Housing Minister David Borger says its five-year plan to deliver savings in water and energy use for the State’s 340,000 social housing tenants is on track and ahead of schedule, in some cases.
"Just 15 months into the program, we have delivered more than $18-million worth of environmental initiatives, already making a big difference to the lives of thousands of tenants," says Borger.
Under the Water Efficiency plan, which started in 2006, over 120,000 homes have been fitted with water saving devices. To date, this has seen savings of approximately 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Solar power devices have also been installed in over 180 homes as part of the Blacktown Solar Cities Project to reduce tenant’s energy bills.
"Ceiling insulation has a large impact on energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and general comfort levels so in April last year, Housing NSW began retrofitted ceiling insulation in over 7,500 dwellings," Borger says.
In addition to reducing energy bills, this will also save approximately 3,750 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
In the past nine months over 1,000 electric storage hot water heaters have been replaced with environmentally friendly hot water systems, such as solar and heat pump systems.
Borger says Housing NSW has been recognised by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) for ‘Australian Excellence’ in environmentally sustainable design. Two Housing NSW redevelopment projects in Lilyfield and Redfern have also been awarded a 5 star Green Star rating from the GBCA.
"At Redfern, we are building 106 units that will have grey water recycling, rainwater harvested for reuse in toilet flushing, increased cross ventilation, solar lighting of common areas, gas-boosted solar hot-water systems and native landscaping," Borger says.
"On top of all this, Housing NSW has updated its Design Requirements to ensure that new dwellings achieve a 6 star energy efficiency rating and install rainwater tanks.
Other targets include:
• spending $30 million over a four-year period on a tree planting and landscaping program. It is estimated that the Green Street program will plant over 15,000 trees and help cut Co2 levels by more than 7,000 tonnes a year
• by 2014, average water usage reduced by 20 per cent
• assist social housing households reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2020, equivalent to taking 80,000 cars off the road
• Housing NSW will gradually reduce its corporate emissions of greenhouse gases over the next few years, with primary targets set at a 25 per cent reduction in emissions, along with a 20 per cent reduction in water use by 2014. Housing NSWs main goal is to be carbon-neutral by 2020
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