“I Quit Gas” movement launches
The founder of the “I Quit Sugar” movement, Sarah Wilson, has teamed up with the Climate Council on a campaign to raise awareness of the health dangers of using gas in the home.
The I Quit Gas campaign wants to persuade households to switch to electricity for their heating, hot water and cooking needs, and raise awareness of the health issues of gas generally. The Climate Council commissioned research that found that 90 per cent of Australians are aware of the health dangers of tobacco and asbestos but only 32 per cent are aware that using gas can be a health hazard.
“Unfortunately, public awareness about the ticking time bombs in our homes is unacceptably low. Just like big tobacco and big sugar have gone to great lengths to downplay the dangers of their products, the gas industry has spent millions trying to falsely market gas as ‘natural’, when it is in fact toxic and dangerous,” Sarah Wilson said in a statement.
The study also uncovered a lack of general knowledge about gas’s contribution to climate change, with 41 per cent of respondents believing that gas is less harmful than coal and oil and 19 per cent believing the fuel is a form of clean energy.
The campaign will seek to influence state government policy on banning new homes from connecting to the gas network, encouraging consumers to switch to all-electric appliances and boost the rollout of renewable energy and grid-scale storage.
Carbon neutral adaptive reuse precinct begins construction
Construction is underway on Melbourne’s largest carbon-neutral adaptive reuse precinct, Younghusband in Kensington on Melbourne’s city fringe.
The 1.57-hectare former woolshed site which dates from 1901 will be transformed into retail, office and residential space by Australian construction firm Built and property asset managers Ivanhoe Cambridge and Irongate. Woods Bagot is the precinct’s architect.
Two historic woolsheds will be converted into 17,560 square metres of A-grade office space and a new town centre with retail, food and beverage facilities in the first stage of the development, which is due for completion in2024.
A proposed third stage which is yet to receive planning approval would add a six-storey office building with a 13,300 square metres of floor area. The developers are targeting a 5.5-Star NABERS Office Energy rating, a 4.5-Star NABERS Water rating, a 6-Star Green Star rating and a WELL Platinim ranking, as well as carbon neutrality.
The builders will retain existing materials to reduce waste where possible and use sustainable new materials where required. The completed development will be 100 per cent renewable energy powered through a solar array.
Younghusband, which takes its name from wool brokers Younghusband & Co which occupied the woolsheds until the 1970s, is part of the 90 hectare Macaulay Precinct, which is expected to house more than 10,000 residents and offer 9500 jobs by 2050.
New CEO for City of Parramatta Council
City of Parramatta Council has appointed Gail Connolly PSM as its new chief executive following an extensive national search.
Connolly was most recently general manager of Georges River Council where she oversaw its amalgamation between Hurstville City Council and Kogarah City Council and prior to that held the same position at City of Ryde. During her 30+ years in the public sector, she has held senior executive positions at other municipalities including City of Gold Coast, City of Sydney and Campbelltown Council.
City Council turns up the dial on refrigerants
The City of Parramatta Council has mandated all that new airconditioning[tp1] and refrigeration equipment uses refrigerants with a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of less than 10. The new rule is part of the City’s upgraded development control plan that was formally adopted in a council meeting last December.
Most synthetic refrigerants have a GWP of greater than 10, so new installations would need to turn to natural refrigerants. Parramatta has adopted the standard as part of plans to comply with the global phase-down of Hydroflurocarbons (HFCs) under the Montreal Protocol.
Some newer split systems use hydrocarbon refrigerant, which is a natural variety and has a GWP of less than 10.
Resources minister flags gargantuan recycling project
Recycling will take on industrial proportions after federal Resources Minister Madeleine King announced new rules for offshore oil and gas decommissioning. In a wide-ranging speech on the future of the resources industry on Wednesday the Minister described decommissioning as a “$60 billion opportunity for Australia. I want us to capture this investment opportunity to build a competitive world-class decommissioning and sustainable industry to service demand in Australia and the Asia-Pacific,” she said.
Australia has several large offshore oil and gas rigs that need to be removed from the ocean, the equivalent of 14 Sydney Harbour Bridges, according to Friends of the Earth Australia, which is calling for the development of recycling centres for decommissioned rigs and pipelines in Western Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory.
Nature Repair Market bill hits parliament
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek introduced the Nature Repair Market Bill (2023) into parliament on Wednesday.
If passed, the law would allow landholders to receive payments for protecting and restoring their land and use a third party to repair and restore the environment.
The Nature Repair Market is part of the Labor government’s Nature Positive Plan to create a biodiversity market, which a recent PwC report estimated could grow to as large as $137 billion by 2050.
Landowners could use the laws to hire third parties to undertake the following projects; removing drainage ditches to restore a natural marsh to create habitat for native frog, fish, turtle and wetland bird species; use Indigenous rangers to tackle feral animals, cultural burning in the Central Desert; restoring a seagrass meadow to provide habitat for sea turtles, dugongs, marine fish and seahorses.
The Clean Energy Regulator will regulate the Nature Repair Market and have monitoring and enforcement powers. The CER will report on the delivery of project activities and their environmental outcomes. Minister Plibersek will appoint an independent committee to advice on project methodology, and establish verifiable Nature Repair Certificates which will be tracked on a public register.
New Zealand introduces food waste recycling
New Zealand’s environment ministry has called on the country’s councils to implement food organics recycling by 2030.
Under a staged approach, councils must provide kerbside food organics collections to all households in urban areas with towns of 1000 people or more by 2027, and across all urban areas by 2030.
The ministry estimates that New Zealanders generate 17 million tonnes of waste annually and of this more than 13 million tonnes is sent to landfill. By recycling food organcs, the ministry hopes to reduce landfill volumes and disposal costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and return more nutrients to the soil via composting. The ministry is targeting 50 per cent of household waste to be recycled or composted by 2030.
Funding to enable councils to transition to new recycling systems is available under the Waste Minimisation Fund which is currently open for Expressions of Interest
Battery recycler takes out top gong
Battery recycling operator Renewable Metals has won the Supercharge Australia Innovation Challenge Award for its technology that converts battery waste into usable metals.
The Perth-based company recovers up to 95 per cent of the lithium, granite, cobalt, copper, manganese and graphite in a process that is 20-30 per cent cheaper than standard battery recycling and avoids the creation of black mass.
Renewable Metals edged out Sciona, a University of Wollongong-developed technology to create the next generation of battery anode materials and Roev, which converts large fleets of petrol-powered utes to electric batteries.
When fully developed, the technologies could help develop Australia’s nascent onshore lithium processing industry. Despite having the second-largest reserves of lithium globally, more than 98 per cent of the lithium extracted in Australia is processed offshore.
Many of these startups were nurtured by EnergyLab, which has supported up to 150 energy and climate tech companies since 2017. New Energy Nexus is a global clean energy tech accelerator that has supported 5268 entrepreneurs since 2016. The Supercharge Australia Innovation Challenge is a partnership between the two business incubators.
In the challenge, 11 startups were paired with mentors and exports to develop their ideas into reality. The challenge winners and runners up were presented at an awards ceremony on Thursday night in Sydney hosted by comedian Dan Ilic.