Green apartments good for the wallet

Green apartments good for the wallet

City of Sydney has launched a new environmental program designed to reduce energy and water consumption in apartment blocks.

“Three quarters of the population in the inner city already live in apartments,” said Lord Mayor Clover Moore. “It makes sense that we work with them to help them reduce energy and water consumption.”

The council will provide sustainability assessments to five buildings in the pilot program and eventually to around 30 buildings. The lessons learned in those buildings will be used as case studies to reduce energy wastage in up to 700 apartment blocks in Sydney.

Ms Moore said statistically a person living in an apartment “accounts for twice the energy related emissions of someone living in a house”.

She said that was mainly due to the shared facilities in apartments including hallways, car parks, pools and gyms.

The initiative, dubbed ‘Smart Green Apartments’ by the council, has been welcomed by Green Strata founder Christine Byrne.

Ms Byrne, who lives in Parkridge Apartments in Darlinghurst, which is one of the first of the five apartments assessed in the pilot program, said there have already been significant improvements in energy efficiency.

“We have already reduced our water consumption by 20 per cent,” Ms Byrne said. “We’re saving $11,500 per year in reduced water bills with a pay back period of less than two months.”

The Office of Environment & Heritage’s Energy Saver program is paying for the cost of the audits and the council hopes the initiative contributes to environmental goals in the Sustainable Sydney 2030 strategy.

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