KEY POINTS:
The Government has put aside $72.4 million over the next four years to make homes more energy efficient as part of a "sustainability" package.
The money includes $23m for an interest free loans scheme to help homeowners pay for things such as upgrading their heating to cleaner, more energy efficient sources.
The Government will spend $15.3m to trial a home energy rating scheme, so the energy efficiency of a house can be determined. This information will be able to be supplied to home buyers.
Another $14.1m will go to the Energy Wise Home Grants scheme, which is to be used to help 12,000 low income household retrofit their older homes into more energy efficient spaces.
There is also $6.8m to do more research on energy efficient technologies as well as $3.1m for an information campaign to advise consumers on what action they could take to improve their homes.
Energy Minister David Parker said the package also included $5.4m for the installation of clean forms of heating for low income households in areas of poor air quality.
Environment Minister David Benson-Pope said a $6m household sustainability programme would help individual households work out what they could do to cut their electricity and petrol bills, make their homes warmer and cheaper to run and cut back on their water use and waste.
The programme would set up an internet site to provide information and help networking between community groups.
The Government also said it would work with local government to set up a network of recycling bins in public spaces around New Zealand. It would spend $3m operating cash and $1.6m in capital spending on this.
"What's currently missing are the facilities for people, including tourists, to recycle while they're out and about," Mr Benson-Pope said.
In February, the Government announced $3m extra funding to help businesses with sustainability.
Mr Benson-Pope said government leadership was the cornerstone of its sustainability package. Six government departments were committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2012 and by then all core government departments would be on the path to carbon neutrality.
The Government was setting aside $10.4m to help departments with technical advice on "reducing their carbon footprint" and invest in some projects to offset carbon emissions for their activities.
- NZPA
