May 7, 2007: New figures from Solahart reveal residents in Sydney's West are the most active in their attempts to reduce household energy consumption by installing solar hot water systems.
Of all the Sydney households to install a Solahart hot water system in the last six months, 23 per cent of them were from Sydney's Western suburbs. This compares to only 3 per cent from Sydney's more affluent Eastern suburbs.
The figures from Solahart, one of the world's leading suppliers of solar hot water systems, reveal Sydney's outer western suburbs were most active in the installation of solar hot water systems in the past six months.
Almost half of Solahart's Sydney dealings were conducted in Sydney's West and South Western suburbs. The region accounted for 45 per cent of all installations in the past six months.
Sydney's Lower North Shore and Inner City suburbs accounted for the least number of installations with only two per cent of the total number of Solahart hot water systems fixed to homes in each region during the past six months.
Stephen Cranch Solahart National Manager says installing a solar hot water system can reduce a household's greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30 per cent and is proven to be the most effective way to reduce household energy consumption.
"Electric water heating is the single biggest contributor to household greenhouse gas emissions – and currently 4 million Australian households are equipped with energy hungry electric water heaters," says Mr Cranch.
Campbelltown topped the list of Sydney suburbs with nine per cent of the total number of Solahart hot water systems installed in the metropolitan area during the past six months.
Campbelltown City Council Manager Environmental Planning Phil Jemison says the suitable climate and landscape of the Campbelltown area makes it an ideal place for the installation of solar hot water systems.
"As a significant residential growth area, there are numerous opportunities for developers of new housing estates, builders and households to embrace renewable energy solutions," says Mr Jemison.
"This helps to meet the housing needs of Australians in an environmentally sustainable way.
"Council recognises the importance of encouraging the implementation of practical measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote energy savings and, in light of this, has a number of programs and initiatives in place to promote the installation of solar hot water systems."
Campbelltown City Council has an ongoing catchment based Environmental Review Program that includes the encouragement of schools, residents and businesses to adopt practices that will improve energy efficiency and/or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as the installation of solar hot water systems.
"In August 2005, Council adopted the Campbelltown (Sustainable City) Development Control Plan with one of its main objectives to encourage new development within the Local Government Area to minimise the consumption of energy and other finite resources, to conserve environmental assets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," says Mr Jemison.
"One of the specific objectives of the Plan, in relation to energy efficiency, is to encourage the incorporation of features such as the installation of solar hot water systems into site and building design."
Solahart's research revealed Bayview, Manly, Newport, Bondi Junction, North Bondi and Narrabeen were among the 38 Sydney suburbs that accounted for a mere 0.25 per cent each of the total number of Solahart hot water systems installed in Sydney.
According to ABS statistics released in 2005 less than 5 per cent or 348,000 Australian homes currently have solar water heating.
"Despite the relatively low percentage of Australian homes with solar water heating, they still represent annual savings of more than 1,000,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions," says Mr Cranch.
"If we were to target the replacement of 1 million of the 4 million electric water heaters with solar water heaters that would be equivalent to removing 1 million small cars off the road – saving in excess of 3,000,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year."
Although Sydney has shown some strong solar water heater growth over the past 6 months, Perth still outnumbers Sydney by 3 to 1. On a per capita basis this means Perth is way out in front however if more suburbs embraced solar hot water like Campbelltown, Sydney would be a leader with this technology.
How Sydney's getting into hot water...
South West - 22%
East - 3%
North Shore -11%
West - 23%
Northern Beaches - 7%
South East - 3%
Inner West - 13%
North West - 9%
Inner City - 2%
Lower Nth Shore - 2%
South - 5%
About Solahart
Solahart has been a market leader in solar hot water systems for more than 50 years in Australia and has sold over 1 million systems worldwide. Systems are available to suit all Australian climates and geographic locations. www.solahart.com.au
For more information or further comment:
Stephen Cranch / Solahart / 02 9684 9457 / 0421 612 375
Holly Reynolds / Left Field Public Relations / 22 9331 6671 / 0409 462 112
copyright © Solahart 2007
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