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Coolmob Energy Efficiency Project COOLmob Energy Efficiency Project Delivered by COOLmob and Arid Lands Environment Centre Written by Lou De Mattia and Rachel O’Leary Introduction Project Background Project Aim Project Timeline Current climate issues facing NT residents Carried Assumptions from COOLmob Smart Cooling in the Tropics Program Communications, promotional strategies & recruitment Home energy audits Schools Workshops and community engagement Home Energy Assessment Eligibility Results Discussion School Education Program Introduction Development of Program Delivery of Program Findings Workshops and Community Engagement Energy efficiency workshops Energy efficiency educational presentations Energy efficiency educational stalls COOLmob Website Social media Educational video COOLmob Commercial Summary of Recommendations Conclusion List of Figures Appendices 1 Introduction Project Background The Energy Efficiency Education Project was funded by the NT Government as part of the Roadmap to Renewables Policy, which commits the Territory to a 50% renewable energy target by 2030, up from the 4% estimated in 2017. Roadmap to Renewables chose to fund this Project to ensure the community remains engaged in the renewable energy conversation, understands how they use energy at home, and how to do so more efficiently, and to educate school students and the broader community about the importance and benefits of sustainable living choices and reducing our collective impact on the planet. The Project was led by COOLmob, the sustainable living initiative of the Environment Centre NT, the peak environmental organisation in the Top End of the Northern Territory advocating for protection of the environment, sustainable living and development, renewable energy and decreased greenhouse gas emissions. COOLmob has been in operation for over 16 years and has a strong history providing trusted community leadership on energy, water and waste management, through information, education and community engagement. As the Project was delivered in Darwin, Katherine, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek, COOLmob engaged the Arid Lands Environment Centre (ALEC), Central Australia’s peak environmental organisation, to deliver the program in Central Australia. Project Aim The COOLmob Energy Efficiency Education Project (the Project) aimed to increase understanding of energy efficiency principles, behaviours and literacy, whilst at the same time demonstrating the relationship between energy efficiency and climate pollution. To achieve these deliverables, the Project included three different target audiences for education being primary school students, householders and the broader community. To do this, the Project was divided into three different aspects being home energy assessments, a school education program and community workshops and events. The Project area included Greater Darwin, Katherine, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. 2 Figure 1 Energy Efficiency Project aspects The home energy assessment program was conducted across 100 low income households in the project area. This aspect of the Project led to valuable insights into energy literacy levels, use of power and appliances, types and features of dwellings in the rental and government housing market, motivations of people to reduce power and comfort levels of participants in their homes. The school education program was developed in line with the year 5 and 6 Australian Curriculum and was delivered to 27 classes across 15 schools in the project area. Various stages of the program prompted students to investigate and reflect on how their families use energy, and one of the exercises included interviewing family members about generational energy use in the home. These exercises allowed classroom learnings to spread from student to family. The community education conducted as part of the Project consisted of free workshops and events, social media, radio and website education and promotion materials. Through partnering with various organisations, schools, media, local Councils and energy retailer Jacana, COOLmob’s community engagement approach aimed to build capacity, strengthen our relationship with the community and ensure the target audiences had easy access to energy efficiency information. 3 Project Timeline Figure 2 Project Timeline Current climate issues facing low income earning NT residents Over the past decade there has been a move globally to transition energy production for residential consumption to renewable energy sources. This has been driven in large by the Paris Agreement which aims to strengthen the international fight against climate change by requiring all parties, including Australia, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to ensure the global temperature does not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius rise this century1. Climate warming presents an ongoing challenge for residents living in the Northern Territory. As global warming will see both the temperature and humidity rise, maintaining thermal comfort in the home will inevitably require increased mechanical cooling such as air-conditioner use, which in turn creates a greater energy demand. Temperatures above 35°C with 70% humidity are considered ‘extremely dangerous’. The number of days over 35°C per year in Darwin has increased fourfold from an average of 5.6 days per year in the early 20th century to over 20 days per year in the last five years. This increase is especially pronounced throughout the September to December “build-up” to the wet season. Combined with the humidity of this season, the resultant heat stress risk is being pushed to an extremely dangerous level. The CSIRO climate models predict that without drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the number of days over 35 degrees each year in Darwin will increase dramatically to 132 days per year by 2030, 187 1 The Paris Agreement 2018, United Nations, accessed 4 July 2019, <https://unfccc.int/process-and- meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement> 4 days per year by 2050 and 275 days per year by 20702. Similarly, the Central Australian region has seen temperature records hit extreme highs in 2018/19, with Tennant Creek experiencing a record 28 days over 40 degrees Celsius in December 2018, which is eight more days higher than previously recorded3. The effect on trees and animal life was pronounced, with cattle, birds and kangaroos dying around dry waterholes in the region4. At the time of writing this report, the cost of electricity in the Northern Territory is 26.05 cents per kilowatt hour inclusive of GST. There is also a daily fixed charge of 51.36 cents. Over the past year, electricity prices rose 1.2% 5. Carried Assumptions from COOLmob Smart Cooling in the Tropics Program & other COOLmob Projects COOLmob have been providing home energy audits in Darwin for over 12 years to both low income earners and middle and high income earners. It has been evident that uptake of COOLmob’s paid home energy audit service, costing $250, has been a voluntary decision made by members of the community who are concerned with their impact on the climate and cost of their home energy bills. It would be fair to say that those requesting a paid COOLmob audit are not low income earners, and generally earning a high enough income to afford the service and are generally interested in investing in structurally modifying parts of their home or upgrading their appliances to reap cost savings and lower their greenhouse gas emissions. Between 2012 and 2016, the Environment Centre NT’s COOLmob received $2.7 million in funding as part of the Australian Government’s Low Income Energy Efficiency Program (LIEEP), which aimed at trialling approaches to improve the energy efficiency of low income households around the country. This project, Smart Cooling in the Tropics aimed to improve the thermal comfort of vulnerable households in the hot and humid climate of Darwin, without an excessive increased use of energy and cost. As this Project and the Smart Cooling in the Tropics Program focused on a very similar target audience, major findings of the Smart Cooling in the Tropics Program informed the development of this Project. Government housing tenants were however excluded from this previous project. The Smart Cooling in the Tropics Project, like this Project, was restricted to auditing low income earners, which exposed COOLmob to a different demographic and allowed COOLmob to gain insight into how low income earners were using energy in their homes. 2 Hanna, E.; Ogge, M., Cooked with Gas, Extreme Heat in Darwin, The Australian Institute, (2018) 3 Outback town smashes temperature records with 28 days above 40C in one month, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, accessed 10 July 2019, <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-27/bureau-of-meteorology-says- heat-records-broken-in-outback/10670438> 4 Mass death of feral horses discovered in scorching, dry Central Australian waterhole, ABC, accessed 29 July 2019 5 Northern Territory Council of Social Service Inc, NTCOS Cost of Living Report, Issue No. 23, March 2019 5 Thus the findings of the Smart Cooling in the Tropics Project6 guided this Project and meant that we began this Project with a range of pre-informed assumptions. Low income earners are generally consuming less energy per day than the general public of greater Darwin Middle- and higher-income earners have a higher percentage of home ownership, thus more opportunity and bargaining power to reap benefits of solar power Free, behavioural changes can have a high uptake but do not largely influence thermal comfort High
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