Improving the energy efficiency of Australian homes and businesses would create jobs and cut household and business energy bills, according to a new report from the Energy Efficiency Council & Energy Savings Industry Association.

Commissioned by the Energy Efficiency Council and Energy Savings Industry Association, Green Energy Markets produced Energy Efficiency Employment in Australia. This report estimates the upper and lower bound estimates of the number of people currently working in energy efficiency activities in Australia and the employment that would be created by government policies that drive the adoption of a series of technologically mature energy efficiency upgrades to homes and businesses.  

It found that there are currently 500,000 Australians who spend part of their working day on energy, and that this time commitment is equivalent to 59,000 full time jobs. The report noted that energy efficiency is already Australia’s largest ‘energy employer,’ employing 25% more people than coal mining.

The report suggests that an ambitious strategy to upgrade the energy efficiency of homes and businesses would create the equivalent of 120,000 jobs and cut $7.7 billion from energy bills each year. Improved energy efficiency would also cut household gas use by 640 million gigajoules over a decade.

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