2017-09-18 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                              18 SEPTEMBER 2017


A number of other projects financed through other capital works budgets or maintenance
activities have been implemented and will also reduce Council’s emissions from the consumption
of electricity. These projects include:
     Installation of a new efficient air conditioning system at the Noosaville depot;
     Changes to the Building Management System at the Cooroy Library;
     Lighting upgrades to LED at the Leisure Centre;
     Improvements to Building Management Systems at the NAC;
     Lighting upgrades to LED at the Cooroy Library;
     Purchase of 3 x Prius C vehicles as part of the Council fleet; and
     Purchase of electric powered equipment, to replace fuel operated, for the outdoor
       maintenance staff.

2.5   Future Capital Works
The ERM Energy recommendations from the MACC will be utilised to inform the forward capital
works program. The criteria outlined above will be utilised to prioritise the capital work for the
future.

2.6   ZEN Action Plan
A draft action plan has been developed and is a working document for the purposes of project
management. This is an iterative plan that will change as further information is obtained relating
to opportunities for emission reduction. Technology is rapidly changing in relation to emission
reduction and the plan needs to be flexible enough to consider new opportunities.

All capital works will go through the MACC assessment and capital works planning process and
present to Council as per the budget planning process.

2.7   Carbon Offsets
The focus in the short to medium term is to reduce Council’s emissions through energy
efficiencies and renewable emissions, and to reduce landfill gas emissions. In the longer term,
Council will need to consider options for offsetting its residual emissions that are not technically
or financially feasible to reduce further. There are a number of offset options that are could be
considered such as generating our own offsets or purchasing accredited offsets.

Council has an extensive bush regeneration programme which sequesters carbon.
Investigations are currently underway to identify appropriate methodologies to calculate the
emission reduction as a result of Council’s vegetation activities.

An appropriate offset strategy will be developed for Council in the future.




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