Page 5032 - Week 13 - Thursday, 12 November 2009
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(3) What legislation will have to be introduced in order to facilitate this aim and over what timeframe.
(4) What will be the regulatory impact on small business.
(5) Is this commitment a firm commitment or an aspirational one.
Mr Corbell: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) As part of this Government’s recent commitment of $19.1 million to encourage Canberrans to reduce their carbon footprint, the ACTSmart one-stop-shop provides information and advice on energy efficiency programs and rebates for ACT households.
During 2009-10, ACTSmart will provide access to a range of improved energy efficiency programs and rebates to the ACT community through new assistance packages and rebates as well as expanding existing programs and services including:
• a new Residential Energy Efficiency program that provides rebates on energy efficient appliances, domestic insulation and an improved solar hot water rebate, and expands a number of programs such as the ACT Energy Wise program, and Water and Energy Savings Trial programs – tender negotiations for delivery of these programs are in progress;
• assistance packages for renters and low-income households that provide rebates for household energy saving additions and for energy efficient domestic white goods;
• web based access to all rebates and assistance packages that are available through the Department of the Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water. These will be linked to assistance packages and services available through other ACT Government departments; and
• continuing collaboration between the Sustainable Schools program (AuSSI) and the Department of Education and Training to ensure the results of energy audit program are linked to student and school community behavioural change.
Nationally, the ACT Government is part of the agreement between all state and territory governments to implement a range of energy efficiency measures under the National Strategy for Energy Efficiency (NSEE). The NSEE is a ten-year strategy that contains 37 policy initiatives, many of which relate specifically to the residential building sector. For example, the NSEE includes:
• increasing the energy efficiency provisions for all new residential buildings;
• mandatory disclosure of residential building energy, greenhouse and water performance at the time of sale or lease;
• providing incentives for residential building owners to undertake energy efficiency improvements;
• an energy efficiency audit of public housing stock;
• addressing opportunities that can be derived from building lot or precinct level layout that support solar access, solar hot water and solar photovoltaic systems;
• providing and promoting information on energy efficient housing options; and
• improving understanding of the energy efficiency of the housing stock.
The ACT Government is also considering a number of ACT-specific initiatives to increase energy efficiency of households as part of Weathering the Change - Action Plan 2 and the draft Energy Policy. These include:
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