Green Loans for Sustainable Housing

Planning to install a solar hot water system, or would you like to further reduce your power bills and install grid-connect photovoltaic panels on your roof? Perhaps you’re in the market to buy a greener, less fuel-hungry car?

Although solar hot water rebates and solar power rebates exist, the upfront costs are often seen as one of the biggest drawbacks. Rebates can take several months to arrive, and often you will need to pay the entire cost of the project upfront.

Fortunately there are a number of loans available targeted at sustainable, environmentally-friendly purchases. These loans are perfectly suited to the time-lag of government rebates.

What qualifies as an environmentally-friendly purchase?

Although variations occur between financial institutions, the list below shows the range of products that often qualify.

• Solar hot water
• Solar power and other alternative energy sources
• Vehicles with a 5 star environmental rating
• Grey water treatment systems
• Composting toilets
• Water tanks
• Energy efficient appliances
• Double glazing on windows
• Insulation

Green loans

Three financial institutions are listed below which display an example of the green and ethically-based loans on offer. They provide a good starting point for comparison. As with any loan, shop around and always seek professional advice. The interest rates listed below may change, so keep an eye on their websites.

The MECU goGreen home improvement loan — for a range of energy and water-saving devices with a minimum amount of $3000.

The Maleny and District Community Credit Union Green Appliance Loan — $2000 – $15000 with a variable interest of 7.45% p.a. for new loan applications. Comparison interest rate 8.00% p.a. Comparison rate is based on $15,000 over 5 years.

Bendigo Bank’s Generation Green Personal Loan. Offers fixed interest rate loans over a maximum of five years.

Government Green Loans

In mid-2009 the Commonwealth Government will introduce the Green Loans Program. To qualify for assistance you will be required to have a household sustainability assessment, which is designed to determine the most efficient alterations that should be made to your home.

It sounds like good idea to have an objective view of your house, with trained people offering suggestions to make your home more efficient.  Although many home owners may already know what they want and simply require the financial assistance.

However, if you like the suggestions in the assessment report they will offer Green Loan subsidies “through partnering financial institutions” for loans up to $10,000.

The budget for this program ($300 million over five years), is estimated to extend to 200,000 homes across the country, encouraging “an estimated $2 billion in green inspired investment for households – directly benefiting the small business sector”. Based on these figures it would mean an average loan would be only $1500.

Further information on the Green Loans Program will be released in the coming months.

It will be interesting to see which institutions are partnered with this project.

Related Topics

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.