About Us
Energy Makeovers
We are a Melbourne company dedicated to assisting families and businesses achieve a sustainable future. We offer a end-to-end energy and sustainability assessment service that is simple, reliable and convenient.
Energy Makeovers was established in June 2008 in response to the growing body of scientific evidence indicating the emergence of climate change. Our primary purpose is to reduce carbon emissions from existing residential and commercial buildings, thereby assisting in the overall collective effort to prevent climate change and shift towards a sustainable society.
We believe there is significant pent up desire in the community to take action on climate change, whether it is a family, a community organisation or a business. However, there are barriers that we all face which make it difficult for many people to tackle their greenhouse gas emissions and achieve energy efficiency (see below section).
Our business model and services has been specifically designed to overcome these barriers, while helping people to take advantage of enhanced comfort and energy bill savings by improving their built environment. We also provide reliable carbon offsets for people who desire to be carbon neutral.
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Our goal is ‘Zero by 2020’ – zero net emissions, zero discomfort.
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Energy Makeovers is a state and nationally-accredited home sustainability assessor and building thermal performance assessor with the Association of Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA). We are also a member of the Master Builders Association of Victoria (MBAV).
Barriers to Action
There are several ‘market failures’ that prevent many people from taking action to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases. These barriers to action include:
- Information barriers, for instance where property owners are not aware of the energy consumption of their buildings, or tenants are not aware of their consumption patterns.
- ‘Bounded rationality’, that is, in situations where decisions are complex (or perceived to be complex), people may make decisions that do not take into account all available information. This may be because the people do not have the time, inclination or ability to fully evaluate the information. For example, assessing the short- and long-term costs and benefits of buying more energy-efficient household appliances may be too complex for many households. If this assessment was done by experts, it would make the process more accessible for people.
- Split incentives, for instance where the costs and benefits (and therefore motivation) of undertaking energy efficiency actions are borne by different individuals. For example, landlords and tenants have different incentives with respect to the benefits of energy efficiency upgrades for rental housing.
- Lacking capital or money to invest may inhibit some households from upgrading their appliances, cars or other equipment if this involves significant up-front costs and long payback periods.