Australain Living is presenting a 2 hour presentation on "Five Keys to a Sustainable Home" in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane during April. The presentation provides an overview of what makes a home truly sustainable and showcases Australian Livings recently completed eight star home as a case study.

The recent hysterical claims that carbon pricing will make it too expensive to run an airconditioner, or that many industries will be destroyed, are simply ridiculous.

The reality is that costs are changing all the time, and the carbon cost is likely to be ''in the noise'' for most Australians, even for electricity prices.

See article here

A major new study released by Connection Research shows that consumers have very little knowledge of energy saving schemes started by the government, or energy saving technologies in general. The report, Residential Energy Management in Australia 2010, is based on a survey of over 2700 households. The survey results show that most consumers are willing to participate in energy saving initiatives, but are unsure of where to begin. For full text please visit:Connection Research

While there is considerable evidence that climate and weather patterns are changing,  (See for example The Australian Bureau of Meteorology and World Meteorological Organization)  there is still some debate as to whether changes in global temperatures are due to human induced (also known as anthropogenic) factors, such as, the  burning of fossil fuels and deforestation or whether they are a cyclical phenomenon that human existence has no control or impact on.

A number of Green Professionals have requested further information to provide to householders as to the reasons behind proposed residential electricity price increases. The following is taken from the recently released Report of the Prime Ministers Task Group on Energy Efficiency and describes the factors influencing electricity price rises.

We recently became aware of an iPhone app that mimics the workflow of filling in Green Loans assessments. The name of the app is Home Sustainability Mobile Assessor or HSMA for short and the key benefit is that this application creates an MS Excel file which can be directly uploaded, saving time post assessment.

We were provided with a trial of the software (we used the iPhone version) which seemed useable although we did not trial the software in the field.

On Monday 28 July 2010, applications for grants under the Green Start program opened.  The guidelines for the program state that all ABSA accredited assessors who have completed HSAS training prior to 24th December 2009 are eligible to be involved in the program. The Green Start program is open to both individuals and organisations.  Importantly:

•    Assessors who missed out on a DEWHA Green Loans contract will still be able to partake in Green Start;
•    The 5 assessments per week cap will not apply;
•    The program will run from November 2010 to 30 June 2011
•    The program is targeting 300,000 to 500,000 households; and
•    Household recruitment does not allow for direct marketing to households. This includes cold calling, email, door-knocking or any other form of unsolicited direct marketing to potential customers

Green Professionals will be applying to the program for grant funding on behalf of its members. It must be noted that our submission does not restrict individual members of Green Professionals from making their own submission.

If you are not already a member, and are interested in potentially taking part in the Green Start program, through Green Professionals, we invite you to create a membership account, for which there is no charge for the duration of 2010.

For those of you that have questions in regard to the program, or if you require more information about Green Professionals, please feel free to email Cameron Foley at cam.foley@greenprofessionals.com.au

TAKEN FROM ABS MEDIA RELEASE (23/06/2010): High income households in Victoria tend to have more environmentally sustainable sources of energy and water then lower income households, according to a report released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Victorian households earning $110,000 or more per year were more likely to have insulation, solar energy and rain water tanks than households with income below $25,000 per year.