Australians want climate change solutions at home

A survey of more than 2000 households in Queensland, Victoria, NSW and South Australia has revealed that more than 75% of Australians want to reduce energy consumption in the home and implement a rapid response to climate change.

CSIRO’s Energy Transformed Flagship has released a report looking at attitudes to household electricity consumption. The report considers people’s willingness to accept alternative approaches to reducing domestic energy.

CSIRO social scientist Dr John Gardner said the survey showed most Australians would like to find ways to curb electricity use in the home.

“The majority of people surveyed — women in particular — indicated a strong desire to try to reduce the amount of electricity they are currently using in their home,” Gardner said.

“People want to reduce their household emissions as well as save on the cost of their energy bills.”

The report showed that younger, more educated, higher income householders were willing to integrate technology into their home to manage their own household energy requirements.

Introducing energy-saving technology like ‘energy managers’ — devices which automatically control power usage by household appliances, such as pool pumps and air conditioners — was seen as an effective tool to help people reduce the electricity they consume.

“Electric hot water systems are already automatically controlled in the majority of Australian homes,” Gardner said.

“Having that sort of control extended to a range of other domestic appliances could help householders minimise their energy use more easily.”

The report also found that Australians interested in generating their own household electricity prefer renewable energy sources, particularly favouring solar and wind.

For more information, visit CSIRO.