Energy Friends is a partnership program of the South Australian Government. Community groups that sign up to the Energy Friends program will receive training and practical resources to allow their members to undertake grass-roots energy action in their local community.

Leading community action to reduce household energy use

Energy Friends is an exciting new program that delivers energy action at a truly local level. Community groups and their members now have the opportunity to become Energy Friends and offer to their community practical advice on how to reduce energy use, cut costs and do their bit to address greenhouse pollution.

What is Energy Friends?

Energy Friends is a partnership program of the South Australian Government. Community groups that sign up to the Energy Friends program will receive training and practical resources to allow their members to undertake grass-roots energy action in their local community.

Why community-based energy action?

A growing number of community organisations, including environmental, welfare, local government and residents associations are concerned about the impacts of energy use in their community.

Energy Friends provides a practical way in which they can take action.  The good news is that people often regard such groups as being highly credible and trustworthy.  They can be far more effective at motivating household energy action than information from impersonal sources.

Energy Friends complements other programs and services delivered by Energy Division.  For example, if an Energy Friend or the householders they are helping need further energy advice they can contact the Energy Division Advisory Service or log onto Energy Division's web site.

Home energy auditing

Home energy audits are a highly effective way in which Energy Friends can help reduce energy use in their community.

An Energy Friends home energy audit typically involves a trained Energy Friend visiting a home to discuss how the householder uses energy and present options for how they can cut energy costs.

This one-on-one approach allows for the advice to be practical and highly relevant.  The householders are encouraged to identify actions they are willing to take and the auditor can follow up their progress.

Other ways of being Energy Friends

Home visits are only one way in which community groups can deliver practical energy advice to householders.  An Energy Friends program could include community forums and workshops, over-the-counter advice and do-it-yourself tools, such as the Home Energy Self-Audit kits that many SA councils have purchased and have available to loan to their residents.

What can be achieved?

Through a range of practical energy efficiency measures, a typical household has the potential to reduce energy costs by hundreds of dollars per year.

For example, encouraging a householder to turn-off their second fridge can reduce energy costs by over $100 per year and, in some cases, save over a tonne of greenhouse gases per year.

Energy efficiency measures in heating and cooling, water heating, appliance use and lighting can also offer significant savings.

Partners

Cool Communities and AGL have provided generous support to the development of the Energy Friends program.

Cool Communities - a partnership between the Australian Greenhouse Office and the Conservation Council of SA - initiated the development of training for community based home energy auditors in SA.  Energy Division was pleased to be able to support Cool Communities in this work.

In a true spirit of partnership, Energy Division has been able to adapt this pioneering work into the Energy Friends program.

AGL has provided sponsorship to the Energy Friends program.  This sponsorship allows Energy Division to provide community groups with home energy auditing training resources, kits and incentives at no cost.

Energy Division thanks Cool Communities and AGL for their generous support of the Energy Friends program.

Home energy auditing tools

Energy Division has assembled a range of innovative tools to help community partners deliver Energy Friends initiatives in their communities.

These include:

    * A home energy auditing training course - a 2 x half-day course for members of community groups to become community home energy auditors.
    * A home energy auditing manual.
    * A home energy auditing kit, which includes a range of practical tools to better observe and measure energy use in a home.
    * A set of home auditing worksheets, summary sheets and action cards - to record observations and suggestions.
    * A home energy self-audit worksheet - a 4-page guide that can be used by itself, or in conjunction with the self-audit kit, to conduct a do-it-yourself home energy audit.
    * A home energy self audit kit which includes a range of practical tools to help you complete an energy audit of your own home.  The kit is designed to accompany the self-audit worksheet.  Kits are available to borrow from council libraries as part of a trial program.  List of participating councils.

Your community can become an Energy Friend

If your community group would like to take action to help its residents reduce energy use, call Energy Division on (08) 8226 5500 or email: energy.sa@saugov.sa.gov.au