Page 3131 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MR CORBELL: What we have seen is a whole range of actions across the ACT administration by a range of directorates to reduce their electricity demand and therefore reduce the territory’s electricity bill, save taxpayers’ money and actually allow taxpayers’ money to be used on other things, because we are reducing our electricity costs.
In the Environment and Planning Directorate, measures have included changes to heating and cooling systems in terms of the activation of those systems. There have also been changes to the lighting systems in those buildings, to move to movement-sensitive lighting that switches off when there is no-one moving in an area or no-one present. Again, that reduces the overall demand for electricity. Changes to heating, ventilation and cooling systems, HVAC systems, in buildings have also made significant improvements.
Equally, the government is deploying renewable energy on a number of its own premises. For example, when I launched the carbon neutral government fund, I highlighted that at the Ainslie fire station we have installed quite a significant solar array on top of the Ainslie fire station. As a result, we have reduced energy consumption at the Ainslie fire station by over 20 per cent. The Ainslie fire station was quite a large user of energy. Equally, we have done the same at the Forensic Medical Centre at the new west Belconnen fire and rescue station out at west Belconnen. Solar is an integral part of the sustainability of both buildings.
We are investing as a government in smarter energy use, renewable energy use and energy efficiency. That is exactly what we need to do as we make that transition to a low carbon future.
MR SMYTH: Minister, how do you expect to increase this yearly reduction to 305 kilotonnes given that the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions in 2011-12 was only 107 kilotonnes?
MR CORBELL: The 2011-12 figures are very encouraging but, as members would note, there is a lag time in the reporting of data on a financial year to financial year basis, and that is driven by the data collection arrangements that we rely on, particularly through commonwealth agencies who are responsible for some of those data inputs.
What that means is that there is about a two-year lag between actions and when we see the audited results from the ICRC because of the data collection challenges involved. But what we know is that that decline in greenhouse gas emissions is before there were a range of national measures in place, in particular in the period that the carbon price was in place, but also it was before this government had commenced its large-scale renewable energy program and before this government had commenced the energy efficiency improvement cost of living scheme which were designed to reduced carbon emissions and save households and businesses money on their electricity bills.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video