10% of Alice Springs homes now more energy efficent
16 July 2009

One thousand households or 10% of all homes in Alice Springs are now committed to being more energy efficient through the Alice Solar City project.

Celebrations took place in the Smart Living Centre this week when Melinda Hassall became the 1000th customer to register her home.

Sam Latz, Acting General Manager for Alice Solar City said, “This is a major milestone for our town, especially considering our goal was to reach 1500 by 2013.”

“We have been overwhelmed by residents’ interest to implement energy efficient activities in their homes and congratulate all those who have become involved since our launch in March last year.”

“Almost $2.5 million has been spent by households on solar and energy efficient measures in the home, which will put a large dent in our town’s greenhouse gas emissions, and we are about to embark on a major monitoring and evaluation project which will tell us just how well we are doing.”

“By far the biggest interest has been in solar hot water systems - we have supported the installation of 175 systems in 15 months.”

Fifty eight homes now have solar photovoltaic systems on their rooftops, which is fantastic considering there were only two in Alice Springs before we started the project.

Also popular is the 10:10/20:20 incentive, where households get a 10-20% credit on their power bill if they reduce their electricity consumption by 10-20% after their energy survey – 59 people have claimed a total of $4,090 in credits.

Other very popular measures include painting the roof white, installing low energy lighting, installing or upgrading insulation and servicing existing solar hot water systems.

Businesses in Alice Springs are getting on board as well, with 60 businesses now participating.

“Businesses are lining up to follow the lead of Zone A, who were the first small business to install a solar PV system on their roof through Alice Solar City”, says Sam Latz.

Melinda Hassall, Alice Solar City’s 1000th customer says she was very keen to discover ways that she was able to make her new home more energy efficient.

“I have already made some small changes to reduce my energy and water use, but I‘m keen to learn what more I can do. Alice Springs is the perfect place to harness as much energy from the sun as we can.”

Alice Solar City is part of the Australian Government’s $94 million Solar Cities initiative designed to test integrated approaches to urban energy management.

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For media enquiries please contact Laurelle Halford from Creative Territory on 0417 222 211 or (08) 8953 7919 or laurelle@creativeterritory.com

About Alice Solar City The Alice Springs Solar City Consortium is led by the Alice Springs Town Council and includes broad community support from the Northern Territory Government, Power and Water Corporation, Tangentyere Council, the Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce, the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre and the Arid Lands Environment Centre. Funding sources include the Australian Government, the Northern Territory Government, Power and Water Corporation, and Alice Springs Town Council.