Buy Green / Go green today for a better tomorrow!

Under the Solar Homes and Communities Plan you can get up to $8,000 for installation of a 1 kW solar photovoltaic (PV) system.

The full details of the program can be found at the official home page, Solar Homes and Communities Plan.

The Victorian Energy Efficiency Target (VEET) program will be awarding $200 million worth or renewable energy carbon credits to household energy efficiency improvements.

The VEET programme starts on January 1st, 2009 and will run for 3 years, upon which time it will be renewed for another 3 years.

Window tinting can give a stylish look to a modern home, but it's not all looks. Window tinting reflects away a great deal of solar radiation, meaning your cooling systems don't need to work as hard and therefore indirectly saving energy.

Protects you and your furniture against ultra violet (UV) radiation.

If you are prepared to DIY, then you can typically tint your whole home for under $400 with a weekend's work. Basically all that is involved is;

• Thoroughly clean the inside of the window using window cleaner and razor blades. Any spec of dirt will cause a bubble.

Double glazed windows insulate against temperature and sound.

An unique and elegant solution to double glazing existing windows are systems such as;

• Magnetite
• Soundblock

Fluorescent lights contain a small amount of mercury (see how fluorescent lights work), they should never be put into landfill or recycled in the household recycling bin, they need to be dropped off at a specialist recycling centre.

Organisations who recycle fluorescent light tubes and CFL's;

PC's and other IT equipment (phones, printers, etc..) can be recycled in two ways;

• reconditioning and re-purposing (best)
• recycling the raw materials

Organisations who recycle IT equipment are;

Huge Australian government rebates and carbon credits are available for replacing older style storage hot water systems with more efficient ones.

Regional areas get an extra $1000 over metro areas.

The rebates are usually given as a point of sale discount and are in the range of $2500 to $5000 depending on the unit purchased. This amount includes RECs.

Can you imagine a better combination, a system that provides its greatest effect when it is needed the most!

Ducted evaporative cooling systems are among the most environmentally friendly ways to cool your home.

Installation is about half the cost of a ducted refrigerated system, about $4000.
Running costs are about a third that of a ducted refrigerated system, about $1/day.

The running costs are so much lower than refrigerated because of the design. Basically a huge fan sucks air through wet pads, causing evaporation, which cools the air. A fan has relatively low electrical consumption compared to the compressor in a refrigerated system.

Pro's;