Galvanising the public sector into action

• Is it really necessary to floodlight car parks from sunset to sunrise when they are deserted during most hours of darkness?
• Could some street lights, particularly in towns and cities outside our more crime-prone capitals, be turned off after 1am when most roads are deserted?
• Do we really need to have “security” lighting turned on all night or could motion-sensors be fitted so that lights turn on only when movement is detected?
• Are the globes used for street and other outdoor lighting the most efficient available?

3. Use the most efficient electrical appliances in all government offices, facilities and other publicly owned organisations.

Governments own vast numbers of residential properties, as well as offices and other facilities such as schools and hospitals, which are equipped with a wide range of electrical appliances. These include refrigerators, washers, driers, air-conditioners, fans, water-boilers, computers, printers, shredders, photocopiers and so on.

Many of these appliances are old or use electricity inefficiently. It should be public policy that until 50 per cent of national energy needs are produced from renewable sources, these appliances should be replaced with the most efficient ones available. The public sector needs to undertake an audit of appliances, rate them for energy efficiency and compile programs for progressive replacement of the least efficient items.

4. Burn methane produced from council rubbish tips and sewage treatment plants to generate electricity rather than pollute the atmosphere.

All sewage plants and rubbish tips emit methane, often in sufficient quantity to be used for generating enough electricity to operate the facility and produce a surplus. The former saves the cost of purchasing electricity from the National Grid while the latter can be sold to the Grid and generate income. Both contribute to reducing consumption of electricity generated from non-renewable sources.

More than 600 local government councils operate sewerage plants and rubbish tips. Very few have investigated the potential of their facilities to generate electricity. Several of those that have done so, have entered into public-private partnerships with companies engaged in generating electricity. The result has been reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced electricity bills for these councils, increased public availability of green electricity and reduced need for electricity generated from fossil fuels.

5. Ensure that all council vehicles and other plant use bio-diesel or a petrol-ethanol rather than 100 per cent petrol.

Councils are owners and operators of major fleets which include a wide variety of vehicles propelled by petrol and diesel. The same is true of public enterprises such as Australia Post, the railways and other statutory authorities. Their emissions make a large contribution to atmospheric CO2 pollution. This could be significantly reduced if these vehicles could be fuelled with bio-fuels.

The use of fossil fuels is responsible for a net increase in greenhouse gas pollution since it involves emissions of CO2 sequestered and trapped millions of years ago. Bio-fuels merely recirculate CO2 absorbed by plant material from which they are made.

6. Make it a condition of funding that organisations which receive financial assistance from the public sector reduce demand for electricity.

All levels of government provide financial assistance in the form of grants or loans to private sector organisations which range from major enterprises (vehicle manufacturers) to small groups (a local charity). Where the body being funded is of the kind that could reasonably be expected to reduce their use of electricity, the funding body should ask it to provide details of the way in which it proposes to do so and evidence that it has done so.