Government should lead the way

The British Museum recently implemented a computer application that puts their 200 computer work stations into hibernation mode outside office hours and consequently the museum’s electricity consumption went down by 25 per cent. Imagine how much electricity could be saved (and how much less the emissions would be because that electricity wasn’t generated) if all the offices at all three levels of government implemented systems that turned the lights off and put their computer workstations into hibernate mode when they weren’t there. Less electricity, less taxpayer funds to pay for it, and less pollution.

In the last parliament the Greens voted down the government’s ETS legislation because, they claimed, it didn’t reduce our carbon emissions and it rewarded the polluters. While our electricity producers are heavy polluters, the trick is to use less electricity. It’s cleaner and it’s cheaper.

Motor vehicle emissions

I wonder how many motor vehicles all three levels of our government purchase every year. Can you imagine how many tons of motor vehicle emissions we could save if one of the major criteria for each of those motor vehicle purchases was to buy the lowest emission vehicle? If all three levels of government included motor vehicle emissions as a major criteria when accepting tenders for services that they contract out to private companies, the reduction in emissions would be even greater. Such a thing would greatly reduce our carbon footprint, surely.

Travel

With the standard of broadband coverage that we have today there must surely be a large amount of business travel that could be replaced by video-conferencing. Just imagine the tons of aircraft emissions that would be saved because airlines needed less scheduled flights to transport government employees. There is also the productivity savings available from all the hours that managers at all levels of government presently spend sitting in departure lounges, aircraft, or other forms of transport as they travel to and from business meetings.

We should pressure government at all levels to reduce Australia’s carbon footprint and give us cleaner air. Our kids will thank us, our grand-kids will thank us, and the planet will thank us too.