Energy Efficiency

BürgerWerke is an innovative energy retailer start-up aiming to ‘close-the-loop’ on citizen energy in Germany. Chris Cooper pays them a visit in Heidelberg.

In today’s market, home energy upgrades are not part of an integrated set of recommendations when contractors remodel homes. They should be.

Our recent story about Kerry Dawborn told the story of the build of her home in Cockatoo, Victoria. However, our interview with Kerry had so much more information we decided to publish it in full here. When did you go off grid and why?  Was there a grid connection available at the time? My house is […]

Kerry Dawborn's off grid house is a beautifully sculpted small home built to a passive solar design and which incorporates work by local artisans and artists, and uses locally sources recycled materials to reduce its carbon footprint.

Enova Energy becomes first community owned retailer to be awarded a licence, potentially providing a model in way energy is marketed in Australia.

Photographer Ralph Alphonso had planned to turn a small inner city property space - just 5 metres by 4 metres - next to his inner city photographic studio in east Melbourne into a car port with a roof. Instead, after prompting from his father, he came up with a better idea.

Blueprint for NSW town of Uralla says getting to majority renewables can be relatively easy, and save a lot of money. Getting to 100% renewables, however, will be harder. But it seems lots of towns want to try.

California to move government buildings to 100% renewable energy across the state.

A home owner with a passion for sustainable living gathered good people around her to complete a energy efficient extension that is now a favourite space for family members to meet, eat and curl up with a good book.

Australian consumers want to embrace energy technologies like solar and storage that offer them cheaper electricity and greater energy independence – and power industry incumbents to meet this new wave of demand, or lose their grip on the market.

Totally Renewable Yackandandah to use highly successful crowd funding model to install 90kW solar at local not-for-profit health care centre.

Powershop CEO Ben Burge sees the rush to rooftop solar as a symptom of the same problem that has made his upstart power retailer such a success – customer disaffection with the Australian energy cartel. But he's worried the solar revolution could have a sting in its tail for consumers.

Gas bill got you feeling grey? A reverse cycle air conditioner could save you money.

Leigh Adamson recently bought the house next door to create a rare half acre block in suburbia. He now has an alternative retirement income and is readying both homes for the oncoming energy storage revolution with small grid-connect solar systems.

Gas was once considered a clean, green and cheap fuel. Now it is no longer clean, no longer green and certainly not cheap.

Port Macquarie Hotel that is 100% carbon neutral uses strata fees to generate 16% return on rooftop solar panels on its roof - rather than sitting in a bank - and even hosts a Tesla charging station.