Maintaining or improving health
Eighty per cent of participants reported maintained or improved health after receiving their energy upgrades, with notable gains in mobility, sleep and ability to perform daily activities.
People with musculoskeletal or neurological/nervous system conditions were most likely to report improvement. This was the case with Helen, who has MS. Since installing rooftop solar through Climate Safe Homes, she has been using her reverse cycle air conditioner more and shared, “I feel less tired during hot days. I am able to move more easily around the house on cool days.”
Improvements were reported in quality of life with ability to undertake one’s “usual activities” the domain with the greatest rate of improvement (43% of participants) followed by “mobility” (37%) and “pain or discomfort” (28%).
Pamela’s Climate Safe Homes experience
I’m saving money while maintaining an even temperature in my home. It’s changed my life.
Pamela is in her mid-80s and has a chronic health condition, which is exacerbated by extreme weather. Her health condition means she needs to stay inside on hot or cold days. Although Pamela’s house has gas central heating, it is too expensive for her to run. As a result, she has suffered through cold winters, often staying in bed to keep warm.
BSL had previously assisted Pamela in another energy program. BSL’s Climate Safe Homes (CSH) staff noted that she had a chronic health condition which made her eligible for CSH and got in touch. With the help of CSH, Pamela now has a reverse cycle air conditioner (RCAC) in her living room and solar panels. Pamela is no longer confined to her bedroom in winter. Having solar panels has reduced her energy bills and offset the cost of having an additional RCAC. Both instalments, which were fully funded by CSH, have improved her life enormously.
I love that I can now move around the house … [having RCAC] also assists with my chronic health condition.
Pamela was grateful for the support provided by the CSH program. She found dealing with external providers very confusing and appreciated the support and advice she received from the BSL team.
... the BSL Climate Safe Homes team was so wonderful to work with … and … explained all the steps so clearly and I’m eternally grateful.
Pamela’s upgrades:
RCAC – 7.1kW with air-purifying = $2,631.20
Solar – 5.395kW = $4,563.36
Estimated savings:
Estimated annual solar saving = $804.00
Estimated winter gas saving = $270.23
Wellbeing improvements were reported by more than a third of participants These included ‘improved energy levels’, ‘sense of wellbeing’ and ‘improved sleep’. For example, Shannon described her ‘ease of anxiety about the cost of running the old heater in my room’ after installing solar and Carol shared how her quality of life has improved: ‘Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis is very hard and being warm helps a lot with the pain.’
Nic, who has a cardiovascular health condition and replaced his gas heater with RCAC, said, “The electric heat feels like a healthier cleaner heat – it’s not as ‘thick’ and ‘heavy’ as the gas heating.”
Importantly, there can also be positive flow-on impacts from upgrades, such as those described by Geraldine:
Once I was able to address my asthma, I was able to handle my other health issues.
And Huang, who explained:
My home is more comfortable for my NDIS support workers.
Engagement partners (n=13) reported their clients or patients experienced improved health (77%) and wellbeing (85%).