Rebuilding Green

Households produce a huge chunk of our greenhouse emissions because our car travel, appliances, heating, cooling and lighting all churn our CO2 emissions unless we use green energy sources.

 

If we want to cut the extreme weather greenhouse cycle for future generations, post-disaster periods are an excellent time to rebuild green, buy more energy efficient cars, and re-think green lifestyle choices.

 

Green Cross Australia's US affiliate is called Global Green USA (same logo, same global group, different name for quirky reasons). Check out the amazing work that Global Green USA is doing to support Katrina victims and build New Orleans back green!

Did you know that a huge amount of Australian greenhouse emissions come from our homes? Check this out:

 

 

 

Fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, oil) are used to generate approximately 92% of electricity in Australia. Most electricity (78%) in Australia is generated by coal (both black and brown), and burning coal is the most emissions-intensive form of electricity. Some electricity is available from renewable sources (8%) such as wind-generated and hydro-electricity plants.

Typical Aussie homes generate 14 tonnes of greenhouse gas each year. The big sources of pollution are driving, water heating, home heating and cooling, and electronics and other appliances.

 

 

When extreme weather events hit, hundreds, sometimes thousands of homes need to be substantially rebuilt. Large numbers of cars are trashed beyond repair in severe weather.

For example, did you know that:

 

-  Over 700,000 residents of the Gulf Coast were impacted by significant structural damage and flooding caused by Katrina

 

-  Over 200,000 structures damaged within New Orleans city limits

 

-  The scale of redevelopment from Katrina involves rebuilding between 87,000 and 125,000 housing units

 

-  During Cyclone Larry in Innisfail, wind of up to 290km/h ripped roofs from houses, demolished an ambulance station, damaged a hospital and police station, and uprooted trees

 

- Larry rebuilding costs were estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, with up to 10,000 houses damaged and one in three losing their roofs.

 

-  Post disaster assessments of Larry showed 50% of homes in Innisfail were damaged while 35% of private industry structures needed repairs, and 25% of government buildings were severely damaged including the hospital.

-  In Brisbane's recent urban storm at The Gap, 145 000 houses and business lost power, and over 10,000 calls to the SES

-  4,000 houses were damaged in The Gap, 30 became uninhabitable

 

Our Extreme Weather Heroes will inspire the entire emergency volunteering community to understand the link between climate change, energy consumption, severe weather. Emergency volunteers are in a perfect position share the "rebuild green" message far and wide in disaster impacted communities.

Australia has 500,000 emergency volunteers who work with 18 different emergency groups - this is a vast human resource that makes contact with communities at a vital hour of need. Just after storm and fire devastation.

If they hear the call to rebuild green from the volunteers who are there on the group to assist, we think that communities impacted by floods, fires and storms will hear the message in the best possible way and will do their part to rebuild green in the aftermath and to adopt green living to reduce future climate change impacts.

 

Green Cross Australia will work with the insurance industry, suppliers of green energy and green services, other community groups and local, State and Federal government agencies to ensure that all available energy efficient rebates, tax concessions and retail discounts are made available to support communities that want to rebuild green.

We are doing this work right now in New Orleans, where our US affiliate called Global Green is leading a massive green rebuilding campaign.

 

You can also check out our Build It Back Green work in Victoria designed to help Victorian communities recovering from the Black Saturday bushfires to build their homes back in an affordable and sustainable manner. 

 

Green Power is an excellent way to ensure that renewal energy supply powers green homes, and Aussies have access to a fantastic community website that rates the Green Power marketplace and makes it easy to shop around.

 

You can make the switch after reviewing independent ratings provided by the Australian Conservation Foundation, WWF, and the Total Environment Centre, and after you've made your choice, you can easily switch to a green energy provider by using Choice Switch.

 

Simple, easy and affordable options such as replacing regular light bulbs with Compact Fluorescent ones (CFLs) and updating homes with proper wall and ceiling insulation can increase efficiency and effectiveness of lighting, heating and cooling systems.

 

Applying radiant barriers to upper levels of the home can deflect up to 97% of the sun's rays and significantly reduce monthly energy bills while increasing air quality.

 

Such small-scale improvements can collectively take larger steps toward reducing the total energy usage of homes and buildings, now one third of total U.S. energy consumption.