EnErgy EfficiEncy
Boost Profits Cut Emissions Create Jobs
How to make Australia energy efficient
The Energy Efficiency Council is the peak body for companies that provide energy efficiency services and products to business and government. Together, Australia’s top efficiency experts have developed a set of policies that would transform Australia into a competitive, low-carbon economy.
Key sectors for action
Industry
The top 200 companies in Australia use almost twice as much energy as all households put together. Requiring these companies to improve their efficiency by just one per cent each year and giving them targeted financial support to help them meet and exceed this target would save over $2 billion a year while slashing carbon emissions.
Three big policies to transform Australia
An energy efficiency target for Australia
We could meet all the growth in our energy needs over the next decade simply by using the energy we waste now. Australia should follow Europe, China and the US and set a serious energy efficiency target. The Council recommends that Australia cut energy demand by 20 per cent below business-as-usual by 2020.
Cogeneration
A feed-in tariff and changes to the electricity market could create 3000 Megawatts of low-emission cogeneration – that’s double the output of Victoria’s aging Hazelwood power station and around 75 per cent less greenhouse emissions per Megawatt.
Targeted investment in efficiency by electricity distributors
Electricity bills are going to increase by as much as 42 per cent over the next three years simply because we’re investing too much in new and expanded electricity networks. If the network companies invest just 10 per cent of this planned spending in energy efficiency they could reduce the need for new infrastructure, reducing energy consumers’ bills.
Commercial Buildings
Millions of Australians work in aging, inefficient and uncomfortable offices. Combining