Annual Report 2011 - Sydney Opera House

50A vibrant and sustainable siteimagination lives insideEnvironmental SustainabilityImplementation of the Environmental Sustainability Plan 2010/13 began this year,as a range of initiatives to reduce energy towards a low carbon future and embedsustainability throughout all Sydney Opera House activities commenced.overview > Reduction in energyconsumption was pursued through energyefficiency upgrades to lighting andair conditioning, as well as educationawareness campaigns. Waste to landfillwas reduced through the introduction ofnew recycling streams such as electronicwaste, and work to embed sustainabilityprinciples into projects advanced with thedevelopment of a Sustainability ActionPlan for the Vehicle Access and PedestrianSafety project (p.103).Progress on work to green Sydney OperaHouse events by 2013 continued with thedesign of a Sustainable Event ManagementSystem commencing this year. A part-timeSustainable Events Project Manager wasappointed in May 2011 to assist in theimplementation of the project and buildsustainability skills within the event teams.The commitment to an environmentallysustainable future was strengthenedthrough a new partnership with Originfrom March 2011. Origin purchased 10%GreenPower for Sydney Opera House,offset event emissions from Vivid LIVE2011, and have ensured future SOHPresents events have an auditable carbonmeasurement and analysis tool (p.104).Environmental Sustainability Plan –Key Performance Indicators > Eachyear Sydney Opera House will reporton performance against its threequantitative targets:- Reduce electricity consumption by15% by June 2013 from the 2000/01baseline;- Reuse or recycle 70% of the precinct’swaste; and- Reduce metered water use by 15% byJune 2013 from the 2005/06 baseline.Challenges > Monitoring and managingwater use – A leak from a burst pipeunderneath the Western Broadwalkwent undetected from April to June2011. At the time, no single sourceof excessive use could be established,preventing application of suitable controls.Improvements to water metering andmonitoring have been identified andare currently being scoped forimplementation in 2011/12. A studywill also be conducted to determineopportunities for harvesting, treatmentand usage of rainwater on the site.The Future > + Lighting controls upgradeproject for selected theatres, foyers andother central areas, supported by theNSW Government’s Building RetrofitProgram (2011/12). + Development ofa sustainable procurement strategy(2011/12). + Implementation of thesustainable event management system(2011/12). + Improvements to watermetering and monitoring assessed andimplemented (2011/12).