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Green Power On The Agenda At Civic Cabinet

05 August, 2007

Brisbane City Council should convert to green power sooner rather than later to save water and the environment, according to Environment Chair Helen Abrahams.

Tomorrow (Monday) Councillor Abrahams will take a motion to Civic Cabinet, encouraging the Lord Mayor and Civic Cabinet to take bipartisan action now.

“I am hopeful I can encourage the Lord Mayor to support this, since it is in the 2007-08 Budget he handed down in June,” Cr Abrahams said.

“All we need now is for the Lord Mayor to allocate funding to fast-track this – and the ideal time is in first Budget review at the end of August.”

The item on purchasing green power appears on page 21 of the 2007-08 Budget and said :

“In 2007-08, to move Council to carbon neutrality and to contribute to a sustainable city, Council will let an expression of interest to call for tenders to move all of Council power usage to green power.”

Council’s investment in green power was also a recommendation in the Climate Change and Energy Taskforce report, which had bipartisan support from all Councillors.

“The timing’s right to fast-track this now,” Cr Abrahams said.

“Climate change affects us all and it’s up to everyone to do what we can in our homes, at work, and in the way we live.”

Cr Abrahams said Brisbane City Council is in a vital position to lead the rest of the city in purchasing green power to save our most precious resource –  water – during the drought.

“Electricity generators are significant users of water, and their use of water is on the increase,” she said.       
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“Water is a precious resource and with Level Six water restrictions looming, we should be exploring every option to save water.

“We cannot afford to delay - it makes good sense to help ease the water crisis to convert to green power now.”

FAST FACTS

  •  Information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows water consumption by electricity generators in Queensland was 3297 gigalitres in 2004-05, up from 1521 gigalitres in 2000-01
  • Council’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2005-06 were approximately 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide
  • 74% of these emissions were due to electricity use
  • Green power is renewable energy sourced from the sun, wind, water and waste
  • Energy suppliers which sell green power buy the electricity from accredited renewable energy generators and feed it into the national electricity grid
  • Currently about 8% of Australia’s electricity grid is powered by green power.

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