BUSINESS NEWS: Big strides in solar in NSW and Queensland, along with positive news for e-commerce and data centres internationally. More action is needed on urban biodiversity and unsafe, outdated fossil fuel cars (although that’s not news to us!).
NSW Solar Garden opens for renters, apartment owners locked out of rooftop solar
The Haystacks Solar Garden, to be built in the NSW Riverina, has launched solar “plots” available for purchase by NSW residents, who stand to receive an estimated saving of $505 on their electricity bill each year.
The plan is to make solar more accessible to renters and apartment owners who cannot install solar, giving them a similar cost benefit as the roughly three million households that currently have rooftop solar.
A 1.5 megawatt solar array will be built across five hectares of paddock on a farming property in Grong Grong, one hour west of Wagga Wagga, NSW. The array includes 333 solar plots and reduces emissions in NSW by 3100 tonnes each year.
The project is funded by the NSW Government in association with Community Power Agency, Pingala, and Komo Energy, under the Regional Community Energy Fund, with a partnership between three key organisations Community Power Agency, Pingala, and Komo Energy, and with support from several other organisations.
Kristy Walters, chair of the Haystacks Solar Garden Co-operative and director of Community Power Agency, said: “The Haystacks Solar Garden will enable all the renters, apartment dwellers and everyone else who simply can’t put solar on their own rooftop a way to see the benefits on their own electricity bill from this investment in renewables”.
Haystacks Solar Garden project manager Kim Mallee said its an “exciting model to be pioneering for Australia that other countries have been enjoying for years”.
“With the Albanese Government committing to fund 85 solar gardens around the country we’ll see many more households given the chance to access solar,” Ms Mallee said.
RACQ joins Queensland solar boom as GEM Energy rebrands as RACQ Solar
Mutual organisation the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ) this year acquired a majority stake in highly awarded solar company GEM Energy, which it will now rebrand as RACQ Solar to enter the renewable home energy market.
RACQ chief executive David Carter said RACQ Solar aims to help Queenslanders live more securely and sustainably.
“Queenslanders are becoming more conscious of their carbon footprint and they’re also battling cost-of-living pressures. RACQ Solar provides a reliable service that will help homeowners combat increasing electricity prices while also supporting their clean energy transition.”
RACQ Solar (previously branded as GEM Energy) chief executive chief executive Jack Hooper said the services will now be available for residential customers across greater Brisbane, Toowoomba, Cairns, Rockhampton, Townsville, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast – and will now be available nationally for commercial installations.
The company has a strong track record, including having installed a 648 kilowatt rooftop solar array at Australia Zoo, the Queensland native wildlife park founded by Steve Irwin. The array is the largest on any zoo in Australia.
Queensland currently has the second highest rate of rooftop solar installation in the country according to the Australian Clean Energy Retailer. According to the Queensland government around one in three residents already have solar on their homes and another third are looking to install a system in the next decade.
Buchan architects moves into office its founding partner designed, in 1904
In an interesting turn of events, international architecture, interiors and brand experience studio Buchan has moved into its new Perth studio at 44 King Street. The location is the same building that the studio’s founding partner, Charles Oldham, designed in 1904.
The move apparently unearthed an archive of historical architectural drawings of some of Perth’s earliest infrastructure, dating back to the 1890s. Perth principal and Buchan director Andre Jones said the new office location overlooks some of the firm’s earliest projects in Perth’s CBD.
The company now has a global team of approximately 250 design experts in studios across Australia, New Zealand and China.
Alibaba Group releases 2022 ESG Report, tops Bloomberg renewable energy ranking
Chinese multinational e-commerce company Alibaba Group has released its 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, and according to BloombergNEF 2021 ranking was the largest buyer of renewable energy among Chinese companies. In the first half of 2022, it purchased more than 800 million kilowatt hours of clean energy, a 150 per cent increase over the full year of 2021.
The company cut more than half a million tonnes (562,404) of carbon emissions by increasing renewable energy use in the last financial year. Packing materials were reduced by 15 per cent and its logistics warehouses installed 24.9 megawatts of solar power capacity.
Its data centres reached an annual average power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.247 in the last financial year. Data centres on average have a PUE of 2.5, while state-of-the-art facilities aim for around 1.5.
Chairman and chief executive Daniel Zhang said the company’s vision is to “last for 102 years”.
“This will require resilience to overcome major economic cycles and unexpected challenges… For us to last for 102 years in a healthy and sustainable fashion, we must manage our impact on the environment, our relationship with society at large, and our long-term corporate governance.”
“The design of our ESG strategy is critical to the realisation of our vision. ESG not only offers businesses an action framework to address universal risks and challenges but is also increasingly important as a global standard for evaluating a good company,” he said.
RMIT experts call for action on urban biodiversity
Professor Sarah Bekessy, convener of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science (ICON Science) at RMIT’s Centre for Urban Research said more needs to be done to ensure urban environments encourage rather than diminish biodiversity. “The scale of the loss” since the last Federal State of the Environment Report, she said, is “shocking”.
“Australia continues to be a world leader in species extinctions… 202 new plant and animal species were added to the threatened species list, including once common species such as koalas, gang-gang cockatoos and bogong moths.”
“Human behaviours are key to finding solutions. Many of our everyday actions have both positive and negative biodiversity impacts. There are alternative ways to build a home, plant a garden, drink coffee and care for pets that benefit, rather than diminish our natural heritage.”
ICON Science is a team of researchers working to better understand and manage the interactions between society and our natural environment, reconciling ecological, social and economic dimensions.
Research fellow Dr Holly Kirk says urban expansion and densification is “driving habitat loss and fragmentation”, destroying remnant native vegetation, and “the health benefits that biodiversity brings”.
“Small spaces like urban backyards, courtyards and balconies can have a big positive impact for urban nature. If everyone made a few changes – planting flowering shrubs, providing water or shelter, then many of our animal neighbours would be able to survive alongside us in the big city.”
Consumer Action calls for motor vehicle Ombudsman
In more reasons for consumers to steer clear of purchasing outdated fossil fuel technology, data from Australian Consumer Complaints Commission (ACCC) court actions has revealed that there were a minimum of 472,968 defective motor vehicles sold to consumers since 2017, putting users’ safety at risk and causing buyers to go into debt.
Consumer Action Law Centre assists Victorians with resolving disputes with car dealers, and guides them through the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s “costly and labyrinthine” processes which can take up to two years.
Tania Clarke, Consumer Action director of policy and campaigns said “the system is broken”.
“We need a new and more effective dispute resolution solution, a motor vehicle ombudsman, that incentivises better conduct in line with the Australian Consumer Law and that can prevent poor conduct before it happens through a transparent systemic issue focus.
“We have presented this idea to the Victorian government and opposition parties as our platform for the upcoming State Election in November.”
“We have heard from people who have been plunged deep into debt after borrowing to pay for a lemon and then losing work because they couldn’t travel.”
