This month the Beyond Zero Emissions discussion group will look at the issue of increasing the energy efficiency of the existing housing stock. Heating and cooling our houses are an enormous user of electricity and hence contributor to our greenhouse gas emissions. Australia has extremely low standards of energy efficiency in our existing housing stock, and so improvements are a great way to reduce our emissions, and save money while we are at it.

Who better to get to discuss these issues than people who are already out there doing it?

Lyn and Maurice Beinat are pioneers in retrofitting existing houses for energy efficiency. Through their company ecoMaster, they aim to retrofit Australian homes as sensibly, easily and economically as possible. They will discuss their hands on experience with issues of insulation, draft proofing, double glazing and heating/cooling, in the context of wider housing sector energy efficiency policy opportunities. As an added bonus, we might all get some great ideas reduce our own emissions at home and save some money while we're at it. www.ecomaster.com.au