The Powerdown Project - Where to Start

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Ever wonder why you are passionate about climate change then just go on living more or less like you have always done?

Why we are annoyed by the government for not acting decisively, then dilly dally around ourselves?

Graphic by Grist-Climate Citizens.

Changing your life the easy way

If you are like most people, then your life will be already full. No space in your day. Kids, work, running your house, socialising with friends.

Then along comes the biggest challenge of all – climate change. It’s enough to tear your hair out, or leave you unable to move. Like a stunned mullet.

Is this you? Well you aren’t alone. This is why we need a smart strategy, so we can all live responsibly and still keep our sanity.

Your climate friendly home

Here is a replica of the little garden signs that participating households in Waterworks Valley Climate Connect project have developed – to display in their front yards.

This comes with a commitment: to reduce the household’s carbon footprint by 5% or more each year. It doesn’t matter at all what the household’s starting point is, the main aim is to commit.

Easy as pie!

Having decided to give it a go, the very first thing for you will need to do is find out where you use up energy.

You will find that your home may be nothing like your neighbour’s. No shoe fits all. A family of five in a 1940s weatherboard home will have an entirely different footprint to a pensioner in a small, modern brick flat.

Your family home will have an energy pie looking something like the one on the left.

This will tell you roughly where you can save on your home energy bills. Notice that some slices – like your home heating and hot water bills – are much bigger than the other slices.

Now take any one of the seven slices and have a good look at it. Pull it apart. You will see there are many ways to reduce the size of that particular slice. Reducing the size of each slice reduces the size of the whole pie (your power bill).

Secondly, you will notice that shaving 5% off a big slice – like the hot water one – will cut your power bills much more than shaving 5% off a thin slice. So it really pays to focus on the ‘big ticket’ items as your top priority.

And – this appears to defy the laws of gravity, but its true! – you can shrink the pie whilst saving money and improving your comfort level. All at once. Why wouldn’t you?

Why numbers are so vital

It’s very hard to measure success without numbers. That’s why most people are in the dark about their real climate footprint.

We have our power bills and our petrol dockets and… well… not much else to go by.

Measuring your lifestyle is easier than you think. We can measure most things we do. So let’s think about accumulating useful numbers.

Elinor lives in west Moonah and is over the moon, because she has reduced her household energy usage by 40% in just three years. She couldn’t have done it without knowing what she was using in the first place and where it was being used.

So she measured everything and made a big list – and put a number next to each item.