Sustainability is for all Victorians

No two Victorians are the same. Research from Sustainability Victoria’s multi-year State of Sustainability Report 2023 reveals the sustainability mindset of the Victorian community through demographic trends. These include how home ownership, where we live and education might affect our capacity and attitude towards living sustainably.

Dianna McDonald, Sustainability Victoria’s Social Research Lead, says that having a comprehensive data set reveals differences across many social and geographic variables. This research helps us better understand the challenges and opportunities each group faces, to ensure that no Victorian is left behind in adapting to our changing climate.

Local solutions make circularity possible

The report tells us that Victorians think living sustainably is important (70%) and that we’re actively thinking about how to be more sustainable (56%).

But having local access to services that enable sustainable living is crucial to putting good intentions into practice.

Victorians are active participants in the circular economy, with close to 70% either having bought from or donated to an op shop in the last year and 60% having bought or sold from an online platform. Yet participation is lagging around repairing broken or faulty goods (24%) and borrowing, hiring or leasing items, which just 10% of us are doing.

Unlike purchasing second-hand goods online at the click of a button or donating unwanted clothing at countless local donation points, finding a way to repair, borrow, hire or lease goods can be more challenging.

This could mean having the ability to extend the life of a broken bike at a local community repair shop, or being able to borrow a power tool you might use once, over buying new.

Services like the Mernda Repair Café are providing their community with a local choice to revive their household goods previously destined for landfill, prolonging the item’s life and saving money.

Just as opportunity shops have become part of the fabric of local communities, whether regional or metropolitan, we need to make it an obvious, easy choice for people to participate in the circular economy and avoid waste as much as possible.

Lowering costs to transition to cleaner energy sources

Our research indicates that not all Victorians are reaping the benefits of powering their homes through renewable energy.

An average of 31% of all Victorians have solar panels, compared to just 13% of renters and 8% of those in public housing. Solar panels are also more common among older Victorians, owned by 37% of those aged 55+, compared with 31% across all age groups and 36% of those living in stand-alone houses.

This data reveals the importance of identifying barriers many Victorians face when thinking about sustainable measures like solar, including:

• the upfront cost
• the complexities related to installation like a shared roof
• a reluctant landlord.

Government incentives are crucial to enabling more Victorians access to cleaner energy sources like solar, with programs like Solar rebates for rentals and Solar for Apartments from Solar Victoria.

Our research also considers regional differences. When it comes to uptake of household solar, the Ovens Murray region — which includes renewable energy trailblazers Yackandandah — is 17% above the Victorian average at 49% solar uptake.

Standout percentages like these in the Ovens Murray region highlight the value of understanding the driving forces behind their performance to see whether this behaviour can be replicated in other regions.

In the case of Yackandandah, they are well on their way to achieving their aspirations of being powered by 100% renewable energy by 2027. Through the collective action of the townsfolk and Totally Renewable Yackandandah, they have installed:

• microgrids
• widespread solar
• efficient hot water heat pumps
• a community battery.

These initiatives are improving local reliability, building resilience and preparedness in times of power outages and driving down the community’s power bills.

Another example is the Low-Income Homes pilot project, a Premier's Sustainability Awards 2023 finalist. A crowdfunding initiative by Bendigo Sustainability Group, the project resulted in rooftop solar systems installed on the homes of 15 local families in financial need, significantly reducing their cost of living. The project promoted equal access to renewable energy while ensuring that funds were kept within the local economy by collaborating with trusted local solar installers.

Making energy efficiency accessible to all

Our research highlights that at least 38% of Victorian homes are too hot and too cold, costing more to heat and cool than they could be. They have poor thermal quality, meaning they don’t have adequate insulation in their roofs and walls or the draught-proofing to ensure year-round comfort.

Those with the least control over changing the quality of the building they live in feel the effects most acutely.

Renters and residents in public housing have fewer thermal features like insulation, draft seals, double-glazed windows, and fewer energy-efficient appliances (like a reverse cycle air conditioner, hot water heat pump or an induction stovetop) compared to homeowners.

On average, 12% of home owners report having to leave their homes temporarily because it was too hot or cold to stay. This proportion increased to 28% for renters and 32% for those in public housing.

Our Healthy Homes program demonstrated that small changes can make a big impact on people’s lives. The program upgraded 1,000 homes of low-income Victorians with a health or social care need. Residents in these homes reaped the rewards of energy efficiency, saving $123,055 on bills from upgrades they otherwise wouldn’t have had access to.

Through this research it was shown that upgrading the thermal quality and energy efficiency of homes is not just an issue for the sustainability and environment sectors, but equally has implications for improvements in the health and wellbeing of its occupants.

Importantly, we need to continue to conduct robust research on the state of our homes. The State of Sustainability Report 2023 is just the first of a multi-year research program, enabling us to track progress over time to identify which homes are at risk more accurately.

Find out more

Read the full report to see how Victorians feel about climate change, energy efficiency, circular economy, sustainable behaviours and the role of local and state government.

The research is part of Sustainability Victoria’s social research program, which builds an evidence base for future investment in sustainability in our state.

SV previously delivered related research: Health Impacts of Climate Change 2020.