Sustainability in Your Home

Marrickville Council supports environmental sustainability through various environmental programs and recycling services.

Council also encourages citizens and business owners to investigate the wide range of energy and water efficiency programs and rebates offered by various government agencies and utilities to improve sustainability in residential homes and businesses.

Below are links to these programs and other web portals designed to help citizens access information and assistance to improve sustainability of their homes and businesses.

• Australian Government Rebates
  Information on rebate schemes offered by the Australian Government - including its free ceiling insulation program for uninsulated homes, the national rainwater and greywater initiative, green loans, and solar panel rebates.
   
• Australian Government Portal: Sustainable Households
  Information and advice from the Australian Government on sustainable living in and around the home. Includes information on federal government rebates for rainwater tanks and solar panels, energy and water rating systems, advice for builders and renovators, and numerous fact sheets.
   
• NSW Government Residential Rebate Program
  Details on the rebate schemes available to residents from the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change - including rebates on rainwater tanks, hot water systems, washing machines, ceiling insulation and fridge buyback.
   
• Sydney Water: Saving Water in Your Home
  Helpful tips and advice on how to save water in various areas of the household. You can also apply online for a free water-saving kit.
   
• National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) - Work your way through a simple self audit, which will help you find out how energy and water efficient your home or business is compared to others. This site also provides simple options for reducing your energy and water bills.
   
• Australian Conservation Foundation: GreenHome
  Identifies ways to reduce energy and water consumption in the home and reduce waste output.
   
• Energy Rating website
  An Australian Government website comparing the energy efficiency ratings of appliances on the market.
   

Council programs

Follow the links below for more information on some of Marrickville Council's environmental programs, which provide practical initiatives on how to save water and energy in your home and at your business.

• The Watershed
  Runs free workshops on living more sustainably in an urban environment, plus providing information on a large range of sustainability options.
   
• Sustainable Business Program
  Information on support available for business to reduce energy and water usage.
   
• Water
  Lists the range of water management and water conservation programs. Also includes practical tips on how to save water in your home and business.
   

Practical tips for saving water

• Use rainwater to flush your toilets. Marrickville Council Marrickville Council's Rainwater Tank Rebate Program is now available to all residents and businesses in the local government area with rebates of up to $2000 per household available.
   
• Protect your local waterways by reducing the area of paved or ‘impervious’ surfaces on your property and directing stormwater runoff from paved surfaces onto gardens and lawns rather than to the street drainage system.
   
• Does your business use between 20 and 80 kilolitres of water a day? Sydney Water will refund half the cost of making your business more water efficient by up to a total of $20,000. Applications close 6 March 2009. Contact Sydney Water on 13 20 92 or visit www.sydneywater.com.au for more information.
   
• A leaking toilet can waste more than 16,000 litres of water a year. An easy way to check if your toilet is slowly leaking is to add a few drops of food colouring to your toilet cistern. Don't flush the toilet for at least one hour. If colouring shows up in the toilet bowl after an hour, you've got a leak.
   
• Using organic fertilisers like manure or compost in the garden should reduce the amount of water it needs. It will also reduce the need to use artificial fertilisers - unless a plant is suffering a particular deficiency. Most Australian native plants however will grow well without fertilisers or regular watering.

Practical tips for saving energy

• Use only the cold cycle in your clothes washing machine to cut your electricity bill. A cold wash will also save around 4 kilograms of greenhouse gases being produced compared to a hot wash.
   
• Switch your home's water heater off if you go away for more than a few days - all the time it's on, you're wasting electricity and money and producing greenhouse gases. Using a timer switch will allow you to turn it on before you get home.
   
• Convert your car to LPG. This will reduce your fuel costs and greenhouse emissions. Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) has lower energy content than petrol, meaning you'll need to consume more fuel to travel the same distance, but for each litre of fuel consumed, LPG is cheaper and will produce fewer emissions.
   
• Eat the food you buy; don’t waste it. In 2004, Australians threw away a total of $5.3 billion on all forms of food including $630 million worth of uneaten take-away food, $876 million in leftovers and $241 million of frozen food. This is also a waste of the water, electricity, fertilisers, machinery, soil and fuel that was used to produce the food.
    
• If replacing your television, choose a model that is energy efficient. This should have a high star energy rating. In Australia, televisions now use more household electricity than cooking, space heating or air conditioning. For more information, visit www.energyrating.gov.au.