Green wants the dead to help pay Australia’s energy bills in new campaign via Bounce

Green.com.au has launched The Solar Inheritance, a new campaign developed in partnership with Sydney-based creative agency Bounce, tackling generational inequality, rising energy costs and access to clean energy in one wilfully uncomfortable idea.

Australians are inheriting a cost-of-living crisis, an energy system under pressure and a climate challenge they did not create. At the same time, millions of renters, apartment dwellers and people locked out of the property market remain unable to access the benefits of rooftop solar simply because they do not own the roof above them.

The Solar Inheritance asks a provocative question: if younger Australians are already paying the price for the past, could the past help pay the bill?

The campaign calls on cemetery trusts, councils and land managers to consider whether suitable cemetery land could be used for solar generation, creating cheaper, cleaner energy that can be shared with Australians who cannot install solar themselves.

With more than 3,400 cemeteries across Australia, Green.com.au says there is an opportunity to rethink under utilised land in full sun. As part of the campaign, Green has developed a solar panel gravesite prototype capable of generating approximately 1,250kWh a year, enough to reduce a household energy bill by an estimated $400.

Says David Green, Co-Founder, Green.com.au: “The idea is uncomfortable. But so is asking younger Australians to absorb rising energy costs, climate costs and housing costs while thousands of hectares of land sit in full sun. We’re asking a serious question in the most unignorable way possible: why can’t the dead help power the living?”

The campaign is accompanied by an original track, “Make Them Pay”, voiced by Australian metal vocalist and radio host Jack Bergin of Void Of Vision. The track turns the campaign’s central provocation into a rallying cry for a generation feeling the pressure.

Says Bergin: “Living in Australia right now, you can feel the squeeze everywhere. It sounds extreme until you look around and realise young Australians are already paying for decisions they didn’t make. The song sounds angry because the idea is angry. It’s funny, but it’s not a joke.”

The campaign was designed to push a serious conversation into culture.

Says Jacob Lumsdaine, Associate Creative Director at Bounce: “When you consider the pressures young Australians are facing today, this is the kind of radical idea you won’t find in a parliamentary budget, but it has genuine upside potential, no matter how confronting it is.”

To help bring the idea to life, Green.com.au will also cover selected Australians’ energy bills and provide solar packages to people willing to share the message, while campaigning for cemetery solar to be considered nationally in a “pledge a plot” petition.

The Solar Inheritance is will open on Monday, June 15 across Green.com.au’s social and digital channels.

For more information visit www.TheSolarInheritance.com

Client: Green.com.au
Co-Founder: Dave Green
Co-Founder: Jono Green
Marketing Manager: Sarah Gillard

Creative Agency: Bounce
General Manager: Danielle Collins
Executive Creative Director: Joel Chapman
Associate Creative Director: Jacob Lumsdaine
Senior Art Director: Julian Batty
Art Director: Mikey Felczynski
Producer: Alistair Pratten

Music Production: Liam Quinn
Vocals: Jack Bergin
Social and BTS: Benjamin Gaona

Production: Somewhere Nowhere
Director: Finn Ashton
Executive Producer: Zac Warneford
Producer: Emma Fakira
Production Assistant: Bridget Ashton
DOP: Connor Jansen
1st AC: Michael Perry
Gaffer: Henry Anderson
Sound Recordist: Clifford McBrief
Makeup: Amelia Odgers
Editor: Alek McKenzie
Online and Grade: Matt Campbell

PR: Electric Collective
Founder and Director: Ali Smyth
Strategic Communications Lead: Rosie Halliday

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