Victorian and NSW Councils in Profile
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Bayside City Council, Victoria
One of the many initiatives Bayside Council has implemented is adopting a carbon neutral policy. Council is also seeking to refine its NGERs-compliant greenhouse reporting.
Bayside Council has a well-informed and engaged group of elected members who actively drive staff to clarify, adopt and progress a clear position on greenhouse gas abatement. Staff draw upon Planet Footprint to not only undertake monitoring and reporting, but also to advise them about how and when they should be reporting their emissions.
Rather than simply purchasing green-power to offset emissions, Bayside Council is focusing its investment on reducing electricity consumption upfront. Within Council, there is also an emphasis on 'cultural change' as a fundamental aspect of improving their performance.
So much so that Bayside is proactively responding to climate change issues across both the corporate and community levels and is communicating their performance, projects and achievements to staff and the broader community. One of the many ways they are doing this is with a solar-powered display board in the foyer of council chambers stating their current emissions and energy consumption.
Latrobe City Council, Victoria
Latrobe Council is moving towards linking the data provided by Planet Footprint to Council’s asset register. By keeping track of energy and water consumption and costs for each site, the Environmental Planner and her colleagues are actively engaged with facility managers and as a consequence are working towards a cross Council understanding of potential efficiencies and savings.
When reviewing building and project budgets, Council recognises that operating a central database for property, cost and consumption information saves time and resources. Staff can easily prioritise actions and allocate investment. For example, assessing individual sites to see what types of lighting is in use, how much electricity each facility is consuming and the next programmed maintenance cycle.
Other organisations which are moving to use Planet Footprint to link accounts to an internal asset register/code are Bass Coast Council in Victoria, Sutherland Shire Council in NSW, the NSW Department of Housing, the Victorian Department of Education, Gosnells Council in WA, Glenorchy Council in Tasmania and Gosford Council in NSW.
To learn how your council can to link accounts to an internal asset register/code contact our Support Team on 1300 721 113 or email us.
Eurobodalla Shire Council NSW
Like most regional NSW Councils, Eurobodalla Shire operates its own water and sewer infrastructure. This has an enormous impact on the energy performance of Council, as the majority of electricity consumption and costs comes from operating this infrastructure. As such, looking at ways to improve the efficiency of water infrastructure as a whole (rather than individual sites) is key to improving the entire environmental performance of Council.
Eurobodalla Council has engaged engineering consultants at Hunter Water to assess the energy efficiency of their water infrastructure. In July, Hunter Water and Planet Footprint met to develop a more formal partnership of information sharing to support Council in understanding its footprint. Council drew on Planet Footprint data and support to tap into more detailed information relating to electricity usage of their largest sites. This saved Council considerable time and resources to collate the information themselves and meant that the engineers could get on with their job.
Planet Footprint has since discussed with Hunter Water how projects with other regional NSW Councils can be enhanced by Planet Footprint providing data and support.
Kempsey Shire Council, NSW
Kempsey Shire Council has recently drawn on Planet Footprint to assess whether they would be eligible for the NSW government feed-in tariff, and where the best site for a solar system to be installed would be.
Planet Footprint was able to deliver detailed technical support and independent verification of electricity consumption data, as well as the likely financial savings should a system be installed:
1. Technical support – Planet Footprint looked at the capacity of the proposed solar system and calculated how much Council was likely to save annually, based on the current price of electricity. The complete analysis allowed Council to put a business case to Kempsey’s elected members.
2. Independent verification – initially Council was using assumptions based on an average price of electricity per kWh and out-dated emissions factors to determine how much money they might save by installing the solar system. By engaging Planet Footprint, Councils business case was improved substantially, as it was based on real data and current greenhouse emissions factors.
Council was surprised at the level of support Planet Footprint could offer and had previously not thought to ask Planet Footprint for assistance.
Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange (and others in the Central West of NSW) Councils, NSW
Bathurst, Dubbo and Orange City Councils are all independent Planet Footprint subscribers. However as a group, they have drawn on Planet Footprint’s reporting service to discuss development of regional reporting frameworks and greenhouse inventories.
Energy efficiency projects are often funded and rolled out at the regional level. Using Planet Footprint means Councils can be confident that their data is comparable and reported in a standardised way so that it is easy to combine resources and greenhouse inventories to prioritise action on specific assets that are common to all Councils.
All three Councils use Planet Footprint to produce regional annual greenhouse inventories. This ensures that the data and emissions factors are consistent, an independent scorekeeper controls the quality of data that is collected and Councils have to do very little work in compiling inventories and data at their end.
Further, other Councils in the Central West of NSW who are subscribed to Planet Footprint (including Cowra, Gilgandra, Lachlan, Oberon and Warrumbungle Councils) use the service to easily provide the energy related information necessary for their contribution to the regional State of the Environment Report. Debbie Archer from Dubbo Council says that ‘Data collection is a much quicker process for Councils with Planet Footprint’.
Lismore City Council, NSW
Lismore City Council has been subscribed to Planet Footprint for a number of years and recognises that good environmental performance stems from a culture of accountability for energy and water consumption. They know that property managers can only reduce electricity consumption if they know how much they are spending at each site; and that to prevent significant revenue losses, property managers need to be abreast of tariff changes if they want to stay within monthly budgets and ensure minimal resource wastage.
Lismore Council’s ‘Buildings Champions Program’ ensures that facility managers are made aware each quarter of what is happening at their properties. They are asked to review and comment on electricity and water consumption on their site and to clarify why there may have been increases or decreases in consumption.
Planet Footprint has widely promoted Lismore’s ‘Buildings Champions Program’ as it forces staff members to think about of all the things they can do to save energy, water and money and ultimately creates accountability for energy and water consumption and expenditure. It engages the people who can make a decision on how energy and water is used at their site and communicates this back to the Executive Management Committee on a quarterly basis.
Sharyn Hunniset oversees the program in Council and would be happy to discuss the program with other councils in more detail. She can be reached at Sharyn.Hunnisett@lismore.nsw.gov.au
Wingecarribee Shire Council, NSW
Last Financial Year, Wingecarribee Council noticed a spike in electricity consumption at its Civic Centre and was unsure why this was occurring. The property manager investigated that site and they were able to identify that it wasn’t a behavioural issue. For example, the air conditioners being left on at night. They asked Planet Footprint to undertake a more detailed assessment.
Planet Footprint will analyse 12 months’ worth of interval data to find out whether most energy was used in peak or off-peak periods. While we cannot comment on where wastage was occurring (for instance, through faulty light fittings), we will indicate when it was occurring and offer suggestions as to what the next steps might be to resolve the anomaly.
Planet Footprint is about to undertake data analysis that will help Council make sense of their complex interval datasets that they otherwise do not have the time, resources or knowledge to assess internally.