Living Smart is an initiative developed in Western Australia that encourages people to save energy, water and petrol and generate less waste. In May 2008, 10,000 households in the Mandurah area were invited to take part in the Living Smart household program to address the impacts of climate change.
The Living Smart Program, which ran for one year in the City of Mandurah, enabled thousand of households to cut the cost of running their homes and reduced the environmental footprint of the community.
Households who took part in the program were offered free information on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money on household bills. Free household assessments were also offered to many residents. The same tips and technical information provided to the participants are available to all households on the Department of Transport’s Living Smart website http://www.dpi.wa.gov.au/.
A summary of the results of the program included;
Energy
Based on self reported actions, an energy saving of 2.75 kWh per participating household per day was achieved (about 9% of household energy use). This translates to an annual saving of 1,005 kWh per household, equivalent to a $209.53 reduction on the annual energy bills. Evaluation of final meter reading results are still being undertaken by the University of Western Australia. An evaluation of meter readings conducted half way through the program indicated a saving of 0.5 kWh per household per day.
The major actions reported by participants were;
- 2,394 household’s turned off standby power – a collective annual CO2 saving of 1,534,963 kg;
- 1,904 household’s installed CFL globes – an annual CO2 saving of 712,989 kg;
- 1,197 household’s turned off lights when not in the room – an annual CO2 saving of 121,004 kg.
Water
Participating households saved over 50 litres of water per day. The collective water savings across the 5,441 participating households was 105 million litres per annum.
Savings were achieved through simple yet effective changes;
- 1632 household’s taking shorter showers – a collective annual saving of 57,120,000 litres;
- 816 household’s installed a water wise showerhead – an annual saving of 7,148,160 litres;
- 489 household’s are now using their washing machine only when full – an annual saving of 4,445,000 litres.
Travel
Before and after surveys of a target sample were conducted to determine the effect of the program on travel patterns. Responses indicate that kilometres travelled per car per day between 2008 and 2010 reduced from 30 km to 29 km across the entire sample. This equates to an annual net saving of 7 million car kilometres, or 1,286 km per participating household. This represents a reduction of 141 litres of petrol used per household per year, at a saving of $169.
Across the whole target group the number of trips by car dropped by 5%, walking increased by 18%, cycling by 4% and public transport use by 31%. These increases in sustainable transport choices came on top of the 37% increase in public transport trips and 1% drop in car trips following the opening of the Mandurah line rail service.
Officers will use the results and information gathered from this program to develop further actions to promote behaviour change and encourage reduction in energy and water use.
