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STRATA FUNDAMENTALS

Media Release - 5 January 2012

Happy ‘Green’ New Year - Reduce the Running Costs of Your Building

One of the less enjoyable Christmas presents was a significant rise in electricity costs, felt by strata residents individually as well as placing a burden on levy costs.

But there are ways we can keep these costs in check with a few simple ideas.

  • Look at your power supplier – is there a better deal for your strata?
  • Do an energy audit to find savings
  • It doesn’t matter what size your building is, lighting is usually ¼ of your common property utility bill. Car parks & common areas usually have fluro lights with two tubes. Removing one tube reduces your energy bill (& still meets Australian Standards)
  • Replace lighting in common areas with LEDs
  • Motion sensors help. Most hallways are vacant 70% of the time, plus garbage areas do not have foot traffic all day
  • Are your hot water heaters efficient?
  • Purchase energy efficient appliances for your common laundry
  • Paint your roof with a heat-reflecting paint
  • Check for leaks in the air conditioning cooling tower
  • Does that pool pump need to run 24/7? Can the pool temp be dropped a few degrees?
  • Remember: active maintenance saves money

Water:

90% of water demand is inside apartments, so work on your Executive Committee to spread the word to residents:

  • Install water efficient showerheads, kitchen & bathroom taps
  • Install lower flush toilets
  • Check leaks and fix immediately – inside apartments and in common areas
  • Encourage short showers – cut your shower by one minute and the average household will save $270 a year (shower timers are great)
  • In the tropics of the Far North Coast, air conditioning is essential – make sure yours is water as well as power efficient, small leaks add up
  • Check for leaks to water pipes

Other green ideas:

  • Communal composting. Rather than pay for compost, encourage residents to contribute to a communal compost – for your common garden areas
  • Reduce junk mail - issue everyone with a ‘No Junk Mail’ sticker and reduce the curbside refuse and the weight of your recycling bins as you drag them out each week!
  • Energy metres can be bought for the home which identifies which appliances are the big power suckers so you can switch them off at the power source
  • Make sure your Strata Manager communicates with Strata Owners via email rather than mail – save paper and administration costs

Research has shown recently that holiday rentals, in particular, can benefit from introduction eco-saving improvements, with increased enquiry and bookings.