Greens candidate Malcolm McKelvie is challenging the other by-election candidates to compare energy use in their campaign offices. He has offered a free audit by a professional energy assessor and is keen to help them reduce their energy use during this campaign.

“There's more than one type of hot air which political candidates produce but let's look at greenhouse gasses this month" said Malcolm McKelvie

Australia and the world urgently needs to move to a low carbon economy and eventually to a zero carbon economy if we have any hope to avoid catastrophic effects of global warming. We all need to change the way we live and use energy, but that doesn’t mean doing without. 

One vital component of the shift is being economic with the power we use. The Greens propose to introduce the Energy Efficiency Access and Savings Initiative, or EASI. It would retrofit all of Australia’s 7.4 million homes over the course of a decade, rolling out home energy audits, providing the service and paying the up-front cost, which would be recouped through savings on energy bills. EASI would require an up-front investment from the government that, at its peak, would reach $22 billion. But it would more than repay itself, not only through direct repayments but also through not having to build new power stations and electricity grid infrastructure. It would also reduce emissions and make our houses more comfortable to live in.