The healthy home and you
With the cost of living on the rise, there’s more reason than ever to take a second look at your home and identify opportunities that can lessen the impact of your lifestyle on both your wallet and the planet.
Energy
Energy is one of the largest costs incurred when running a home, but there are plenty of options available to reduce your quarterly costs. Being mindful about the way you use energy is a great place to start.
- Make an effort to form helpful habits like turning light switches off when you leave the room and turning appliances off at the wall when not in use. Standby power accounts for approximately 5.9% of energy usage in Australia, costing Aussie households $860 million every year!1
- Geothermal heating and cooling systems can significantly reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The geothermal system at Fairwater in Western Sydney is predicted to save residents up to 60% of their yearly energy costs.2
Waste
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average household spends $1,266 per year on consumer goods that are purchased but never used. Almost half of that comes from wasted food products.
- The first step towards reducing food waste is to think more deeply about your choices when tackling the weekly shop.
- Planning meals ahead of time and shopping seasonally for fresh produce can help to reduce the number of items that spend a few days in the fridge or fruit bowl before spoiling and being thrown away.
- Frasers Property Australia is on track to achieve its goal of being a zero-waste organisation by 2030.
Water
With the average Australian using more than 100,000L of water every year3, reforming our water consumption is a huge opportunity to reduce the impact of climate change.
- As with energy, there are some simple steps you can take like installing water-saving appliances and fixing that annoying drip or leak before the bill skyrockets. More permanently, installing a rain water tank and using grey water to wash the car and water the garden are great ways to reduce your impact.
- At Port Coogee in WA, Frasers Property has introduced a water supply scheme which allows grey water to be used to irrigate public spaces, streetscapes, and residential properties.
1 Department of Industry Innovation and Science.
2 Compared to a standard air conditioning unit and specs. Based on modelling using CCAP Precinct software October 2017.
3 Department of Environment and Energy.