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Danielle King moved into the sustainability field about fifteen years ago and has built up her consultancy Green Moves Australia with a diverse range of services. She now has a large library of resources, and some great tips for how to get paid for providing sustainability advice.
Danielle moved back to Australia from the UK in 2002. At the time, there were few options for anyone seeking good home sustainability advice. She did however find a diploma course on residential sustainability and she jumped in.
Getting paid for giving home sustainability advice can be a challenge. Government programmes such as the Green Loans Scheme have good intentions but can negatively impact the market. Government funding often creates the expectation that a home sustainability assessment should be free.
Danielle has been deliberate in diversifying her business. Green Moves Australia provides plan reviews, energy audits, solar reviews, pre-purchase inspections and much more. And that’s just her residential offerings.
After conducting hundreds of energy audits, Danielle has found there are usually significant savings to be made. The minimum savings she’s uncovered has been 16%. At the top end, she saved one company 75% of their energy costs. Much of this came from behavioural change. She says that the cost of the audit is usually recovered within 12 months.
Danielle says that we all need to act and make small differences in our own way. For herself, she discovered that teaching others is a great way to contribute.
Her secrets to running a successful sustainability consultancy are to diversify and to never rely solely on government-funded programmes.