$300m for green homes in Australia – Labor offer on solar panels, rain tanks
April 30, 2007
Source:
http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/bm/national/760555.html
HOUSEHOLDS will be able to borrow up to $10,000 to fit their homes with solar panels, rainwater tanks and other green products under a $300 million Labor scheme which could slash greenhouse gas emissions by 15 million tonnes. Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd outlined the green renovation scheme on the last day of Labor’s national conference yesterday, predicting the initiative would be equivalent to planting 15 million trees or taking four million cars off the road for a year. Around 200,000 households on up to $250,000 a year will be able to take advantage of the program which will offer loans of up to $10,000, with interest capped at the inflation rate, for green products aimed at making established homes more energy and water efficient.
The program would come into effect in January, 2009, and run until 2012-13 but Mr Rudd flagged Labor would consider expanding it if it proved successful. Mr Rudd said the idea was a practical policy aimed at helping Labor achieve its target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2050.
“(This is so) working families can install solar panels or rainwater tanks or roof insulation or solar hot water systems or high efficiency gas hot water heaters … or awnings or grey water recycling systems and energy efficient lighting,” he said. “These are the practical things that make a difference in bringing down our greenhouse gas emissions.”
Labor will introduce government-accredited environmental audits to identify how homes can best be altered to make them more energy efficient. Households also will be able to access a green renovation pack which will include tips for green living, energy saving light globes, a shower timer and a water efficient shower head.
Mr Rudd was forced to defend the generous means test for the refit scheme, explaining that in some parts of Australia families on $250,000 were struggling. “We don’t have some sort of class enemy basis upon which we do this — that’s the old politics of the past,” he said. Labor believes an unexpected bonus of the program could be up to $2 billion in green investment, benefiting small business and tradespeople.
Australian Greens leader Bob Brown cautiously welcomed the idea but said it did not go far enough. “It’s a contradictory policy unless it’s logically followed through with at least a moratorium on further coal expansion until we … get renewable energy and energy efficiency under way in this country,” he said.