Projects

The Department conducts water and energy sustainability projects, sometimes in partnership with other agencies or organisations.

Affordable Water and Energy Efficiency Project

Affordable Water and Energy Efficiency Project

The Department is working with the Council of Social Service of NSW (NCOSS) on a two-year training program, titled “Affordable Energy and Water Efficiency Project”, for community service staff and volunteers supporting low income households.

The project

The project provides a free training program to agencies that support low income households and other people in need in NSW to reduce water and energy use.

Energy and water efficiency devices, appliances and practices can result in significant savings on utility bills for households and organizations, as well as improve lifestyle and comfort through better affordability.

However, low income households are often not in a position to purchase high quality energy and water efficient products and may not have adequate information to make good purchasing decisions when considering the purchase cost versus the running cost of appliances. At the same time, using inefficient appliances can result in higher utility bills and overall running costs to those households with the least ability to pay for these services, resulting in a vicious cycle.

Additionally, supported accommodation and crisis accommodation providers will be approached in order to build the capacity of accommodation managers to identify free and low cost opportunities to reduce energy and water use at their premises. A limited number of fully funded audits and retrofits will be offered to service providers.

NSW Government's Environmental Trust

The Affordable Water and Energy Efficiency Project is being funded as part of a $3.5 million grant from the NSW Government's Environmental Trust.

This initiative brings together a range of government and non-government organisations (Australian Conservation Foundation, Council of Social Service of NSW, Department of Energy, Utilities and Sustainability, Department of Environment and Conservation, Nature Conservation Council of NSW and the Total Environment Centre) to conduct a collaborative education program promoting sustainable living in NSW.

Training Program

The training program provides capacity building to community service staff and volunteers to help their clients identify opportunities for improvement in their energy and water use.

Community service staff and volunteers provide HACC support; emergency relief services, financial or budget counselling or other social services with client contact.

The program trains community service providers to identify people who use more energy and water in their homes than necessary simply due to a lack of awareness of better ways of doing things. For example, an extra $350 a year can be saved if six light globes are replaced with energy efficient fluorescent globes. Add to that the cost and convenience of only replacing globes once every few years because efficient globes last much longer than standard ones. Similarly, depending on the type of energy used to heat water, a change in showerhead could save around $150 per year.

This training shows how service providers can assist their clients reduce their energy and water bills. The focus is on actions which can easily be taken in most households, including rental properties.

All training sessions are provided free of charge.

Enquiries

For information on about training sessions contact NCOSS on telephone (02) 9211 2599 ext 127 or email: energy@ncoss.org.au .