As a renter, you can’t easily install skylights or solar hot water heaters, but there is a lot you can do at no-cost and low-cost. You know that and that’s why you’re here on the Green Renters website. But with most of the easy stuff done it starts to get a bit technical. As every home is different this is where a specific look at your place by a trained professional can assist.

The good news is that the Federal Government is currently offering just that service, and it’s for free! Currently through the Australian Government Green Loans Program householders (home-owners and renters) can get access to a free home sustainability assessment (valued at over $250) to identify how to save energy, water and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Federal Government is also subsidising Green Loans of up to $10,000 interest-free for up to four years, for householders (yes, that means renters as well) to make the recommended improvements. I am one of the assessors and recently did an assessment at Green Renters headquarters in Brunswick.

Now, to be eligible there are a few criteria that need to be met:

1. The applicant must be an Australian citizen or a permanent resident of Australia.
2. The applicant must be aged 18 or over.
3. The applicant must have a taxable income no greater than $250,000 per annum. Suitable evidence of income may include the most recent Notice of Assessment produced by the Australian Taxation Office.
4. The applicant must be either an owner of the Home or a trustee of the Home (as shown on the current title) or listed on the current lease of the Home.
5. The Home being assessed must be in Australia or its territories, and be the principal place of residence for a household.
6. The Home being assessed must have been completed and occupied for at least 12 months (not necessarily by the applicant). Suitable proof may include a certificate of occupancy or similar issued by a local, state or territory government agency.
7. The applicant must give the Department permission to access (through their energy and water suppliers) energy and water consumption information for a period of 12 months (where available) preceding the Assessment, and up to 24 months after the Assessment (this data is an extremely important part of the Program for environmental impact analysis and Program evaluation).
8. Government owned dwellings are not eligible.
9. Dwellings owned by corporate organisations or companies are not eligible.

The assessments themselves take about an hour and a half and start off with a kitchen table discussion informed by your energy and water bills, to look at your energy and water use and to discuss general issues such as insulation and how the home is heated and cooled.

From there, the assessment moves through each room in the house – looking at appliance use, lighting, potential draughts, window coverings, heating and cooling all the while collecting data that will feed into your recommendations.

Once the room-by-room assessment is complete, we head back to the kitchen table to discuss recommendations specific to your home and next steps. This concludes the in-home part of the assessment.

Once I leave your house, I upload all the information into a piece of software which then generates a report tailored to your home. Some of the really house-specific stuff isn’t picked up in the government report so I follow up with an email that includes additional recommendations that I think may assist you with your next steps. The government report is then sent out by post. And you’ll have everything you need to put your plan into action!

The government report highlights:

• Priority areas – key areas of focus for your particular home;
• Recommendations – to improve water and energy efficiency; and,
• Green Loans Eligible Items – recommendations for which financial assistance is available.

This last one is mainly for ‘big ticket’ items like solar hot water and rainwater tanks (which, let’s face it, would be lovely), but as a renter you are unlikely to be able to pursue. However if you have a long term lease or a really inefficient fridge for example, using the loan offered to purchase a new one may be something to think about.

The Green Loans work like this: to assist households, the Australian Government has lowered the cost of finance by providing a loan subsidy to participating financial institutions. This subsidy covers the interest on borrowing of up to $10,000 for a period of up to four years.  The household can choose which participating bank, credit union or building society they wish to apply for a loan with.

So if you are interested in a free home sustainability assessment for your place there are a couple of options – if you’re Melbourne based and live between the city and Preston or between Moonee Ponds and Fairfield then that’s my turf, so you could send me an email – gavinashleyhsa@gmail.com -  and I’ll be in touch and take care of the booking procedure for you. Alternatively call the Hotline on 1800 895 076 (9.00am-5.00pm EST, Monday-Friday) and the Australian Government booking service will hook you up with an assessor who is working in your area.

If you are ready to take the next steps in reducing energy and water use, this could be a great opportunity to get tailored actions for your home. For more info on the program go to http://www.environment.gov.au/greenloans/index.html