Bulletin (PDF 18.3 MB) - City of Armadale

Information BulletinInformation Items from the Development Services DirectorateINFORMATION ITEM – CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVES‘Switched on Staff’ and the Greensense View Energy DashboardPageD-55The ‘Switched on Staff’ initiative will be introduced to the City of Armadale in the new-year by theSwitch your thinking (Syt!) Program Coordinator, Jason Menzies. The aim of the project is toidentify key representatives from the City that can assist in driving through energy and resourceefficiencies within their area of work. J Menzies will deliver a special workshop (multiple sessionsoffered) to all staff as part of the project, to help educate them on sustainable use of, and practiseswithin, the workplace.The project is complemented by the deployment of the Greensense View Energy Dashboard. Thisinvolves the installation of sub-meters at particular strategic locations within the City, providingreal time information to building users on energy consumption. This will be presented in real timeeither in the form of energy utilised, cost to the City, or greenhouse gases emitted. Hence, this willfacilitate a healthy sense of competition between different areas, particularly through theinvolvement of individuals involved in Switched on Staff, who will inspire and motivate their workcolleagues.The sub-meters will be installed in December 2010, enabling the collection of baseline data tomonitor the effectiveness of the Switched on Staff initiative in advance of the new-year and identifywhere the greatest improvements are achieved.It is anticipated that the benefits of the project will be many, including:- Education of City staff on how to use the workplace more sustainably (this information willthen hopefully be transferred to their homes),- Behavioural change in the City, resulting in long term financial savings resulting fromreduced energy, water and resource costs.- Reduced greenhouse gas emissions and the implementation of several actions containedwithin the Corporate Greenhouse Action Plan, which has been endorsed by Council.Negotiation of Energy ContractsThe energy supply contract for contestable sites for the City of Armadale is nearing its end date of31 st December 2010 (contestable sites are buildings using in excess of 50Mwh per annum).Consequently, the City of Armadale Environmental Coordinator and Switch Your Thinking syt!Program Coordinator are currently in the process of negotiating an alternative supplier to provideenergy for two years from January 1 st 2011.Currently, 75% of the power utilised by the City is offset and this will be increased to 100%. Theenergy used plus the offsets are presently secured through a preferred supplier with WALGA.However, the open market will be explored with a view to offsetting total power usage whilstminimising the cost to the City. Hence, an environmentally friendly and economically optimaloutcome will be achieved for the City.