Blue Mountains City Council's Corporate Environmental Performance 2010-2011
Blue Mountains City Council is committed to reducing the environmental impact of its facilities and operations.
Council commits at least $241,000 to funding projects which directly reduce the Council's energy consumption, water consumption and greenhouse emissions.
Projects implemented in 2010/2011 included the following:
- Replacing T8s with energy efficient T5 lights across our Headquarters building
- Installing insulation in the roofs of 10 community buildings
- Water saving fixtures at our South St Depot
- Gas connection for heating and cooking at the Mid Mountains Community Centre
- Online water monitoring and energy monitoring of sites which use the most energy and water
- Installation of energy efficient lighting at Springwood Carpark, next to the railway station
There are many exciting projects coming up for 2011/2012. We have recently purchased halitech systems which will enable our sporting clubs to operate the large oval lights from their mobile phones, and hence help us to track energy users more accurately.
A ‘Back to Base’ irrigation feedback system will be installed so that we can operate our irrigators across the mountains according to site moisture levles from one central point.
Solar collectors will be installed at Lawson Swimming Pool prior to the opening of the swimming season. At Glenbrook Swimming Pool installation of solar collectors have reduced our annual emissions there by 118 tonnes and paid themselves off in 2 years.
We are rolling out numerous energy efficiency installations at our large pool and fitness centres in Springwood and Katoomba. Projects range from installation of LED lighting and sensors to energy efficient upgrades of our air conditioning and hot water systems there.
Council has formally committed to the following targets:
- 20% reduction in energy use (electricity and gas use) by 2013-2014 based on 2007-2008 levels
- 10% reduction in corporate greenhouse gas emissions (from street lighting, electricity, gas, fleet, waste) by 2013-2014 based on 2007-2008 levels
- 20% reduction in Council's potable water consumption by 2010, based on 2002/2003 levels
The following charts show the Council's progress up to June 2011.
This article was posted in August 2011.
