Despite millions of Australians embracing renewable energy, recycling and other ways of lessening their impact on the environment, sustainable living proponents say the uptake has been too slow.
They say soaring electricity prices have failed to prove enough of a catalyst for change, with the capital costs of making houses more eco-friendly still a deterrent.
Andrew Marsh is an Adelaide home owner whose home may look like many others, but energy-saving measures are proving highly effective.
“Over probably the first five years we lived here I succeeded in bringing our energy bills down by some 70 per cent,” he explained.
During winter, the swimming pool is plumbed to the house for toilet flushing, saving 35,000 litres of water annually.
Wall cavities filled with polystyrene beans have tripled the thermal resistance of the house.
But other measures such as double glazing windows did not come cheaply.
More than 200 of Australia’s most eco-friendly homes were put on show for Sustainable House Day at the weekend.
They included a sandstone villa which used recycled items where possible for renovation work and the orientation, insulation and rammed earth walls have avoided any need to install air-conditioning.
Architect John Maitland says many people are aware of the benefits of such living, but the cost is still too much of a barrier.
“The global financial crisis and our current economic climate have really put a number of people out of contention for spending this sort of money on a house,” he said.
The home’s owner Leah Jeffries said a long-term commitment was needed.
“We really want to live here for a long time so we could really justify spending the extra money because we knew over time that it would pay for itself in reduced energy costs,” she said.
Urban Ecology Australia is urging stricter building standards to ensure effective insulation and the use of energy-and water-efficient appliances, says spokesman Patrick Greene.
“The industries that build those products will be able to serve a greater market, the price of them comes down dramatically,” he said.
“We’ve seen that happen already with the solar industry, where the price of solar four years ago was $10,000 a kilowatt hour and now it’s a quarter of that.”
The organisation says a 72 per cent rise in electricity prices over the past five years has not triggered the change needed to have a real impact on household carbon emissions.
