What we can do (cont.)

I’m still in Australia over this weekend, so I’ll keep the dialog on what can be done here. Interesting enough, in the last few days in Australia Seventy-five professors of economics have called on the Australian Federal Government to stop undermining international efforts to tackle climate change and ratify the Kyoto Protocol without delay. They are among 271 Australian university economists who have signed a statement drawing attention to the economic damage that could be done to Australia for failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Still, the government haven't got the message, let alone the intellect to act on it!

My earlier blog focused around Energy Production and Transport; the two big ones. It also mapped out some Agricultural activity and a link between innovation in water recycling and green house gas. What it also showed is that the problems are solved what we need is the impetus from our various Australia government to ensure implementation.

The NSW government announced on Friday it had the answer to Sydney’s pollution. Rather than tackle the problem it will just send out SMS’s to notify that it’s now dangerous today. What tosser in the government thought of that? I mean to say talk about putting your head in the sand!

Well, continuing on. They are plenty of real things that can be done.

Green buildings
The way we plan and build things can have a big impact on our carbon footprint. According to statistics from the Green Building Council of Australia, the built environment - including schools, hospitals, residential and commercial buildings - contributes 40% of all our energy consumption and uses 15% of our water.

Again I’ll say it the technology is all in place; just not the leadership. Estimates say new climate friendly buildings comes at a higher cost initially - from 3% to 10% more depending on how climate friendly you want to go - price signals would eventually bring the price down by creating more demand for environmentally efficient buildings. The overall sayings over 10 years far outweigh the initial additional costs. There is much money to be saved, unfortunately developers go for low build cost and are not impacted by the tenancy costs. So this has to be addressed at a legislative level. We also need incentives from the government to upgrade old buildings because it's more environmentally sound to upgrade an old building than it is to build new ones. Given the profile that Green House now has, shortly buildings where water, energy and indoor air quality are not upgraded are going to lose tenants.

Even those buildings where it is not economically feasible to upgrade can be managed more efficiently. Adopting sustainable energy supplies such as solar or wind power, adding sensors rather than light switches, or adding more switches so that only part of a floor's lights are switched on at once, are all simple improvements we can make.

Simple initiatives such as rainwater tanks, dual flush toilet systems, black and grey water treatment, and waterless urinals can save on water. The City of Melbourne head office, has a water mine in the basement and creates a surplus water supply that is used to water plants in the CBD. The Olympic Park development in Sydney is a great example of what is possible.
The Park showcases a variety of energy-efficient building designs and technologies which include:

-30 metre high photovoltaic towers lining Olympic Boulevard
-extensive use of rooftop solar collection systems and solar hot water systems
-extensive use of natural lighting and ventilation
-innovative solar technology to power water pumps within the parklands
-extensive use of renewable energy sources ("Green Power").

The entire site serves as a physical demonstration of how a commitment to energy conservation can continue to be realised in terms of its supply, management and use.

Photo-Voltaic Lighting Towers

There are 19, 30 metre high photovoltaic (PV) towers on Olympic Boulevard. The towers provide lighting for Olympic Boulevard at night. The Photo-Voltaic collectors were developed by University of NSW and manufactured by BP Solar. Each tower has a generating capacity of 23 Kilowatt hours (kWh) per day, equivalent to the amount of energy used to power a small house. Power is fed into the main grid during the day and drawn from the grid at night. When all towers are operating they can produce between 130-160,000 kWh of energy each year, equivalent to their estimated annual energy consumption. Just imagine. How simple is this? Water pumping is done during the day when solar is available. Pumping and watering of greens doesn’t have to be done at night it can wait till the opportunity for energy arises. An old brick pit has become a huge reservoir of water. The processing again happens when the energy is available. It just needs minds set changes on energy use and sustainable alternatives; not doing without.

Here are the great fountains, powered by solar.
Here is the recycling station. Generating power on site and then completing the pumping cycle locally reduces so much waste. Especially when you know that 20% of energy is lost between the main power stations and the users on the city grid in Sydney. Finally, notice how I did my tour…. Yes, cycle power rather than car.