Energy-efficient makeover pays off for Queenscliff residents

A LOCAL climate action group is encouraging residents to consider home energy audits, after one of its members slashed their electricity bills by 50 per cent by making several energy efficiency upgrades.

Queenscliffe Climate Action Now’s (QCAN) Jenny Barrett and her husband David Brown undertook the audit on their 30-year-old Point Lonsdale home as part of the community group’s Energy Efficient Homes initiative.

Running between 2023 and 2024, the initiative delivered audits to 54 local households, providing advice on how to improve the energy efficiency of their homes to reduce their energy consumption and emissions.

“We already had some ideas, including ‘getting off gas’, but we wanted to know what else could be done and in what order we should do it,” Barrett said.

“We wanted to minimise our use of fossil-fuelled power, and by going greener, we hoped to make significant financial savings and reduce destructive carbon emissions.”

The gas supply was disconnected, a 13.5kWh on-site battery was installed, and the property’s eight-year-old gas hot water and heating system was replaced with a 4.6kW solar system, with panels generating 8.2kW, and an electric heat pump hot water system.

New fibreglass batts were installed in the roof space on top of the property’s aged insulation, while nine windows were upgraded with double glazing and thermal efficient blinds.

Electric panel heaters have replaced the home’s gas-fired ducted and ‘log-fire’ heating, and energy-efficient LED lights have replaced halogen ceiling downlights.

Changes were also made to the home’s exterior, including the removal of an alfresco structure that was blocking the northern sun from the living room, and strategic tree planting and mulched native gardens to create a cooling effect in summer.

The process took six months from assessment and planning through to installation.

The upgrades, Ms Barrett said, reduced the couple’s bills through the winter quarter by 55 per cent, compared to the 2024 winter period, despite increases to the price of electricity in August.

“It’s a very happy story.

“We want everyone to know how much difference they can make with a retrofit project.”

The works aligns with the borough’s Climate Emergency Response Plan, developed with the community and adopted in 2021, which targets a zero-carbon community by 2031.

For more information, including details on the products and services used in the Energy Efficient Homes initiative, head to queenscliffeclimateaction.org