We can help your businesses, government agency, or other organisation to
- set strategic sustainability goals and achieve them,
- reduce operating costs, and
- improve environmental impacts.
We are leading experts in Tasmania on energy, carbon, and sustainability, having delivered services to a diverse range of clients, including MONA, tourism businesses, aged care facilities, public and private schools, local governments, State Government agencies, Government Business Enterprises, aquatic centres, agriculture, aquaculture, charities, and more.
Contact our Principal Consultant, Todd Houstein, to discuss tailoring our services to your specific needs: 0480 27 51 54 or [email protected].
Greenhouse inventories, emissions abatement plans, and carbon neutral certification
We can help you quantify, understand, reduce, and offset the greenhouse gas emissions that result from your operations. We deliver greenhouse inventories (also known as carbon audits or carbon footprints) in accordance with ISO14064-1:2018 and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. We can also assist you to achieve carbon neutral certification.
Past clients have included MONA, Hobart City Council, Huon Valley Council, Terrapin Puppet Theatre, and Trek Tours.
Sustainable Living Tasmania was rigorous, insightful, and responsive in helping us to assess our current emissions and map out ways to adapt and transform our operations. Their thorough understanding of legislation, carbon markets, and locally relevant emissions factors means that we feel confident we have the most accurate possible picture. What we have learned, coupled with SLT's tools, enables us to do our own monitoring in future. I highly recommend their services.
- Terrapin Puppet Theatre
Energy audits
We can help you save energy and reduce operating costs. Our focus is on identifying and evaluating opportunities (estimating annual savings, upfront costs, and payback periods) to help you can make clearly informed decisions. We can also assist with the implementation of recommendations (e.g. procurement of energy products and services, and electricity contract negotiation).
"The detailed report that followed was excellent - easy to understand, very thorough, and provided a good insight into a broad range of efficiencies that included simple improvement measures that could be undertaken immediately at little or no cost, in addition to more extensive changes for consideration. We found the exercise of great benefit to our organisation."
- Angelique Payne, Executive Officer, Aurora Disability Services
Scope
Our audits cover everything that affects energy use at your site, including:
- All energy sources, including suppliers, contracts, metering, and tariff arrangements;
- Building fabric, including passive solar gain, thermal mass, air movement, and insulation;
- Energy using services, including suitability of existing equipment, controls, and user behaviour:
- Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC)
- Pumps
- Lighting
- Hot Water
- Refrigeration
- Other appliances
- Renewable energy generation, including the optimising solar panel system sizing to maximise returns.
Process
- We obtain and analyse metering data for your site
- We visit your site visit to gather information about the building fabric, furnishings, and energy-using equipment, and to speak with one or more of your staff about how equipment is used.
- We write a report, including clear recommendations with estimates of savings, upfront costs, and payback periods.
- We present the report to you, to ensure it is clearly understood, to identify any necessary revisions, and to answer any questions you may have.
We can also assist you with electricity contract negotiation, and procurement of energy products and services.
Experience
From 2018-2020, we delivered 53 energy audits to Australian Standard AS/NZS 3598:2014; including 31 x Type 1 (Basic), 21 x Type 2 (Detailed), and 1 x Type 3 (Precision Sub-System) audit. We employ three highly experienced energy auditors, two in the south, and one in the north-west. We are happy to travel to remote sites.
We were selected by the Tasmanian Government's Climate Change Office to sit on their Energy Efficiency Expert Panel, and to deliver 15 detailed energy audits under their Power$mart Business program from 2018 to 2020.
In 2020 we completed a further 16 energy audits for Tasmanian charities sponsored by TasNetworks. Of the 9 to complete the feedback survey from this program 8 rated the service as "extremely useful" – the highest on a 5-point scale, while the other rated it as the next highest "very useful".
Strategy, education and training
Further, we provide general sustainability consulting, including strategic advice, and education and training.
Testimonials
"The education and advice we received from our consultant Todd through the Sustainable Living Tasmania initiative has been invaluable. Not only did Todd impart so much knowledge on the day of the site audit, but the detailed report and follow-up meeting was way above any expectation I had. We received a number of recommendations for improvement to implement across our site (small and large). One of the wonderful things that came out of the report and through my conversations with Todd are the ideas i have been able to pass onto staff to instigate in their homes. Thank you so much for your time and knowledge."
- Angela Abbott, Chief Operating Officer, Colony 47
"Thanks Todd and Sustainable Living Tasmania. You did a great job listening to all of our information and concerns and giving them consideration in your solutions report. It's really valuable to us. Every dollar saved is a dollar we can use to provide support to homeless men."
- Stephanie Meikle, CEO, Bethlehem House
"We were very happy with the service provided for our energy audit. It was very comprehensive, and provided us with clear information about the benefits and costs of implementing a range of measures to help us reduce our operating costs."
- Robin Krabbe, Coordinator, Live Well Tasmania
"As an environmental organisation, we are extremely cognisant of the importance of energy efficiency as the world transition beyond carbon. Equally, we want to manage our members and supporters critically important donations and support as efficiently as possible. So we were extremely pleased to benefit from the technically accomplished, professional service, the reliable advice and comprehensive report, which included clear cost options, explanations and invaluable analysis that any decision maker in an organisation would appreciate having on their desk. The service was excellent - because it took care of itself (thank you, Todd Houstein) and the process and product went beyond the minimum service you could expect."
- Tom Allen, Campaign Manager, Wilderness Society Tasmania
"As an organisation focused on children and families, we care for future generations. It is essential to embed our environmental responsibility in our practices.
Last year we started to challenge our practices on a number of levels. As a not-for-profit organisation our resources are limited for such projects. We are very grateful that Tasmanian Climate Change provided us with a Power$mart Business Grant. Thanks to their support we worked with Sustainable Living Tasmania to undertake an energy audit at Ocean View Child Care Centre in Blackmans Bay.
Todd provided a fantastic consulting service giving us a detailed analysis of the centre's energy use and recommendations that can be considered to reduce energy use and associated costs.
Todd shared information on new grants available that would also allow us to implement the recommendations. We are now about to implement a 10kW Solar Panel System with a Business Grant from the Australian Government.
I highly recommend Sustainability Living Tasmania; their support and advice has been invaluable. Their guidance will allow you to make essential changes to make a positive environmental impact in your organisation."
- Maude Macon, Project Officer, Adventure Patch
"Highly recommend this service. Very easy and a very informative outcome in an easy to read and understand format."
- Shandel Pile, Project Coordinator, Burnie Community House