Bendigo Bank’s Green family save $8000 a year by going green

Bendigo Bank will introduce on Saturday 1 March its Green family, who embarked on a campaign to reduce greenhouse emissions three years ago, and saved $21,000.

The family lives online at the bank’s Generation Green website and can demonstrate step-by-step how they achieved the saving.

With no initial expense but using initiative and planning, the Green family also reduced the costs of running the house by $8000 a year. They also ended up investing money in green infrastructure that has the potential to increase the value of their house.

They are……… dad Lorne Green, mum Theresa Green, son Max Green and daughter Liv Green.

They are based on ordinary Australians and what they have achieved can be accomplished by any family.

A specialist environmental consultant prepared the estimates used by the Green family, based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data, to calculate the costs and savings of the campaign.

For example, family members saved $1900 a year by car pooling, riding a bike or using public transport to get to work or school. They saved $1000 a year by reducing waste.

Counting and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is just like preparing and sticking to a financial budget.

If you counted your emissions like you counted dollars and cents, what would you plan to achieve?

Every change the Green family is explained on the Generation Green website with links to other websites providing information.

Generation Green members will receive a quarterly e-newsletter that will detail the three-year program quarter by quarter.

You can meet the Greens here from Saturday 1 March.