The AGA's latest research paper, 'Reducing Greenhouse Emissions from Home Water Heating: Natural Gas as a Cost-effective Option', evaluated the various government schemes in terms of achieving cost-effective greenhouse emission abatement from home water heating.

The Research Paper 's main findings include the following:

· Equivalent greenhouse abatement could be achieved at about one third the cost by encouraging the uptake of five-star (high efficiency) natural gas water heaters.

· subsidies for 'greenhouse friendly' water heating should be 'technology neutral', and targeted according to the emissions performance of water heating systems rather than particular energy types; however

· the preferred long-term sustainable solution is to develop an energy market which reflects the full cost of greenhouse emissions in energy prices. This would greatly benefit both solar and natural gas.

"Water heating accounts for around one third of the average Australian household's greenhouse emissions and, according to the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO), electric water heaters are the single largest cause of greenhouse emissions in the residential sector," said AGA chief executive, Bill Nagle.

"There is no doubt that the current solar water heater incentive schemes, through encouraging the replacement of electric water heaters, are making a contribution to greenhouse abatement.

"However, an uptake of five-star (high efficiency) natural gas water heaters could deliver the equivalent greenhouse abatement at approximately one third the cost."