7% per annum since 2000, while national per capita emissions decreased by 0.6% per year over the same period

• The increase in ACT electricity emissions since 2005 (2.6%) is significantly higher than the increase in national electricity generation emissions since 2005 (2.0%)”

“All of these indicators show that the ACT’s performance is poor compared to the rest of the country.”

“The release of this Greenhouse Gas Inventory should shock and embarrass ACT Labor. For all of the big announcements, nothing is happening on the ground.”

“The ACT needs to act urgently to cut our emissions through increasing our efforts to improve energy efficiency, and by generating more clean, renewable energy.” Mr Rattenbury said.

ACT Greens MLA for Molonglo, Shane Rattenbury says that Canberrans should feel proud that for a small cost per year they are helping make the ACT the leading jurisdiction in Australia on green energy.

“Even when you include the cost of all the ACT’s green energy initiatives, Canberrans still pay, on average, $600 per year less than their NSW neighbours in Queanbeyan.”

“The independent price regulator, the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), has set electricity prices for 2009-10 factoring in a range of issues that impact on cost – the cost of transmission losses and trading fees and charges, as well as green energy initiatives.”

“But it’s not the ICRC’s job to put a price on benefits to the community, and the feed-in tariff in particular will deliver more than just emissions reductions, it will also help grow local jobs in an industry of the future, and the beginnings of a decentralised energy system.”

“Stage 2 of the feed-in tariff will see large scale installation on the rooves of warehouses and shopping centres, and the cost to Canberrans will only be around an extra 65 cents a week.”*

“Tackling climate change will cost money in the short term, but not taking action will be far more costly – and early action to insulate ourselves from rising electricity prices will pay off in the longer term.”

“The Greens are calling on the Government to ensure that low income families are protected from the price rises by lifting the energy concession rate, which has been dropping in real terms over the past 5 years.” said Mr Rattenbury.

* based on 10MW installed capacity

The Greens welcome the Government’s engagement of a mutli-disciplinary team from the University of Canberra to start the process of developing a Green Economy Strategy for the ACT.

“This is absolutely necessary to move the ACT towards a more sustainable economy to ensure a growing economy whilst taking drastic measures to reduce our greenhouse emissions.” said Caroline Le Couteur, ACT Greens Spokesperson for Business and Economic Development.

“We look forward to seeing the first steps of progress on a robust strategy for developing the ACT as a solar capital. We know that the ACT is a great place for the development of solar technology and solar farms, and the region is also rapidly developing complementary wind farms.”

“If Canberra becomes a centre of excellence for new technologies there will also be conferences and research projects which provide futher stimulus for the local economy.”

“We are glad that the Government agrees with the Greens that we have the knowledge and the innovation in the ACT to move us away from fossil fuel dependence and into new forms of job creation. This is why the Greens put this item in the Labor-Greens Agreement.”

“This is a great starting point, and I look forward to seeing the results, perhaps we will see some of its effects in the next budget.” Ms Le Couteur said.