Goulburn resident proposes renewable energy drive for council

Moving from Melbourne with his wife after years working in the IT industry, he soon embraced the lifestyle.

"We find it a very honest twon," he said.

"In terms of tree changing, it's everything we were looking for and more. We like the place."

Now he and an informal group of like-minded people are immersing themselves in a new challenge - convincing the council and community to more comprehensively embrace renewable energy.

In coming weeks they will meet with Mayor Bob Kirk and general manager Warwick Bennett to outline their ideas.

"Ultimately we'd like Goulburn Mulwaree to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy," Mr Phillipson said.

"I believe it's achievable but we can't do it without the state government, Chamber of Commerce and residents' support."

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He says their aims offer an opportunity for the council to progress its own Regional Community Strategic Plan, which includes energy sustainability, and its social sustainability plan, curently in draft form.

Mr Phillipson argues the disadvantaged will be most impacted by climate change.

"Aged pensioners, for example, don't tend to put up their hand when they're struggling with power bills even though there are subsidies available. Instead, they tend to go to bed early to keep warm in winter," he said.

As a first step, the group wants to reach this sector and, together with government and agencies, help make homes more energy efficient.

In the longer term, he's proposing an aged care summit to thrash out ideas.

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But the group also wants the council and Chamber of Commerce to "better align" themselves with the ACT's drive towards a low carbon economy. Mr Phillipson says this makes sense as the "number one" aim in the Community Strategic Plan is to link with the ACT in driving economic growth.

Specifically, he suggested the council could sign up to the Cities Power Partnership, a group of 100 councils and 300 cities committed to making the switch to clean energy. They share knowledge, experience and funding opportunities.

In the same vein, local businesses could sign up to the Low Carbon Living Scheme, already embraced in the Blue Mountains. It helps businesses reduce costs by identifying opportunities to reduce water and energy usage and to improve recycling. The program also applies to residents.

"This is something the council could promote because tourists passing through, who are ecologically minded, would go to those businesses," Mr Phillipson said.

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Finally, the group is pushing for Goulburn Mulwaree to become a renewable energy hub, harnessing wind farms, solar and other clean energy, and talks with the ACT to better define its make-up.

Council general manager Warwick Bennett said the organisation was spending a great deal of money on reducing energy costs and was updating its Sustainability Action Plan.

"We're putting in a lot of solar and hopefully, out wastewater treatment plant will be totally powered by solar panels during the day," he said.

Solar panels are also planned for the aquatic centre and Veolia Arena. The council is working with 71 other NSW councils to apply for bulk billing in an effort to reduce energy bills.

Mr Bennett said at this stage the council hadn't signed up to be totally reliant on renewable energy simply because the sources were not available.

He pointed out that although the ACT was aiming for 100 per cent reliance on renewable energy, it was sourcing 70pc of this from NSW.

We're prepared to work with anyone because this (power supply) is something that Australia will struggle with," he said.

"One of the things we're discussing is what would be do with our sewage if we run out of electricity. There would be a big stink then."

The council has back-up generators for the sewage treatment plant and pump stations can hold a reasonable amount."

Mr Bennett said the council allocated about $1.7 million a year for electricity costs.

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