Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Sustainable (& unsuckable) house now ON-LINE!

Last October we posted about Canberra's Sustainable House after putting it thorough its paces and finding it to have an excellent, airtight and thermally efficient building envelope.

You can now access a fabulous web site about the house to: find out loads of great stuff about its brilliant low energy, low water and productive garden features; book a tour; read about the owners' vision and learn about the sustainability services they provide.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Energy Imaging opens in Tasmania



Energy Imaging Tas performed a series of demonstration tests on homes and community buildings in and around Hobart on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th March and exhibited at the Sustainable Building and Lifestyle Expo at the Derwent Entertainment Centre on the weekend of the 27th and 28th. Interest in Energy Imaging's unique and innovative services was high and the southern team have plenty to keep them busy as the winter weather sets in!

Contact Andrew Poole and Amanda Roberts (pictured above) on (03) 62451792 or at tas@energy-imaging.com.au

Friday, February 12, 2010

Move over ghost busters!

Check out the cover and feature story here.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Too important to fail

"The Green Loans Scheme is an excellent idea that has turned into an utter debacle through gross mismanagement by Peter Garrett's department," Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne said on the 4th of February. You've probably seen or heard more about the issue in the media (a quick web search will bring up lots of recent print news stories and electronic media transcripts).

Energy Imaging, and many of our colleagues in the energy efficiency sector, have been involved in Green Loans since the beginning. It was an excellent idea. Debacle is now a fair description. Frustrating, infuriating, mindbogggling and unfair are other words that spring to mind. The program still has big potential but it will take a serious overhaul by DEWHA, and the creation of genuinely level playing field for assessors, to make it work effectively and fairly.

The Association of Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA), a national not-for-profit association, is the Approved Accrediting Organisation for the Green Loans Program. The program is managed by the Federal Government. Unfortunately due to DEWHA's unresponsiveness, many assessors are venting their frustrations at ABSA. ABSA are working hard to support asssessors and it would be sad to see them used as the scape goat in this mess.

Assessors are finding themselves the target of participating householders' frustrations. Unable to make bookings, yet to receive their reports, and waiting in ridiculously long queues on the DEWHA hotline, members of the public are, understandably, venting their frustrations at assessors. As the public face of the GL program, the reputations of dedicated and ethical assessors are being tarnished and the credibility of Australia's energy efficiency sector damaged.

ABSA are currently collecting ideas on ways to improve the GL Program. All assessors are encouraged to direct their ideas to ideas@absa.net.au by Friday 19 February 2010.

Senator Milne referred the matter to the Auditor General on the 4th of February and asked some important questions at senate estimates last week. Read more here.


Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Obama says: Sealing Leaks & Insulating is Sexy Stuff!

Barack Obama is clearly passionate about sealing air leaks and insulating:
"Here's what's sexy about it: saving money! Think about it this way, if you haven't upgraded your home yet, it's not just heat or cool air escaping, it's energy and money you're wasting. If you saw $20 bills floating through the window, up into the atmosphere, you'd try to figure out how you're gonna keep that. But that's exactly what's happening because of lack of efficiency in our buildings!"

According to the US Department of Energy: Sealing and insulating the "envelope" or "shell" of your home — its outer walls, ceiling, windows, doors, and floors — is often the most cost effective way to improve energy efficiency and comfort.

See and hear President Obama's passion for energy efficiency here.