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The most damaging eco-myth

Written by: Libe Chacos

Article Overview: Overcoming the most damaging myth of our time At the moment there are 3 main forces that are convincing the minds of every day Australians that it is too expensive to be energy efficient and sustainable:

The most damaging eco-myth

The Federal Government
Just recently the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd was on TV talking about the upcoming emissions trading scheme being planned for Australia. While this is a great incentive, the problem is he was telling Australians how "hard" and "difficult" it’s going to be. Meanwhile as is so often the case the issue is used as a political football for gaining political points, rather than looking for an effective and sustainable outcome.


The Building Industry
The major associations in the building industry that represent the vast majority of builders and tradesmen across Australia have convinced the industry and the public that sustainable housing is too expensive. in an attempt to 'protect' the industry jobs and members, they actually fabricated figures and increased them to frighten consumers into believing energy efficient homes cost too much.

You may have also noticed that many award winning ‘eco friendly’ homes are architectural masterpieces that the general public can’t afford. Further encouraging people to say “I wish I could afford an energy efficient home”

The coal and oil industries
Enough said. They are out to protect their interests.


“A well designed passive home with energy efficient windows requires no heating or cooling….” this information comes from an Australian Federal Government publication to inform homeowners of the advantages of energy efficient design.

The truth is that highly energy efficient and sustainable homes can be built for less than people are told. And when done in the right way additional investments to achieve a sustainable outcome will be just that - investments. You will get a financial return on the right insulation, windows, water tank, grey water system, energy efficient lights and a well planned design.


The debate over rebate for solar panels in Australia has been fierce. A major supplier of solar panels confirmed that the cost of solar panels has gone down by 30% since the previous government introduced the $8,000 rebate. This is precisely what the rebate was designed to do. And the news is even better:

“…with this new $8,000 rebate when you do the sums, it turns out that if you're in Alice Springs, Darwin and Perth, you are now economically advised to go and get a solar panel, because the price of electricity from your solar panel will be comparable with the daytime retail electricity price.” Professor Andrew Blakers, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, at the ANU in Canberra.

This realisation from Professor Blakers is over 12 months old – that is before the latest flurry of electricity price hikes we have had across Australia. The other major contributor to the cost effectiveness of solar panels is how much sun you get. And you will see that actually the larger portion of the Australian population receives as much sun as Perth, and the rest of the country is not far behind.

Did you also know that with the $8,000 rebate – a household can have solar panels installed on their roof for around $897 – and this will save over $200 per year in electricity costs on today’s prices.

Germany is forging ahead with solar panel installation across their nation. And they receive less than half of the average peak sun hours than almost all of the Australian population


"Suddenly it became clear to me that these things were cost effective - now!"… Gavin Gilchrist, author and Managing Director of Big Switch Projects


There are solutions to sustainability and overcoming climate change that are positive for the economy. And the best place to start is at home. by increasing your knowledge and spreading that knowledge around we will achieve critical mass and forge an eco-revolution that could well be a life line to some of the current global economic woes.

“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” … Albert Einstein

But we need to start now.

“We do still have time to avert disaster, but there is not a moment to lose”... Robert Purves, President WWF Australia.

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Article Tags: architectural masterpieces, australian federal government, australian prime minister, eco friendly homes, emissions trading scheme, energy efficient design, energy efficient home, energy efficient homes, energy efficient lights, energy efficient windows, government publication, grey water system, kevin rudd, oil industries, political football, solar panels, sustainable housing, system energy, tradesmen, water tank



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