Greater Taree City Council and householders join forces to combat climate change before 30 September
Greater Taree City Council is helping its residents save money on their energy and water bills while combating climate change.

Even Taree Mayor, Eddie Loftus, will show his support and have his face painted green with the Easy Being Green team at ground level, Taree City Centre (outside Woolworths) on Tuesday, 26 September at 10.00 am.

The Council has joined Easy Being Green, a company behind a concept to distribute Climate Saver Packs free of charge. The standard Climate Saver Pack contains six energy saving light globes and one AAA rated water-saving showerhead.

Taree householders have only until 30 September to claim their Climate Saver Packs free of charge and help combat climate change. The packs free of charge can be collected at Taree City Centre from 25-30 September. The free offer in its current form is set to change after 30 September because of changes to the Government scheme.

By installing these packs, householders can save over one tonne of greenhouse gas pollution from entering earth’s atmosphere and an average of 21,000 litres of water each year. They also save $150 off their combined annual electricity and water bills.

Taree Mayor Eddie Loftus said the Council wants to encourage residents to become more conscious of the environment and participate in the Easy Being Green program.

“This is a terrific initiative and one that Greater Taree City Council is pleased to be a part of. I encourage all residents to take up this opportunity and begin saving energy, water and money which will greatly benefit our local environment,” he said.

Paul Gilding, CEO at Easy Being Green and former Executive Director of Greenpeace International, said a critical part of the bargain is installation.

“Before receiving the pack free of charge, each householder must sign a form pledging to install the contents. This then gives Easy Being Green the right to trade the value of the energy they save by installing them,” Gilding said.

“Everybody wins with installation: the householder saves money by reducing their power bills, the environment benefits and Easy Being Green trades its carbon certificates, which helps to promote reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Because of our commitment, we survey customers to monitor installation in order to resolve any problems they might have,” he said.

Easy Being Green is amongst a limited number of organisations that are accredited to trade carbon credits on to energy companies to assist them in meeting mandatory emission targets set by the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme. In order to meet their targets, energy companies can undertake their own energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives and can also purchase carbon credits from accredited providers like Easy Being Green.

Gilding said the current scheme in NSW is the only one in Australia and the only one of its kind in the world, as it allows householders to trade the pollution emissions they save.

“Greenhouse pollution is causing global warming and climate change. Householders save so much energy because the light globes are using a newer and better technology that requires less power,” he said.

“So far, Easy Being Green has given away over 300,000 packs. Our goal is to see that one million householders in NSW install the packs before 2007 and that 70 percent of Australian homes reduce energy and water use by 30 percent in 10 years,” Gilding said.

To collect your Climate Saver Pack free of charge and receive more information on Green Power, visit the friendly Easy Being Green team at Taree City Centre from 25-30 September or go to the website at www.easybeinggreen.com.au.

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Released for Easy Being Green by Dennis Rutzou Public Relations.
For further information please call Kim Larochelle or Fiona Pennington
on 02 9413 4244.