The Problem
A few months ago, I was walking past an office building with a for lease sign. It had a prominent label: "2 stars". I remember thinking: "2 stars - why would anyone want to lease a building like that?" Then it hit me - the exact same thing is happening with houses but you never see a bad energy efficiency rating advertised on a for sale sign for a house.
Australians are unknowingly buying/renting houses that are absolutely atrocious when it comes to energy efficiency - the average house's energy efficiency rating is 1.5/10!
The human cost of inefficient houses
This poor performance not only costs people money but it also has a human cost. Australians are living in "glorified tents" which are so expensive to heat and cool that more Australians die due to cold weather than people in Sweden despite the Swedish winter being about 50 degrees colder than in Australia. Summertime will become an even greater threat as climate change kicks in - the urban heat island effect could turn houses into death traps.
The financial cost
Our energy bills have increased over 90% in the last 10 years which is well above inflation. High energy bills push Australians to the brink. Vulnerable families have to choose between turning on their heaters on a cold winter's night and putting food on table.
The environmental cost
If we keep building houses that are not energy efficient and require a lot of heating and cooling, there is no way we can achieve our Paris climate targets. Energy efficiency is the cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions - improvements in energy efficiency only cost half as much as building new wind turbines/solar panels per kWh.
These 3 aspects: public health, financial and environmental, are what motived me to start GreenRenter.com.au.
SOLUTION
GreenRenter.com.au is a marketplace for renters to search for environmentally-friendly and energy efficient houses. Only houses with a 6 star or above NatHERS rating (or an equivalent rating) are allowed to list on the platform. This way renters can be confident that their new abode will be good for them and good for the planet.
Demo of GreenRenter website:
The search function
To view a particular property (with energy efficiency rating, sustainable features and walkability score)
Articles on sustainable living matters and community building:
BENEFITS
For Renters & Buyers
By helping people to find sustainable & energy efficient homes, we can make sure people are not flying blind when it comes to house hunting, and make sure they can enjoy living in their home. An energy efficient home will reduce their bills and improve their comfort levels.
For house owners
By creating demand for sustainable & energy efficient houses, we will motivate the owners of existing houses to retrofit their houses so that their houses can be energy efficient. Research indicates that houses that are energy efficient and have sustainable features are more attractive to tenants and buyers and can be soled/leased at a premium rate. It's a win-win for owners and tenants, given that upgrading a house can bring a positive return on investment as well as a better experience for tenants.
For our planet
By changing the market dynamic and creating demand for sustainable and energy efficient houses, this will encourage builders to build houses that are energy efficient. With more new houses that are energy efficient, and landlords upgrading houses to a higher energy efficiency rating, that will reduce the amount of electricity that we consume.
WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU
To make GreenRenter a reality, we need a little bit of help from you.
At the moment, we want to build our website GreenRenter.com.au (the existing GreenRenter.com.au is a placeholder, and we need help to build and refine this website).
Also, we need to promote this project and create a marketing campaign to promote those sustainable & energy efficient houses.
If you could donate and help us to make GreenRenter a reality, we will change the building industry. We can help reduce the death toll in Australia from poor housing insulation, reduce the financial pressure on vulnerable Australian families from high energy bills and reduce the CO2 emission that we are producing.
TEAM
Founder - Sandy (Courageous Environmental Organiser)
Sandy is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), with a green heart. This means she is adept at cashflow management and budgeting - critical skills for any business. She is not some heartless pencil pusher either, she decided to have a career change and worked for an environmental not-for-profit organisation 2 years ago, and now with an utility company to further her passion in sustainability. To bolster her knowledge of startups, she has been attending workshops through the Energylab Women in Cleantech program, ClimateKIC bootcamp (a program to help green small business to grow), and the Inner West Council Sustainability Leadership program.
Co-founder - Jeremy (The Geek)
Jeremy works as a full-stack developer at an energy efficiency company. Not only does he have knowledge in how to make buildings and houses energy efficient, but also he has in depth knowledge in running social enterprises. He is a graduate of the School for Social Entrepreneurs and works as a web developer, with an honours degree in Environmental Science. He’ll be helping GreenRenter and making sure the IT side of the business is in good shape.
Project manager - Jack (Mr. Acceptable)
Jack has worked as an IT project manager for several years and now works as a product manager at a startup. He loves startups and left the corporate world 2 years ago to pursue his own startups and help other entrepreneurs. He is into sustainability living and is excited about using his skills to help GreenRenter succeed.
Picture above: GreenRenter participated in Energylab Clean Energy Hackathon in March 2018, we were the runner-up team in the competition. A picture with the judges. Left 2: Jeremy. Left 3: Sandy. Centre: Jack.
Website: www.greenrenter.com.au
Facebook: @GreenRenterAUS
Twitter: @GreenRenterAUS
LinkedIn: @GreenRenterAUS