This week, Auckland Council’s Environment and Community Committee voted to expand the council’s ‘Retrofit Your Home’ programme to include solar energy, energy storage and energy efficiency interventions.
Retrofit Your Home provides homeowners with a loan of up to $5000 which is repaid through their rates bill over a nine-year term.
Mayor Phil Goff says the new interventions are focused on achieving energy efficiency and energy resilience.
“Today we have approved eight new interventions to our Retrofit Your Home programme including options for solar panels, solar water heating and LED lighting. These additions will help create healthier and more energy-efficient homes,” says Mayor Goff.
“Every Aucklander deserves a warm dry home. To date, we have supported over 23,700 homeowners to make energy-efficient retrofits. Our programme currently delivers funding support to around 2800 Auckland homes each year.
"The immediate benefits of the programme include energy savings and the health benefits associated with warmer, drier homes.”
Councillor Penny Hulse, chair of the Environment and Community Committee, says that the programme will make homes more resilient to the impacts of climate change and will contribute to a reduction in carbon emissions.
“Our programme is achieving carbon emission savings which we hope to increase with these new interventions,” says Councillor Hulse.
“The programme’s new initiatives represent a proactive measure to support the council’s recent declaration of a Climate Emergency by supporting energy resilience and a shift to clean transport. That’s a great outcome for homeowners and our region.”
“The introduction of new interventions such as energy storage batteries, solar panels and solar water pumps, will support climate change adaptation by improving the energy resilience of Auckland’s built environment during extreme weather events and power outages, they also support ‘key moves’ in the draft Auckland Climate Action Framework.”
This programme’s a real high achiever!
A council report found that the programme returned $3.10 in social, environmental and economic benefits for every dollar invested, with key outcomes for people living in retrofitted homes highlighted as including:
- an increased feeling of satisfaction with their living situation
- improved quality of life and life expectancy for those who suffered from an illness related to cold and damp housing
- financial savings from reduced electricity consumption
- improved educational achievement (for occupiers of homes who are students) and improved efficiency when working from home (for those in employment).
In the 2017/2018 financial year over 2700 Retrofit Your Home loan applications were processed, with $6.4 million committed. The majority of homeowners involved in the programme are based in south and west Auckland.
What are the new interventions?
New initiatives to be added to the Retrofit Your Home programme include:
- solar panels
- energy storage batteries
- Type 2 electric vehicle chargers
- solar pumps for water tanks
- solar water heaters
- heat pump water heating
- doubled-layered curtains; and,
- LED lighting.
New interventions (ranked against Retrofit Your Home criteria)
Suppliers for new retrofit interventions will be in place from early 2020.
