Moreland Energy Foundation

The Victorian Energy Saver Incentive scheme provides rebates to households who install energy saving measures in their homes, like replacing inefficient appliances with more efficient ones, installing double glazing, or sealing up gaps and cracks around doors, windows and chimneys.

The Victorian Government has committed to expand the scheme to small and medium businesses, and has been consulting on which activities for these businesses should be subsidised under the scheme.

MEFL has a wealth of experience in helping businesses in Moreland save energy and cut their gas and electricity bills, through established and new energy efficiency measures, including replacing inefficient light bulbs, installing timers and many more.

We made a submission to the Victorian Government on this proposal, which focused on:

• the importance of designing energy efficiency schemes on the basis of high quality data on the costs and benefits of implementing energy efficiency measures on the ground;
• the mounting evidence that well-designed energy efficiency programs that include an element of behaviour change can reduce energy wastage and cut energy costs more effectively and cheaply than other programs;
• MEFL's extensive experience in implementing and measuring energy efficiency measures in both households and businesses, and gathering the kind of data that is required for designing these schemes properly.

You can download a complete copy of our submission on our website.

MEFL has just made a submission to the Victorian Department of Primary Industries on the proposed expansion of the Energy Saver Incentive scheme. The submission relates to a cost-benefit analysis undertaken for the proposed expansion.

The scheme provides a financial incentive for households to improve their energy efficiency, and the Government is considering expanding the scheme to small and medium businesses, and increasing the target for greenhouse gas emissions to come from the scheme.

MEFL follow-up response to government workshop

As reported previously on this blog, the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formed a Task Group in March 2010 to report on energy efficiency in Australia, and how it could be improved.  The Task Group completed its report in July 2010. MEFL recently attended a meeting to discuss the report, and submitted a follow-up response.

MEFL will continue to work with the Government to ensure the report's recommendations are implemented.

Download MEFL response

MEFL has made a submission to the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency on its proposal to offer tax breaks for green buildings.

We have suggested a range of changes and improvements to the proposed tax breaks.

We will track the progress of this initiative.

Download the MEFL submission.

MEFL has prepared a submission to the Medium Scale Working Group within DPI about the best way for the government to support people wishing to install medium sized solar energy systems.

Current situation

Currently, there is support in Victoria for small solar systems in the form of the Premium Feed-in-Tariff (PFiT).  However, this only applies to systems up to 5kW in size.  The Brumby Government promised to establish a feed-in-tariff for large scale solar systems, but it is unclear whether the Baillieu administration will support it.  At any rate, there is a gap in support for medium-sized installations, and the purpose of the review was to identify measures to address this gap. 

Main points of our submission

MEFL's submission focused on:

• the significant upfront cost of installation, combined with long payback periods
• the limited time and resources of potential medium-scale solar customers to properly research investing in medium-scale solar
• the limited awareness amongst potential customers of the costs, benefits, risks and opportunities of solar, and the limited availability of independent, accessible and user-friendly information
• regulatory barriers
• policy uncertainty. 

We also stressed the extraordinary opportunities for community involvement in medium-scale solar projects, as demonstrated by the recent Hepburn community owned wind farm.  Download the full submission.

We will continue to work with the new Government on these issues, and would welcome any input from readers on these or any other issues relating to energy or sustainability.

 MEFL has prepared a submission to the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) on the Energy Saver Incentive (ESI), and its expansion to cover small and medium businesses. 

The ESI (also known as the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target or VEET scheme) essentially provides a rebate to households for certain activities and products that improve their energy efficiency. 

The scheme applies to activities such as sealing gaps under doors and in wall vents, double glazing windows and purchasing certain efficient appliances like fridges. 

Joint submission from MEFL and the ATA.

Moreland Energy Foundation Limited (MEFL) and the AlternativeTechnology Association(ATA) welcomed the opportunity to provide comment on the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency's Enhancing the Renewable Energy Target Discussion Paper, March 2010.

Broadly, we support the changes suggested in the government paper, but have a number of key concerns. As outlined in our previous submissions on changes to the Renewable Energy Target, MEFL and ATA firmly believe that the integrity of the Renewable Energy Target is compromised by the existence ofthe Solar Credits multiplier mechanism and the creation of ‘phantom RECs’. Further, proponents of small-scale generation technologies receiving RECs under the existing Solar Credits scheme are actually leading to a reduction in the amount of renewable electricity generated in Australia – clearly not their intention.

Many of MEFL’s constituents and ATA’s members are also supporters of large-scale renewable energy and have expressed their concerns with the delay in the deployment of large-scale renewable energy projects, resulting from the oversupply in RECs from small-scale renewable energy technologies and subsequent suppression of the REC price. Consequently MEFL and ATA broadly support the changes proposed in the Department paper, with specific comments on some aspects of concern outlined in the report below.

The proposals, recommendations and intentions outlined in this submission have been endorsed by Environment Victoria.

Download our submission on Enhancing the Renewable Energy Target Discussion Paper

And for more background download our Fact Sheet on Solar Credits and RECs.

In December 2008 MEFL made a submission to the independent review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The submission called for the amendment of the Act to include a greenhouse trigger, which would enable the Act to assess new developments based on their predicted greenhouse gas emissions.

MEFL's submission is in keeping with recommendations endorsed by the Climate Action Network Australia, or CANA, Australia's peak non-government body working on climate change.

For more information, download MEFL's submssion to the EPBC Act.

Or download CANA's submission to the EPBC Act.

Following the announcement of the Commonwealth Government's Victorian Energy Efficiency Scheme (VEET) in 2008, Moreland Energy Foundation submitted a response.

As a well-versed community organisation whose main commitment is to improving energy efficiency, MEFL used their collective expertise to respond to the Government proposal. Based on this level of expertise, MEFL has been engaged to deliver a range of consultancy projects for all levels of government.

This submission outlines MEFLs response to the national energy efficiency context including emissions trading, barriers to energy efficiency and the need for complementary measures. MEFL concludes the submission by outlining this organisation's preferred model for VEET, using case studies to demonstrate how it would function.

Download the full VEET regulatory impact statement from MEFL.

MEFL and the Northern Alliance for Greenhouse Action (NAGA) have both provided submissions to the Victorian Government's Climate Change Green Paper review process.

The Climate Change Green Paper is a draft policy document designed to create discussion and feedback on the State's approach to addressing climate change issues.

In our submission, MEFL called for an increased urgency in the State's response to climate change, stressed that there is a role for Victoria to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions; called for action on improving building energy efficiency; and suggested that the government should apply a 'climate change assessment' to any future policy decisions and directions.

Download the MEFL submission and the NAGA submission on the Victorian Climate Change Green Paper.