Sustainable Sydney now a step closer
The City of Sydney has become Australia’s first carbon neutral government using a combination of renewable energy and ‘methane gas flaring’ offsets.
Council is now pushing for a further 20 per cent reduction by 2012.
“The City of Sydney has committed to doing all it can to tackle this threat,” City of Sydney CEO Monica Barone said.
“This means that activities undertaken by the city, from collecting garbage, to running libraries to lighting streets, will have no net carbon emissions.”
Council purchased its 100 per cent renewable energy from COZero at a cost of $2.5 million. This wind-generated power is produced at the Lake Bonney Windfarm in South Australia.
Council also purchased $56,000 worth of carbon offsets from a NSW landfill gas-flaring initiative. This project breaks down the methane from landfill into less harmful carbon dioxide and water vapour.
Assessors were also brought in to measure the city’s energy use.
“Power is a big killer for us,” said a council spokesman.
The electricity in publicly owned buildings, streetlights and the fuel used to power the fleet of 31 Toyota Prius vehicles was all taken into account when calculating the total emissions.
“By eliminating unnecessary energy use, improving our efficiency, using accredited renewable energy and offsetting unavoidable carbon emissions, the City of Sydney has achieved what many organisations have only talked about,” Monica Barone said.
