Great Lakes Council Community Facility Energy Efficiency ... · The overall objectives of Great Lakes Council's Community Facility Energy Efficiency Upgrade (referred herein after

Great Lakes Council

Community Facility Energy Efficiency Upgrade

Final Report

This activity received funding from the Australian Government

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Contents

1. Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 5

2. Project Objectives ........................................................................................................................... 6

3. Project Energy Efficiency Activities .................................................................................................. 7

Site #001: Administration Building .................................................................................................. 9

Site #002: Library & Waste Services (the 'Shed') ............................................................................ 12

Site #003: Community Centre ....................................................................................................... 16

Site #004: Forster Arts & Crafts Centre .......................................................................................... 18

Site #005: Tea Gardens Library and District Office ......................................................................... 19

Sites #005-#009: Great Lakes Community Centres......................................................................... 20

Site #0010: Public Park Lighting - Tuncurry & Hawks Nest ............................................................. 21

4. Discussion of issues and lessons learnt .......................................................................................... 22

5. Project Demonstration and Communications Activities ................................................................. 25

6. Outcomes and benefits of the Project ........................................................................................... 29

7. Budget .......................................................................................................................................... 43

8. Project operation, mechanisms and processes .............................................................................. 45

9. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 47

10. Declaration ................................................................................................................................. 48

Attachment 1 Updated Energy Efficiency Improvement Tables ..................................................... 49

Attachment 2 Summary of Communication Activities .................................................................... 50

Attachment 3 Energy Savings Plans ............................................................................................... 51

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Table of Figures

Figure 1 - Administration energy expenditure as a percentage of Great Lakes Council total spend on electricity ............................................................................................................................................ 9

Figure 2 - New glazing featuring weather-stripping on louvres .......................................................... 11

Figure 3 - LED panels in lunch room (includes motion sensor) .......................................................... 11

Figure 4 - New ZIP hotwater system with timer ................................................................................. 12

Figure 5 - new T5 fittings in store room (note motion sensor) ........................................................... 14

Figure 6 Suspended T8 lighting in library ........................................................................................... 14

Figure 7 - New ZIP hotwater system with timer in library .................................................................. 15

Figure 8 - Energy audit conducted on Forster Library ........................................................................ 15

Figure 9 - New T5 fittings in Community Centre ................................................................................ 17

Figure 10 - New T5 fittings in Arts & Craft Centre .............................................................................. 18

Figure 11 New ZIP hot water system in the Tea Gardens Depot......................................................... 19

Figure 12 New solar lighting brightening up the Tuncurry foreshore ................................................. 21

Figure 13 - Examples of communication activities undertaken during project ................................... 26

Figure 14 Percentage change over time - Administration Centre ....................................................... 32

Figure 15 Comparison of quarterly consumption for Councils Administration Centre ........................ 32

Figure 16 - Comparison of Mechanical services consumption for similar days pre- and post- project (1/2). ................................................................................................................................................ 33

Figure 17 - Comparison of Mechanical services consumption for similar days pre- and post- project (2/2). ................................................................................................................................................ 33

Figure 18 - Comparison of energy consumption of the library over recent financial years ................. 34

Figure 19 Percentage change over time - Forster Library and The Shed ............................................. 34

Figure 20 Comparison of quarterly consumption for Forster Library and The Shed ............................ 35

Figure 21 Table showing reduction from Q1 and Q2 in 2015 to 2016 ................................................ 35

Figure 22 Percentage change over time - Forster Tuncurry Community Centre ................................. 37

Figure 23 Comparison of quarterly data for the Forster Tuncurry Community Centre ........................ 37

Figure 24 Table showing reduction from Q1 and Q2 in 2015 to 2016 ................................................ 37

Figure 25 Energy Usage at the Great Lakes Arts and Craft Centre ...................................................... 38

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Figure 26 - Comparison of Community Centres' consumption over recent financial years (GJ) .......... 39

Figure 27 - Comparison of old and new foreshore lighting at Tuncurry .............................................. 42

Figure 28 - Summary of potential 'cap' on electricity consumption for Great Lakes Council ............... 46

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1. Executive Summary

In July 2013, Great Lakes Council was awarded a grant under the Australian Government's Community Energy Efficiency Program (CEEP). The project plan for Council's Community Facility Energy Efficiency Upgrade was approved in June 2014 and work commenced on the project soon after.

The project was targeted at improving energy efficiency, and subsequent running costs of council-run community facilities (including halls, libraries and community centres). Additional goals of the project were to improve awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency across the community (including staff within the Council organisation).

The project focused on easily achieved 'low hanging fruit' upgrades across a large number of sites (10 in total) generally focusing on one-off activities that would generate financial returns (such as replacing lighting with energy-efficient globes or improving the efficiency of air-conditioning by reducing heat transfer through windows).

The project has been successfully completed, however some items were removed from the final project. Significant savings on some items (particularly stand-alone solar lighting) enabled reinvestment of expenditure into lighting retrofits. While initial signs are positive with regard to energy savings from the project, many of the savings (particularly those related to air-conditioning costs) will not be evident until a full 12-month cycle has passed.

This project has increased awareness on energy efficiency across the organisation, as well as provide opportunity for staff to build their capacity. Strong involvement from Management right through to operational staff has allowed greater ownership within the organisation that has resulted in ongoing action from these staff members. High visibility of the upgrades, such as glazing, lighting and motion sensors has effectively communicated Councils commitment to both staff and users of our public facilities.

This project has also increased staff capacity in analysing and interpreting the data that is collated by Planet Footprint.

The project was also underspent in some of the community education items, as due to staffing changes during the project a large degree of project management and community education work was undertaken in-kind by council staff.

Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for any information or advice contained herein.

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2. Project Objectives

The overall objectives of Great Lakes Council's Community Facility Energy Efficiency Upgrade (referred herein after as the CEEP project) are as follows:

1. Combined 10% reduction on baseline energy use for the project sites nominated

2. Preparation of detailed business cases for future energy efficiency projects

3. Improvement of public lighting along Forster/Tuncurry and Hawks Nest foreshore

4. Demonstrate and encourage the adoption of improved energy management practices within councils, organisations and the broader community

This project contributed to the broader CEEP objectives, as well as achieving Council's objectives.

The overall reduction of energy use across all of Council's facilities within this project exceeded the 10% target. Whilst the reduction at some sites was minimal, there were other sites that achieved a high reduction, and two sites where energy use was eliminated altogether (Forster Tuncurry and Hawks Nest Foreshore).

Due to the high visibility of the actions (solar lighting, glazing etc) and the involvement of staff and community groups across all levels, Council has improved its energy management practices across a number of sites. Combined with targeted education and awareness raising activities, Council staff and community groups have an improved awareness of energy management in the workplace/community facility as well as in the home.

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3. Project Energy Efficiency Activities

In July 2013, Great Lakes Council was awarded a grant under the Australian Government's Community Energy Efficiency Program (CEEP). The project plan for Council's Community Facility Energy Efficiency Upgrade was approved in June 2014 and work commenced on the project soon after.

Being a regional NSW Council, Great Lakes Council provides facilities for the use of a large variety of community groups across the LGA. While Council covers the energy consumption of some sites, for others, user groups pay the entire electricity bill, and others receive a subsidy from Council. The costs of these bills still remain a significant constraint and subsequently take funds away from potential community activities and services that these groups provide. As these groups are frequently made of volunteers from the community any improvements to the energy efficiency for these buildings will also provide an opportunity for these groups to learn about and undertake energy efficiency measures in their own homes.

The key sites are summarised below:

#001 Administration Building Forster Civic Precinct

#002 Forster Library and Waste Services (The Shed)

#003 Forster Tuncurry Community Centre

#004 Great Lakes Arts and Crafts Centre

#005 Tea Gardens Library and District Office Regional office

#006 Coomba Community Hall Community Centres

#007 Pacific Palms Community Hall

#008 Hawks Nest Community Centre

#009 Stroud School of Arts

#010 John Oxley Park (Tuncurry Foreshore) & Providence Bay Park (Hawks Nest)

Public Park lighting

While this project is primarily targeted at 'low hanging fruit' energy efficiency improvements, a substantial part of the project is also to undertake a detailed energy audit of the Community Precinct sites and key buildings in Tea Gardens with a view to developing business cases for the improvement and retrofitting of key energy efficiency activities to ensure that good will and support developed through this project can be capitalised on.

The main technologies being utilised for this project include, but are not limited to:

Predominant lighting across the sites is T8 36W fluorescent mounted in ceiling troffers. Retrofitting of T8 fluorescent tubes with energy efficient T5 kits has been used in multiple sites across Australia (particularly in offices) to reduce energy consumption with no reduction

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in light output. The retrofit kits are quick and easy to replace, consume significantly less electricity and have significant lamp life resulting in additional maintenance savings.

Replacement of windows on key community precinct buildings with Low E glass will provide considerable savings for Councils energy costs. Low-e glass can reduce the amount of heat that is conducted through the glass by around 30% and further improves thermal efficiency by cutting glare. Low-e glass reduces summer heat gains and winter heat losses and is a cost effective option for existing Council buildings that have a high glazing ratio with leaky louvre windows.

Upgrade of ‘Exit’ lights from 10w globes to 3w LED to reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs (extended lamp life of LEDs).

Great Lakes Council rejuvenated its public lighting of community infrastructure along the Forster/Tuncurry Foreshore and Providence Bay Park Lighting in Hawks Nest in response to community concerns. Due to its age, the existing lighting needed a significant infrastructure upgrade to be brought up to an acceptable community standard, and was liable to require a high degree of ongoing maintenance (see comparison below).

Expected capital cost Issues

Replace with standard grid connected lighting (250W fittings)

$5000 (incl installation) per pole

Ongoing energy consumption costs.

Maintenance issues due to old existing infrastructure

Replace with standalone solar lighting (17W fittings)

$8000 (incl installation) per pole

No Ongoing energy consumption costs

Longer lamp life

Visible demonstration project

Due to the high usage and visibility if these iconic areas within the Great Lakes, it proposed to replace the existing foreshore lighting with standalone solar lighting. Solar lights have previously been successfully trialled in the Great Lakes Council LGA at other key recreation sites.

This park and foreshore lighting will give a visible, public face to the other energy efficiency measures being undertaken in this project, will serve as a trial for future public lighting projects, as well as continue to build the Great Lakes established reputation as a regional tourism destination committed to sustainable way of life.

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Site #001: Administration Building

Overview

The Forster Administration building houses approximately 130 staff plus the Council Chambers and Mayoral Office.

It is a single story masonry structure, originally constructed in the 1980's to use only natural ventilation and has undergone several renovations since this time, significantly in 1989.

The building is now fully air-conditioned, and this contributes significantly to its annual running cost.

The administration building is Council's single largest energy consumer, and accounts for almost 20% of Council's

total energy consumption.

Summary of Proposed Activities

Activity Budget Description

Install 3 x Cardiff air fans $18,000 This option will assist the building to operate as its original design intended - a naturally ventilated building. Central air fans will pull air through the building overnight in the summer season. This will both cool the building interior for the next day and also introduce more fresh air through the building. The budget provides for three fans and louvres motors to be installed.

Eg. Cardiff Air 1070 Fan System

Glazing $95,000 Replacement of windows on key community precinct buildings with Low E glass will provide considerable savings for Councils energy costs. Low-e glass can reduce the amount of heat that is conducted through the glass by around 30% and further improves thermal efficiency by cutting glare. Low-e glass reduces summer heat gains and winter heat losses and is a cost effective option for existing Council buildings that have a high glazing ratio with leaky louvre windows.

$83,031

$402,589

GLC Energy Cost 2013/14

Administrationbuilding

GLC Total

Figure 1 - Administration energy expenditure as a percentage of Great Lakes Council total spend on electricity

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'Exit' lighting upgrade $1718.40 Existing 10W globes in Safety Exit lighting have been replaced with energy efficient 3W globes.

3 x ZIP HWS upgrade $4500 Savings are generated through reduced storage losses by replacing hotwater systems, kettles and outdated ZIP systems with efficient instant hotwater systems.

End of project energy audit

$1500 Level 2 Energy audit with a 30% error margin.

Discussion of Activities

Installation of Cardiff air fans

This activity was discontinued after ongoing discussion with Cardiff Air. Staff were unsatisfied with responses from Cardiff Air for this project with regard to whether this process has been successfully implemented in similar situations (eg. retrofit of medium-sized public building for the purposes of night flushing). Council has also recently installed Cardiff Air fans in another council owned building, and has experienced ongoing maintenance issues with the fans.

At this time Council was not satisfied that this aspect of the project would not be a significantly risky undertaking, with potential ongoing maintenance issues.

Savings from this project were directed into lighting replacement within the building (see below) and other identified sites.

Glazing

Existing glazing of key windows in the Administration building was replaced with 6mm Evantage Grey toughened glass. Secondly, 'weather stripping' tape was installed on all louvres in the administration building to reduce air-conditioning losses through louvres that couldn't close properly (A 2011 report estimated the annual Air-conditioning losses through these leaky louvres was in the vicinity of $7,000-$10,000). There were significant delays in procuring the new glazing (four separate local businesses undertook site inspections before declining the job/failing to provide a quote) and the project was finally advertised nationally through a formal Expression of Interest process. Originally the glazing and weather stripping were included as a single project and in hindsight it was thought that the weather-stripping process (being labour intensive) was what may have discouraged contractors. This aspect of the project was eventually undertaken internally by council operational staff. The intent was to also use the weather-stripping process to identify louvres that needed to be completely replaced (ie no longer operational) or which could be replaced with fixed low-e glazing while the rest of the project was being undertaken. Unfortunately as the project had to eventually be split, this cost-saving (and energy saving) opportunity wasn't able to be undertaken.

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As savings from this project will be garnered through reduced air-conditioning costs, immediate savings are difficult to quantify. A comparison of a full 12 month cycle of consumption will be required to fully assess the improvements garnered through this project.

Initial comparison of the mechanical consumption data from equivalent days in 2014 and 2015 provides some insight into the long-term savings from this project (see section 6). However, it is recommended not to rely too heavily on this data as external temperature changes or events are likely to impact heavily on comparisons of similar days between years.

Lighting upgrade

Exit lights were all replaced.

Savings from the Cardiff Air activity were invested into installing energy efficient lighting within the Administration building, including the trial of LED panels in place of failing T5 retrofit kits.

During the project issues were experienced with T5 retrofit kits which were previously installed (upon recommendation from an energy audit undertaken at the time). Initially it was found that these retrofit kits were reacting badly with motion sensor timers.

It was also noticed during this time that the T5 retrofit kits had been failing generally (those sites where the whole fitting was replaced are still functioning as desired). Savings from the Cardiff Air project have therefore been directed at replacing these malfunctioning T5 retrofit kits with LED panels. These new fittings have been purchased and installed.

An overall lighting upgrade for the administration building was not originally included in the CEEP project, as T5 replacements had only been installed within the last 5 years.

This project gave council the opportunity to address the issue created by T5 retrokits, an issue that is likely being faced by many Councils and community organisations across the country who proactively switched from T8's to T5's in the last 5-10 years.

An additional motion sensor was initially installed in the Tea Gardens lunch room but it interacted badly with a fan. The motion sensor has subsequently been relocated to the administration building.

Figure 2 - New glazing featuring weather-stripping on louvres

Figure 3 - LED panels in lunch room (includes motion sensor)

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ZIP Hotwater systems

Originally three ZIP hotwater systems were planned to be replaced at Forster Administration Centre and one at the Forster Community Centre. After further assessment of existing ZIP hotwater systems with those currently available, it was decided energy savings (combined with total lifecycle cost) would not be sufficient to replace three of the existing systems. One system was replaced (Planning Section) with a ZIP hotwater system on a timer. Savings from this project were invested into the lighting upgrade discussed above.


An end of project energy audit was proposed to review the activities undertaken during the course of this project (as well as previous upgrades) in line with the energy audit undertaken on this building in June 2011.

As the key upgrade completed on this building (glazing) was only completed in May (and the sealing of leaky louvres was completed in June), upon discussion with the consultant who undertook the original audit in 2011, it was decided that any review undertaken now was too premature to determine the true impact of these upgrades. Thus, any major energy audit of the building at this time would likely be flawed. Ongoing tracking of sub-metering data will be undertaken by staff in an in-kind capacity to assess cost savings over the next 12 months and reported to GLC's Sustainability Advisory Committee (S-Team).

Site #002: Library & Waste Services (the 'Shed')

Overview

Forster library was built in 1989, and similar to the adjacent administration building, was originally designed to be naturally ventilated. The library has since been air-conditioned, and this contributes significantly to its annual running costs. Although the building contains a large number of windows and openable louvres, the building has opted for a fully-air-conditioned mode in recent years.

The library's hours of operation are Wednesday-Friday, 9:30-5:00pm; Saturday, 9:30-1:30pm. The library is staffed (avg of 8 staff per day) on Mondays, but not open to the public.

The library attracts roughly 500 visitors per day.

The Shed is a demountable building which holds 12 staff (with typically a 60% occupancy rate) and which operates off the same metre as the library. The Shed's working hours are typically 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday to Friday with occasional events after hours and unscheduled work over weekends.

The 'Shed' was erected relatively recently (in the last 10 years) in a vacant site next to the Library. Both these buildings run off the same meter.

Figure 4 - New ZIP hotwater system with timer

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Pre-project Energy Audit $2,600 Level 2 Energy audit with a 30% error margin.

Sub-metering $200 Meters to separate Waste Services ('The Shed') and the library; internal library metre to isolate storeroom

T8-T5 light replacement retrofit

$6,240 Predominant lighting across the sites is T8 36W fluorescent mounted in ceiling troffers. Retrofitting of T8 fluorescent tubes with energy efficient 28W T5 kits has been used in multiple sites across Australia to reduce energy consumption, particularly in offices with no reduction in light output.


Motion sensors $1,200 Motion sensors installed in rooms that only experience periodic use such as lunch rooms, meeting rooms and store rooms.

'Exit' lighting upgrade $1718.40 Existing 10W globes in Safety Exit lighting replaced with energy efficient 3W globes.



$1500 Level 2 Energy audit with a 30% error margin.

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Pre-project Energy Audit

A pre-project energy audit was undertaken for the library in 2014. Many of the recommendations in this report have been undertaken through this project.

The audit also contained an assessment of the benefits of installing a solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) which Council will investigate further after the completion of the CEEP project.

Sub-metering

Sub-metering to separate Waste Services ('The Shed') and the library; internal library metre to isolate storeroom was installed. This process will help Great Lakes Council manage its division of electricity consumption between discreet business units.

This complements existing sub-metering installed within the administration building.

Light replacement retrofit

All lighting in office areas and storage rooms has been upgraded.

The lighting upgrade within the central portion of the library was delayed due to a significant storm event in April 2015, resulting in the roof of the library requiring replacement. This lighting within the central portion of the library are T8's hanging in suspended fittings. It was decided that the existing T8 globes in this portion of the library would not be replaced with T5 or LED due to the full replacement of fittings required. Further, it is expected that the library will be moving out of this site within the next few years and the suspended lighting will likely be removed.

Former halogen hi-bay lights in the entry foyer of the library have been replaced with energy efficient globes. Former halogen downlights in the display area have been replaced with LED downlights.

Existing 10W globes in Safety Exit lighting have been replaced with energy efficient 3W globes.

Figure 6 Suspended T8 lighting in library

Figure 5 - new T5 fittings in store room (note motion sensor)

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Glazing

Replacement of major fixed glass areas with low-e Enervation glass was completed in May. Existing louvre bays were sealed to reduce air-conditioning losses, as these louvres were no longer being used (many had already been sealed shut, or fallen into disrepair).

The pre-project energy audit recommended reducing areas of fixed glass, particularly on colder southern sides of the building. However, any loss of natural light or scenic views were deemed unacceptable by asset managers, and thus low-e glass was utilised in these sites.

Motion sensors

One motion sensor was installed in the library storeroom. One in a staff meeting room.

ZIP HWS upgrade

One ZIP hotwater system with timer was installed in the library.


An end of project energy audit was proposed to review the activities undertaken during the course of this project (as well as previous upgrades) in line with the energy audit undertaken on this building prior to the commencement of works.

As the key upgrade completed on this building (glazing) was only completed in May, upon discussion with the consultant who undertook the original audit in 2011, it was decided that any review undertaken now was too premature to determine the true impact of these upgrades. Thus, any major energy audit of the building at this time would likely be flawed. Ongoing tracking of sub-metering data will be undertaken by staff in an in-kind capacity to assess cost savings over the next 12 months and reported to GLC's Sustainability Advisory Committee (S-Team).

Figure 7 - New ZIP hotwater system with timer in library

Figure 8 - Energy audit conducted on Forster Library

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Site #003: Community Centre

Overview

The building has been built in several stages (starting from 1990, with most recent renovations completed in 2012) and houses various community services including Senior Citizens activities, Respite care, Community Options & business Services, and Meals on Wheels. All these services operate at different times.

Some sub-metering has been established on the main switchboard and accounts have started to be raised for the senior Citizens Group.

The building has a total area of 842 sqm.



Pre-project Energy Audit $2,600 Level 2 Energy audit with a 30% error margin.




4 x Motion sensors $1,200 Motion sensors installed in rooms that only experience periodic use such as lunch rooms, meeting rooms and store rooms.

'Exit' lighting upgrade $1718.40 Existing 10W globes in Safety Exit lighting replaced with energy efficient 3W globes.


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A pre-project energy audit was undertaken for the library in 2014. Many of the recommendations in this report have been undertaken through this project.



Existing T8 36W fittings have been replaced with 28W T5 fittings.

Existing 10W globes in Safety Exit lighting have been replaced with energy efficient 3W globes.

Glazing

Replacement of major fixed glass areas with low-e Enervation glass was completed in May. Similar to the administration building, 'weather stripping' has been installed by council staff on existing louvres to reduce 'leakages'.

Motion sensors

3 Motion sensors have been installed in the community centre.

ZIP Hotwater System

After assessment of existing ZIP hotwater system with those currently available, it was decided energy savings (combined with total lifecycle cost) would not be sufficient to replace the existing system in the community Centre.

Figure 9 - New T5 fittings in Community Centre

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Site #004: Forster Arts & Crafts Centre

Overview

Community-run arts & craft centre. Total area of 514sqm.

The building isn't air-conditioned and lighting accounts for a large proportion of total energy cost.

The building contains a kiln that was replaced in 2014 with a more energy efficient model, which will likely reduce total electricity consumption on the site. The key activity on this site was to replace existing T5 fittings with T8s. This was completed in June.

Assessment of this community group's bills during this project shows that their overall energy usage has decreased significantly.

Figure 10 - New T5 fittings in Arts & Craft Centre

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Site #005: Tea Gardens Library and District Office

Overview

The Office and Library are both timber framed and raised off the ground with no sub-floor enclosure. These buildings have a combined area of 1350sqm.

Major energy use for both buildings is Lighting, Heating & Cooling and Office Equipment, in that order.



Pre-project Energy Audit for both buildings

$1,200 Level 2 Energy audit with a 30% error margin.



1 x ZIP HWS upgrade $1,500

1 x Motion sensor $600 Motion sensor installed in kitchen



A pre-project energy audit was undertaken for both buildings in 2014. Many of the recommendations in this report have been undertaken through this project.



Existing T8 fittings are being replaced with T5 fittings and LED panels. Figure 11 New ZIP hot water system

in the Tea Gardens Depot

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ZIP HWS upgrade

One ZIP hotwater system was installed in the Tea Gardens Depot

Sites #005-#009: Great Lakes Community Centres

Overview

Great Lakes Council has a large Local Government Area (LGA) but a relatively small population. Great Lakes Council manages community centres in most of the population centres across the LGA, and those that receive the highest degree of usage (and thus energy consumption) have been targeted by this program.

Lighting (T8 to T5 replacement, external flood lighting and exit lights) and hot water have been targeted at the majority of these sites.


Lighting replacement

T8 tubes are being replaced with T5 tubes on all community centres. Pacific Palms Community Hall will also be used as a site to trial LED panels. The lights have all been purchased and are currently being installed.

Coomba's external lighting has been disconnected due to the high cost - it has been proposed that this connection will support the proposed Men's Shed in the area, meaning that there may be an increase in consumption in coming years.

Exit lights have been replaced at Coomba and Hawks Nest Community Centres.

HWS Timer

Between initial CEEP project submission and subsequent approval of project plan, hotwater systems

at Coomba Community Hall, Pacific Palms Community Hall, Hawks Nest Community Hall and Stroud

School of Arts have been replaced with solar-hotwater systems through alternate funding. This has

thereby removed the need for timers to reduce consumption costs.

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Site #0010: Public Park Lighting - Tuncurry & Hawks Nest

Due to its age, the existing lighting at these two sites needed significant infrastructure upgrades to be brought up to an acceptable community standard, and was liable to require a high degree of ongoing maintenance. The option was to either replace these lights with standard grid connected lighting at $5000+ ongoing consumption costs, or replace with standalone solar lighting at $8000 with no ongoing energy consumption costs + longer lamp life (resulting in reduced maintenance costs).

6 x solar lights were installed in John Oxley Park on the

Tuncurry foreshore, and ten lights were installed in Providence Bay Park in Hawks Nest in March-April. The existing lights in these parks were subsequently removed.

Multiple quotes were sought through the procurement process, and the final purchased product came in significantly under the estimated budget. There were however quite a wide range of prices and products received through the procurement process, some of which were over budget.

The lights have been generally supported by the community and the media release for this project was picked up by the local paper.

Figure 12 New solar lighting brightening up the Tuncurry foreshore

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4. Discussion of issues and lessons learnt

Complicated retrofit activities (Glazing)

The original brief for the glazing project was as follows:

Install low-e fixed glazing in nominated sites

Install 'weather-stripping' to nominated louvres and provide quote to replace those louvres which cannot be sealed with weather stripping, or are no longer operational

Provide opening options for nominated louvres including: manual opening; automated opening; centralized automated opening of louvres

As such, this wasn't necessarily a straight forward job of replacing all louvres and fixed glazing, it required an inspection of existing louvres. Secondly, retrofitting opening mechanisms to existing louvres was raised as problematic by two of the contractors who visited the site. The main recommendation was to simply replace all louvre banks with new banks that would include an automated opening mechanism. While this would make the job easier for the contractors, it wouldn't necessarily improve the energy efficiency of the building any more than installing the weather stripping would. It may in fact increase consumption as louvres become easily opened by staff while A/C is running.

The project was finally reduced to replacement of existing fixed glazing with low-e glazing in nominated sites, and weather stripping was installed by internal staff.

Issues with technology (T5 retrofit kits, night-flushing)

Problems were experienced during this program with T5 retrofit kits that had previously been installed and were now starting to fail. Upon discussion with the consultant who provided the original energy audit recommending these kits in 2011, it was found that this is an issue that has begun to be experienced by other organisations.

These sort of issues, or the perceptions they may generate with asset managers, can potentially derail future energy efficiency projects.

Similarly, the night-flushing project utilising Cardiff Air fans (or equivalent) is something that was recommended in a 2011 audit (and which has been seen in energy audits from other organisations). Unfortunately upon discussing the project with Cardiff Air, and consulting with other local governments through various forums, GLC staff were unable to find a similar project where this had been undertaken (ie retrofitting of a pre-1990 office building with Cardiff air extraction fans for the purposes of night flushing).

This project would also need to link with an automated system for opening building louvres, which as discussed above would come with its own issues.

Many modern office buildings have this 'flushing' capability built into their air conditioning systems, but retrofitting such a system to an existing building may create other unexpected issues. To manage such issues, particularly in the early stages of its use, a high degree of ownership for such a project would need to be taken by specific officers responsible for this systems implementation, which doesn't presently exist: such a potentially complex system couldn't just be installed and left to its own devices.

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Ownership and motivation

There is an incentive at a high level for these retrofit activities to take place. That is, they reduce Council's total operating budget. There isn't however necessarily an incentive at the operational level for staff to proactively reduce consumption of assets. Such activities rely on staff with a personal interest in technology or energy efficiency (eg an electrician with an interest in solar power, or an asset manager who can see the benefits of turning off non-essential lights).

Maintenance is a key driver for some operational staff: our electrician for instance could see the benefit of replacing the faulty T5's and recommended trialling LED panels which would potentially reduce the amount of time that he and his staff spent replacing lights.

As is often the case though, long-term considerations such as maintenance, can often get overridden by short term demands. For instance Great Lakes Council experienced major storm events during April, which subsequently delayed the overall lighting project as staff were required to undertake other jobs. Allocating time to undertake projects has also created conflict between the 'business as usual' and emergency maintenance of Council's internal trade staff and project activities.

Tyranny of distance also plays a role for regionally based local governments, as many of the sites targeted for this project are staffed locally, but managed remotely. For instance, the labour component of replacing lights at Coomba Park or Hawks Nest Community Centres is high due to travel times, compared to the number of lights or globes to be changed. As such, replacement of lights was often linked to scheduled visits for non-project activities.

Data analysis

Through the reporting stages of this project various inconsistencies have been discovered in the Planetfootprint website, where data from all of Council's assets is recorded. Many of the inconsistencies in data have not been noticed until now as the staff who have entered and maintained the data in the database are not the asset managers, and have therefore overlooked data that may have been picked up had asset managers been managing their own data.

Issues such as this have been further complicated by disputes between Council and the energy provider during 2011-2014 regarding billing of several of our large assets. This dispute was settled in 2014, resulting in a significant reduction to future bills. This was further complicated by misleading bill data from the service provider during this time. A change between service providers during this time has also caused problems with tracking bill data.

Timing of bill data also complicates issues, as billing data ranges from 6-monthly for small sites, to monthly for the administration building. With this in mind, comparing annual totals is difficult as there can be an up to 6-month lag until there is accurate data received for all sites being assessed in this project. As such, the total consumption figures discussed below, may be based on estimates, which don't necessarily include the impact of recent changes (eg glazing or lighting retrofits). Accurate data on the success of this project will likely only be only assessable at least 12 months after the completion of this project.

Sub-metering in the administration building does address this issue to some degree, however it has been discovered that there are insufficient staff resources required to assess the daily data derived from this system, and convert it into something meaningful.

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Reaching the wider community

Great Lakes Council took the opportunity presented by John Dee's national tour to link the CEEP community education event with a well-known presenter. Being in a regional area, council staff had already struggled to find interesting speakers that may pique the community's interest in this topic.

During his time in Forster, John Dee ran a presentation to the wider community, as well as one to a local small business breakfast. Those who attended the presentations enjoyed these events, and responded very positively to the event. While attendance numbers were satisfactory, these events still highlight the difficulties of reaching the larger population.

Media was conducted both prior to and after these events, and some of John Dee's books 'The 20 Step Guide to Cutting Energy Bills in your Business' have been donated to the library, as well as being distributed to community groups who use these facilities.

While these events were relatively successful at attracting attendance, it may be more difficult to transfer this attendance into action. Similarly, the internal staff activities undertaken with this project may require ongoing engagement to convert interest or awareness to actual action. Ongoing engagement such as this may be outside of council staff's capacity (or scope) to deliver.

A copy of the book has also been passed on to the Forster Arts and Craft Society (Site #004) to help them manage their own costs on the site. A new (energy-efficient) kiln was installed on site just prior to commencement of this project, and liaising with this group throughout the course of this project has helped them identify that the new kiln isn't being used in off-peak times like the old one previously was, thereby increasing their energy costs.

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5. Project Demonstration and Communications Activities

Overview

Education and communication projects were generally linked to completion of specific milestones and project completion. Delays in completion of specific activities (particularly those focused on the community centres) subsequently delayed communication activities.

As such, some communication activities were taken during the course of the project, but many were compressed towards the end of the project. For future projects, completion of items linked to communication activities will need to be prioritised.

To this end, community education events had originally been planned to be held in community centres to highlight the activities that had been completed at these venues. Due to the expected delays, the community events were centralised in one location, and community groups who use these target facilities were still invited to the event.

Summary of key stakeholders identified in project management plan and how these stakeholder's needs have been met is demonstrated below. Examples of communication outputs are included as Appendix 2.

Stakeholder group Method for engagement throughout project

Australian Government Milestone reports

Adhoc email and phone communication as required

Project Management Team Regular project specific catchups

Sustainability Advisory Committee (S-Teams)

Quarterly updates provided to Sustainability Advisory Committee (S-Team)

Contractors Project specific discussions

General Manager, Directors, Managers Updated through weekly staff meetings

Updated also provided through participation in S-team meetings

Councillors Informed through dispersal of S-team meeting discussions

Invites to community events

Council Electrician and Operations Staff Involvement in project specific meetings and

activities

Involvement in S-team meetings

All Staff Switch-off blitz Static displays in lunch room


Ad-hoc and timed emails

Community groups and clubs (particularly those who use the facilities targeted by this project)

Direct invite to community events via letter Posters displayed in community halls promoting

outcomes of project

Local residents/general public Invites to community events

Media releases

Static displays in library

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Figure 13 - Examples of communication activities undertaken during project

Outcomes of Engagement Activities

Target Audience

Activity Evaluation/Feedback

Council Electrician and Operations Staff

Involvement in project specific meetings and activities

Involvement in S-team meetings

Councils Electrician was heavily involved in the implementation of activities, as well as sourcing and providing advice on alternatives. His knowledge and capacity for energy efficiency has been expanded as a result of this project.

All Staff Switch-off blitz

Static displays in

Switch-off blitz - Council's IT team was involved in developing the methodology to

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lunch room


Ad-hoc and timed emails

track the number of PC's that were left on overnight throughout the organisation and outlying offices. Two overnight scans were completed of all staff computers. The first scan was conducted without notice and detected 19 computers of the total 236 that were left on (see Table 1 for breakdown). Following the initial scan, small reminders to 'Save Energy & Switch Off' were left on the desk of staff members who left their computers on. A week later, another overnight scan was conducted and the total amount of PC's left on was reduced to 14 (23% reduction), with the greatest reduction seen in the Head Office Building (see Table 1).

Static Displays - a static display was erected in the Head Office staff lunch room. Part of the static display included an activity where staff was invited to recommend activities that improve energy efficiency for both Council and at home. This activity was on display for all to see and became a talking point amongst staff over their lunch/coffee breaks

All staff was invited to the Jon Dee Energy Cut workshop and approximately 6 staff attended. All other staff had a hardcopy of the book available to them, a copy was placed in each of the libraries and posted out to district offices.

Posters - Individual posters were made for each of the buildings that received energy efficiency upgrades. Each of the posters describes the works that were undertaken, the estimated savings, and prompts the viewer to think about what they can also do at home. Each of the buildings has these posters displayed in prominent positions for maximum exposure.

Community groups and clubs (particularly those who use the facilities targeted by this project)

Direct invite to community events via letter

Posters displayed in community halls promoting outcomes of project

The community groups at each of the centres/halls were directly invited to attend the Jon Dee workshop, representatives from the Committee of Pacific Palms attended.

Posters - Individual posters were made for each of the buildings that received energy efficiency upgrades. Each of the posters describes the works that were undertaken, the estimated savings, and prompts the viewer to think about what they can also do at home. Each of the buildings has these posters displayed in prominent positions for maximum exposure.

Feedback - The Great Lakes Arts and Craft

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society have provided feedback that the new lights installed through this project have significantly reduced their electricity bills, and that the quality of light has significantly improved. Especially for the quilting group that require bright lighting for fine stitching work.

Local residents/general public


Media releases

Static displays in library

As part of the Jon Dee 'tour' he also conducted a business breakfast that was hosted by the local business chamber. At this event, Council was able to promote the project to the local business community. This was an unexpected yet positive outcome.

It's PC to Switch OFF Friday

22/05/2015 Friday

29/05/2015 Total No.

of PC's

Head Office 15 9 170

Community Centre 2 2 30

Forster Visitor Information Centre 1

7

Stroud District Office 1 1 3

Tea Gardens District Office

1 6

Tuncurry Depot

1 20

Total 19 14 236 26.3%

reduction Table 1 PC Switch Off Data

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6. Outcomes and benefits of the Project

Did the project meet CEEP objectives?

The objectives of the Community Energy Efficiency Program (the Program) are to:

1. Support a range of local councils and community organisations to increase the energy efficiency of different types of non-residential council and community-use buildings, facilities and lighting; particularly where this would benefit low socio-economic and other disadvantaged communities or support energy efficiency in regional and rural councils.

2. Demonstrate and encourage the adoption of improved energy management practices within councils, organisations and the broader community.

In addition to the objectives above, the Program is expected to provide the following benefits:

Better services and improved amenity of buildings and community facilities

Minimising energy consumption and costs to manage the impacts of the carbon price

Building the knowledge and capacity of the energy services and construction industry, and supporting competitive Australian energy efficiency technology and equipment manufacturers

Contributing to the national effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As discussed further below, the Great Lakes CEEP project has met these objectives.

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Did the project meet its own objectives?

The overall objectives of this project are as follows:

Combined 10% reduction on baseline energy use for the project sites nominated

Due to the different billing cycles of each site, it is difficult to conclusively say the extent that this goal has been achieved. Data up to the end of financial year has been used to assess this outcome, but it is unlikely to convey the full benefits of (for example) the glazing project, which would only have just finished at this time, or the various lighting projects, not all of which were finished at this time.

A summary of total annual consumption for 2014/15 financial year for all sites is included below. Based on this summary, objective 1 has been achieved.

*Site #010 (Solar lighting project) has been excluded from this summary as it would likely skew the results.

Site Pre-project annual consumption

Expected post-project annual consumption

Actual post- project annual consumption

%

#001 Administration Building 1229472.0 1106524.8 ↓ 858000 30%


312532.5 281279.25 ↓ 249000 20%


283082.5 254774 ↓238000 16%

#004 Great Lakes Arts and Crafts Centre

79319.0 71387.1 ↓ 56538 29%

#005 Tea Gardens Library and District Office

64123.0 57710.7 ↓ 63000 2%

#006 Coomba Community Hall 12395.0 11155.5 ↑ 15000 -21%


23616 23684.4 ↑25000 -6%


31915.0 28723.5 ↑ 39000 -22%

#009 Stroud School of Arts 24800.0 22320 ↓ 20000 19%

Total 2,061,255 1,857,559 1,563,538 24%

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The site specific data discussed in the following, compares usage for two entire financial years (2013/14 and 2014/15) and the first half of the current financial year (2015/16). This is due to the delayed implementation of some of the actions (as previously mentioned) which were only completed at the end of the 15/16 FY. As such, we are able to analyse two full years' worth of data, and an additional 6 months of data which is more representative of 'post project' energy consumption, and provides an excellent preliminary analysis.

An examination of the individual energy efficiency outcomes is discussed below.

Site #001 Administration Building

Savings on the administration building are impressive, but also are likely to include savings from projects undertaken prior to the CEEP program.

For instance, installation of a 10kW Solar PV array and installation of solar hotwater systems were undertaken prior to project application and may have been only partially included in initial baseline data (eg. six of the total twelve month baseline dataset). The benefits of these activities are now beginning to be fully felt, just as the glazing activities undertaken in this project will be more heavily realised after a full 12 month cycle.

Asset Name Financial Year Quarter Name

Total (GJ)

GLC Administration Building

2013-2014 2014Q1 271

2014Q2 205

2014Q3 225

2014Q4 212

2013-2014 Total 912

2014-2015 2015Q1 253

2015Q2 189

2015Q3 224

2015Q4 226

2014-2015 Total 892

2015-2016** 2016Q1 247

2016Q2 190

2016Q3 216

2016Q4 205

2015-2016 Total 858

**An additional 6 months' worth of data has been collected to update this final report (2015/16 Financial Year Q1 and Q2. Q3 and Q4 are estimated based on previous usage and reduction trends). The figures below show the continued downward trend of energy use following the completion of the CEEP project.

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Figure 14 Percentage change over time - Administration Centre

Figure 15 Comparison of quarterly consumption for Councils Administration Centre

Figure 14 shows a continuing downward trend in energy consumption, particularly in Q12015/16.

Figure 15 shows the comparison of all four quarters for the last 8 financial years. The data clearly shows continuing reduction of energy consumption across all quarters.

Unfortunately a comparison of billing data for the three large sites (Administration Building, Community Centre and Library & Waste Services Building) is complicated due to the recent billing issues with several of Council's large sites, as discussed in section 4.

Figure 16 below show comparisons of kWh consumption for the administration building between equivalent days in 2014 and 2015. The graphs refer to 'mechanical supply' which relates primarily to air-conditioning in the building. As can be seen below there seems to be a general reduction across the day, and in particular the initial peak in the morning is reduced. Reducing this demand peak may be useful in the future if large sites such as the administration building are forced to transition to a demand-based tariff structure.

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Figure 16 - Comparison of Mechanical services consumption for similar days pre- and post- project (1/2).

External climate variations between the two days could also account for some of this variation, so care should be taken when analysing this data (For instance, 1st July 2015 may have been a more mild day than 1st July 2014, thereby requiring less air-conditioning). However, initial results are positive. For instance, the Figure 17 shows a general reduction across several days, but not all days.

Figure 17 - Comparison of Mechanical services consumption for similar days pre- and post- project (2/2).

Site #002 Forster Library and Waste Services (The Shed)


Total (GJ)

Shed Building & Library 2013-2014 2014Q1 68

2014Q2 69

2014Q3 72

2014Q4 71

2013-2014 Total 279

2014-2015 2015Q1 69

2015Q2 71

2015Q3 73

2015Q4 76

2014-2015 Total 288

2015-2016** 2016Q1 63

2016Q2 61

2016Q3 62

2016Q4 63

2015-2016 Total 249

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There has been a decrease in consumption at this site since initial baseline data was collected, however there appears to be a recent increase in the 2014/15 financial year (see Figure 18). This can be potentially attributed to an incomplete dataset where billing data has only been received up until February 2015. Staff will continue to track energy consumption for this site to assess whether this increase is only temporary.

Figure 18 - Comparison of energy consumption of the library over recent financial years

The first two quarters of the 2015/16 financial year show significant reductions, particularly quarter 2 (see Figures 19 and 20 below). Given that data is only available for the first half of the financial year, it's clear that there is a significant decline in energy use at this site. Figure 21 shows the reduction data in Q1 and Q2 in 2016 FY compared to 2015 FY. In the first two quarters of 2016 alone, this site has achieved a total reduction of 16GJ or 11%.

Figure 19 Percentage change over time - Forster Library and The Shed

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Figure 20 Comparison of quarterly consumption for Forster Library and The Shed

Asset Quarter GJ Quarter GJ Reduction (GJ)

Reduction (%)

Shed Building and Library 2015Q1 69 2016Q1 63 6 9%

2015Q2 71 2016Q2 61 10 14%

Total 140 124 16 11% Figure 21 Table showing reduction from Q1 and Q2 in 2015 to 2016

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Site #003 Forster Tuncurry Community Centre

Forster Tuncurry Community Centre has experienced a significant reduction during the project life. As above, major savings from glazing (and lighting) upgrades should be more accurately realised after a full 12 month cycle as these two components both occurred towards the end of Q4.


Total (Gj)

Forster Tuncurry Community Centre

2013-2014 2014Q1 73

2014Q2 68

2014Q3 63

2014Q4 68

2013-2014 Total 273

2014-2015 2015Q1 66

2015Q2 62

2015Q3 60

2015Q4 60

2014-2015 Total 248

2015-2016** 2016Q1 59

2016Q2 61

2016Q3 58

2016Q4 60

2015-2016 238


Figures 22, 23 and 24 below show a downward trend in the first two quarters of the 2016 FY. Given that majority of the works were completed at the end of the 2014/15 FY, this is a positive indication of the successful implementation of the energy efficiency upgrades. Across the first two quarters of 2016 FY, a 6% reduction has been achieved which shows a downward trend which is expected to flow on, and will continue to be monitored throughout the rest of the year.

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Figure 22 Percentage change over time - Forster Tuncurry Community Centre

Figure 23 Comparison of quarterly data for the Forster Tuncurry Community Centre

Asset Quarter GJ Quarter GJ Reduction (GJ)

Reduction (%)

Forster Tuncurry Community Centre 2015Q1 66 2016Q1 59 7 11%

2015Q2 62 2016Q2 61 1 2%

Total 128 120 8 6% Figure 24 Table showing reduction from Q1 and Q2 in 2015 to 2016

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Site #004 Great Lakes Arts and Craft Centre

The Great Lakes Arts and Craft Centre have experienced significant reductions as a direct result of this project. The primary energy consumption in the building is the lighting followed by the kiln, which operates only occasionally. As Council does not receive the bills for this site, and the bills that have been provided to Council are irregular, the quarterly usage has been extrapolated based on average daily usage that was extracted from invoices. In order to represent actual data, the annual figures have been calculated based on the 12 months leading up to Feb 16 (see Figure 25).

The lighting upgrades were conducted in June 2015, and a clear reduction in usage can be seen after this quarter (Aug 2015 - Figure 25).

Average Daily Usage (kWh)

Average Qtly Usage (kWh)

Annual Usage (kWh) *Estimated

Nov-12 63 5733

Feb-13 57 5130

May-13 52 4784 2013/14

Aug-13 70 6440

21089 Nov-13 55 5005

Feb-14 54 4860

May-14 54 4968 2015/15

Aug-14 56 5152

18447 Nov-14 47 4277

Feb-15 45 4050

May-15 47 4324 2015/16

Aug-15 45 4140

15705 Nov-15 41 3731

Feb-16 39 3510 Figure 25 Energy Usage at the Great Lakes Arts and Craft Centre

Site #006-#009 Community Centres

Unexpectedly, it looks like the majority of community centres have generally increased in consumption when compared to baseline data. Pacific Palms, alternatively, seems to have reduced its consumption drastically.

Similar to other projects mentioned above, the actual effects of this project may not be yet felt in these sites. Furthermore, these small sites generally are only billed on a 6-monthly basis, and as such the data below for the 2014/15 financial year is likely based on estimates1.

1 Planet Footprint estimates future consumption data based on previous consumption trends. As such, exact consumption data for these sites up to the end of the fourth quarter of 2014/15 may not be received for several months.

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However, when looking at data stretching back to the 2010/11 financial year baseline, it appears that some data may have been estimated at the time for reasons similar to those mentioned above. As such, in hindsight it can be seen that some of the baseline data for these small sites may be underestimated. Generally, the halls seem to have been to be overestimated, while Pacific Palms seems to have been under estimated.

Further issues are raised by the variable use of the halls. Regular meetings may change date, time or length periodically, which could all impact on consumption, making these sites difficult to assess

As can be seen in Figure 16, below, Coomba Community Centre's consumption has remained relatively constant over this period; Hawks Nest Community Hall's has reduced below the 10% target; Pacific Palms Community Centre's consumption has remained relatively stable; Stroud School of Arts has remained relatively stable before dropping significantly in 2014/152.

Figure 26 - Comparison of Community Centres' consumption over recent financial years (GJ)

Site #010 Solar Park lighting

Replacement of lighting in Providence Park and John Oxley Park has had a total removal of energy consumption at the sites, as the former lights have been removed. Replacing the former lights which were in disrepair with new lights, also increases the aesthetic value of these two popular tourist sites.

Review of baseline energy consumption data

As discussed above, there may be issues in the original baseline data collected for this project. A summary of baseline data for the 2010/11 financial year is provided below, and compared against the recent energy efficiency improvements.

It likely gives a more accurate picture, highlighting that consumption has generally reduced across all sites. The extreme changes presented above have been smoothed out. It would be expected that in

2 Stroud School of Arts was closed for a significant period in 2014/15 for renovations. However, as noted above, this result may change when final billing data is received.

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another 6 months, when a full data set is available for the target period, this review would be much more accurate.

Site Pre-project estimated annual consumption (MJ)

2010/11 consumption (MJ)

2015/16 consumption (MJ)

% savings from 2010/11

#001 Administration Building

1229472 1247580 858000 31%


312532.5 321465.6 249000 23%


283082.5 303386.4 238000 22%

#004 Great Lakes Arts and Craft Centre

79319 71387 56538 21%

#005 Tea Gardens Library and District Office

64123 70401.6 63000 11%

#006 Coomba Community Hall

12395 14292 15000 -5%


26316 19425.6 25000 -29%


31915 37965.6 39000

-3%

#009 Stroud School of Arts

24800 25171.2 20000 21%

Total 2,063,955 2,111,075 1,563,538 26%

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Observations from review of baseline energy consumption data

This table demonstrates a general energy reduction across the majority of sites targeted by Council's CEEP project when compared to 2010/11 annual consumption data.

These reductions (particularly for the larger sites) will likely increase as more billing data is received over the coming months.

Preliminary data shows that the community halls (excluding Stroud) have experienced minor improvements up to the time this report was submitted. However, forecasted estimates show that energy usage at Coomba Community Hall, Pacific Palms Community Hall, and Hawks Nest Community Centre will increase. These estimates are based on previous usage trends, as well as reduction trends over the last 12 months. As the 2015/2016 financial year is not yet complete, it is likely that these estimates are not a correct representation of the future energy use at these sites. Only the real usage data collected for the remainder of the 2015/2016 year will show actual figures. Also it's important to note that the frequency of usage at sites like these are likely to fluctuate with the needs of the community, and as such can influence the energy consumption of each of the sites.

The large reduction for Stroud School of Arts is still likely connected to its recent extended closure.

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Preparation of detailed business cases for future energy efficiency projects

This objective has been met. These business cases are provided with this report at Attachment 3.

Improvement of public lighting along Forster/Tuncurry and Hawks Nest foreshore

This objective has been met. Comparison with the old lighting also shows the changes in aesthetic appeal of this lighting.

New lighting has also been set to switch off 6 hours after sun set, and then back on 2 hours before dawn, to reduce impact on neighbouring residents.

Figure 27 - Comparison of old and new foreshore lighting at Tuncurry

Demonstrate and encourage the adoption of improved energy management practices within councils, organisations and the broader community

This objective has been met, see Section 5.

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7. Budget

Great Lakes CEEP project has been achieved within and under budget due to several activity changes. Key budgetary impacts include:

Removal of Cardiff Air activity from Administration Building project due to concerns over risks associated with the product

HWS timers were not installed at community centres due to installation of Solar Hotwater systems prior to project commencement

Limited use by GLC of funding to support Planning, Project Management, Education & Awareness activities due to staffing changes during project (see Section 7)

Significant savings on solar lighting compared to original budget.

Savings from the Cardiff air activity and solar lighting project were re-directed into replacing failing T5 fittings in the administration building and trialling of LED panels in administration building, Tea Gardens Library and Pacific Palms Community Hall. As such, Complete Lighting Upgrades expenditure item was significantly overspent.

End-of project audits on the Administration Building and Community Centre were not carried out (this item was budgeted as a part of the Planning, Project Management, Education & Awareness expenditure item).

A large number of sites (10) plus a large number of activities made analysis of expenditure quite complicated. This was further complicated by use of internal staff for undertaking many of the activities. For this reason, there may be some minor cross-over expenditure relating to staff labour costs in relation to installation of motion-sensors, lighting, ZIP hotwater systems and sub-metering which generally occurred simultaneously when staff were visiting a site.

A summary of total project expenditure, based on the expenditure categories identified in the Project Plan, is provided below:

Row Labels Total Expenditure CEEP Contribution

GLC Contribution

Complete Lighting Upgrades $94,927.67 $ 63,285.11 $31,642.56

Energy Audits & Consultant Engagement $8,500.00 $ 5,666.67 $2,833.33

Glazing $103,066.97 $ 68,711.31 $34,355.66

Motion Sensors $1,452.63 $ 968.42 $484.21

Planning, Tender/quotation prep, Project Management, Education, Monitoring & reporting $5,941.61 $ 3,961.07 $1,980.54

Stand alone solar lighting $75,039.88 $ 50,026.59 $25,013.29

ZIP Hotwater System Upgrade $7,095.01 $ 4,730.01 $2,365.00

Sub-metering $491.23 $ 327.49 $163.74

$296,515.00 $ 197,676.66 $98,838.33

*Updated budget including additional lighting works completed with savings from Cardiff Air activity

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Value for money

The project has achieved a degree of value for money, in that the required 10% reduction of consumption has been met, despite reduction of expenditure. Considerable value-for money has also been experienced in:

Public stand-alone solar lighting has come down in price significantly recently, and offers considerable value for money (Total cost was almost 40% less than budgeted). Council will likely examine stand-alone solar lighting for other projects (particularly where there is no current access to electricity) in the future. Bus stops in regional areas have already been identified as potential targets for this.

Unfortunately, value for money from the glazing project will likely be dependent on a review of a full twelve month consumption period. As discussed in Section 3, it is expected that the weather stripping on existing louvres will likely represent considerable value for money, based on a very low capital cost.

Lighting Upgrades

Lighting was generally focused on changing 2x36W T8 fittings, for 2x28W T5 fittings. In the administration building 45W LED panels are being trialled in place of several T8 fittings (particularly in hard to reach areas), or faulty T5 retrofit kits (see Section 4).

A breakdown of expenditure between each site is provided below. Plant hire to reach high lighting bays in the Arts and Craft Centre, Library and Administration building has also added significantly to costs (these sites have high ceilings and difficult to reach lighting arrangements). It's worth noting however, that these plant hire costs should be reduced long term as LED and T5 lamps (theoretically) last longer than traditional T8's, and thus need less replacing.

As mentioned above, there is likely some cross over for labour and contract costs for some of these sites. Plant hire for instance would have been charged to the Arts and Craft Centre cost-centre, but then also used for lighting in Forster Community Centre (which is next door). Labour for contractors to install lighting at Hawks Nest Hall, also covers the work done at Tea Gardens library.

Complete Lighting Upgrades

Coomba Park Hall $3,593.87

Council Chambers $28,743.26

F/T Community Centre $11,679.94

Forster Arts and Crafts Centre $9,049.63

Hawks Nest Hall $8,157.04

Library Services $9,459.03

Pac Palms Community Hall $1,263.59

Stroud School of Arts $4,354.84

Grand Total $76,301.21

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8. Project operation, mechanisms and processes

Project management

The Great Lakes Council CEEP project was managed internally. Major projects (glazing and installation of solar lights) were procured through a formal request for quotation process, with the contracts for these projects managed by internal council staff. Many of the smaller projects (ZIP hotwater systems, lighting, motion sensors) were purchased, then installed by internal trades staff.

This project would likely be undertaken in a similar way again. Staff changes during the course of the project caused problems with project management, however, this notwithstanding; a similar approach would likely be used for future project.

Towards the end of the project contractors were used for lighting replacements to make up for lost time. This seemed to work well and may well be used in the future to free-up Council staff for 'business as usual' maintenance and emergency activities. Smaller installation activities would still likely be undertaken by internal staff.

Difficulties and lessons learnt

Due to changes in staffing during the course of the project, project management was handled by an existing project officer. As such, project management activities as well as the communication activities were handled in an in-kind nature through existing staff, rather than funded through the program.

Difficulties in project implementation therefore generally related to conflicting 'core business' activities taking precedence over project activities. Similarly, use of internal trades staff (while more cost effective and reducing the procurement, risk and contract management aspects of using external contractors) also faced with this problem: emergency works and 'core business' projects often took precedence over project work. However, as mentioned in Section 4, finding contract staff to undertake certain projects in regional areas is not necessarily possible.

How would things be done differently in future projects?

Engagement of asset managers may not have been as successful as it could have been through this project. Relying on the project officer to push the project along, rather than the personnel responsible for managing assets long term may not necessarily create ownership of such activities, or interest in exploring future energy efficiency activities.

Ownership of such sustainability or energy efficiency projects in general may also be an issue. Similar to many small local governments, this project was stimulated from staff within the environmental section of council, who have experience in pursuing, applying for and subsequently managing externally funded projects. Asset managers who could benefit most from such projects, are more likely to be generally focused on the day-to-day running of sites rather than being in the position to look at multiple sites, in multiple areas managed by multiple managers, and subsequently pull together a project that covers all these sites.

Further, use of existing staff rather than a specific project officer made it difficult for the project to gain momentum. A dedicated project officer or manager to undertake the works would streamline the process, but wouldn't necessarily address the issues of ownership discussed above.

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Future projects

This project has addressed the majority of 'low-hanging fruit' activities for the administration building in particular, but also begun addressing these activities at the Community Centre and Library (and waste services building).

The energy audits and supporting business cases developed for the Library, Community Centre, Tea Gardens Library and Tea Gardens District Office will provide baseline information and direction for future projects in these areas.

This project also stimulated the investigation of corporate goals around energy efficiency. The project officer involved with this CEEP project developed and presented to Council's S-Team on high-level goals and targets for the organisation in the future, and how the CEEP project has assisted Council in meeting such goals. The business cases discussed above provide next steps to continuing to meet Council's corporate energy consumption targets.

Figure 28 - Summary of potential 'cap' on electricity consumption for Great Lakes Council

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9. Conclusion

Great Lakes Council's CEEP project has been successful in meeting the project's objectives of reducing consumption across the sites by 10%, preparing business cases for future work, improving public area lighting and demonstrating energy efficiency improvement opportunities to council staff and the community.

It is expected that the improvements in energy efficiency from this project will likely be seen to be greater than currently shown as more data is received over the coming twelve months. This has been exacerbated by the delays experienced within the project, particularly in relation to completion of lighting and glazing sub-projects.

The project has demonstrated the complexities inherent in retrofitting energy efficiency improvements, but also the difficulties with undertaking such activities in a local government structure and within a regional area. This project has provided helpful experiences and lessons to council staff to build their capacity to undertaken future energy efficiency projects.

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10. Declaration

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Attachment 1 Updated Energy Efficiency Improvement Tables

Great Lakes Council

Community Facility Energy Efficiency Upgrade

Updated Energy Efficiency Improvement Templates

Updated energy improvement templates are provided below. As discussed in the body of the report it is expected that the data in these tables does not convey the entire story as:

Recent upgrades (particularly those relating to air-conditioning) won't be fully represented in current billing data.

Due to different billing cycles, some data has been estimated, based on previous consumption trends, as full data set for 2014/15 financial year. Recent improvements may not therefore be shown in this data.

SID#001 1.1 Civic Precinct - Administration Building

Location (address) Breese Parade, Forster, NSW, 2428

Type of building, facility or site Office Administration Building

Activity type and measure 1. Replace 50% of internal louvres with fixed Low-e glass. Replace remaining louvres with Low-e glazed awnings. Glaze remaining fixed windows with Low-e

2. 'Exit' lighting upgrade (10w globes to 3w LED)

3. 3 x ZIP HWS Upgrade

4. Installation of sub-metering

Energy Efficiency Estimate Method

Level 2 audit under guidelines of NSW Energy Saver program

Level 2 end of project Energy Audit to confirm savings and develop business case for future energy efficiency activities.

Baseline Energy Usage 1,229,472 MJ per annum

Baseline Energy Efficiency 404 MJ/m2 per annum

Energy Efficiency Improvement New energy usage:

858,000 MJ per annum

(12 months to June 2016)

Energy savings:

371,472 MJ per annum - 30% reduction

New energy efficiency:

282 MJ/m2 per annum

Reporting Data (Measuring Energy Efficiency and Additional Data)

Floor area of 3040 m2

Houses approximately 130 staff plus Council Chambers and Mayoral Office.

Single story masonry structure, originally constructed in 1980's to use only natural ventilation and has undergone several renovations since this time,

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significantly in 1989. It is now fully air-conditioned.

Working hours are typically 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday to Friday with occasional events after hours and unscheduled work over weekends.

Cost of Activity 1. $95,000

2. $1718.40

3. $4500

4. $200

Total of $101, 418.40

Estimated Cost Savings $4179.09 per annum

Payback period = 24 years

* based on cost per/MJ (12 months to June 2015)

One of the major activities was removed from the project (Cardiff Air Units) resulting in lower than estimated cost savings - See Section 3 for more detail.

Page 3

SID#002 1.2 Civic Precinct - Forster Library & Waste Services (The Shed)


Type of building, facility or site

Office Administration Building + library

Activity type and measure 1. Pre-project Energy Audit

2. Sub-metering: Meters to separate Waste Services ('The Shed') and the library; Internal library meter to isolate storeroom

3. T8-T5 Light retrofit replacement

4. Replacement of louvres and install Low-e glazed windows - louvres completely replaced with fixed Low-e glass for the Library

5. Motion Sensors on front store room: 2 entrances, 2 sensors

6. 1 x ZIP HWS Upgrade

7. Exit lighting upgrade (10w globes to 3w LED)


Desktop analysis undertaken by David Howard (Partners Energy). Full Level 2 Energy audit pre- and post- installation to be undertaken to confirm savings and develop business case for future energy efficiency activities.

Baseline Energy Usage 312,532.5 MJ/per annum


Energy Efficiency Improvement

New energy usage:

249,000 MJ per annum


Energy Savings:



266 MJ/m2 per annum


A total area of 936sqm (Library 770sqm + Shed 165.6sqm)

The Shed's working hours are typically 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday to Friday with occasional events after hours and unscheduled work over weekends. 12 staff, with typically a 60% occupancy rate.

The library's hours of operation are Wednesday-Friday, 9:30-5:00pm; Saturday, 9:30-1:30pm. The library is staffed (avg of 8 staff per day) on Mondays, but not open to the public.

The library attracts roughly 500 visitors per day.

Page 4

The library was built in 1989.

Cost of Activity 1. $2600

2. $200

3. $6240

4. $30,000

5. $1,200

6. $1,500

7. $1,137

Total cost of $42,877

Estimated Cost Savings $4514.96 per annum

Payback period = 9.4 years


Page 5

SID#003

1.3 Civic Precinct - Forster Tuncurry Community Centre


Type of building, facility or site Office Administration Building and Community Centre

Activity type and measure 1. Pre-project Energy Audit

2. RE-glazing of administration office windows with Low-E glass for improved thermal performance

3. T8-T5 retrofit replacement


5. 1x ZIP HWS Upgrade

6. 4x Motion Sensors meeting/lunch/photocopy/storerooms


Desktop analysis undertaken by David Howard (Partners Energy). Full Level 2 Energy audit pre- installation to be undertaken to confirm savings and develop business case for future energy efficiency activities.

Baseline Energy Usage 283,082.5 MJ per annum

Baseline Energy Efficiency 366MJ/m2 per annum


238,000.5 MJ per annum


Energy savings:



283 MJ/m2 per annum


A total area of 842m2 Working hours are typically 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday to Friday with occasional events after hours and unscheduled work over weekends. Building construction date 1990 with significant extensions undertaken in 2012.


2. $43,000

3. $5,096

4. $1,912

5. $1,500

6. $2,400

Total cost of $55,108.20

Estimated Cost Savings per annum

$2934.26 per annum - Payback period = 18.8 years * based on cost per/MJ (12 months to June 2015)

Page 6

SID#004

1.4 Civic Precinct - Great Lakes Arts and Crafts Centre



Community Centre

Activity type and measure 1. T8-T5 retrofit replacement


Desktop analysis undertaken by David Howard (Partners Energy). Costs and savings based on direct replacement costs/savings of lighting upgrade.

Baseline Energy Usage 79,319 MJ per annum



New energy usage:

56,538 MJ per annum

(12 months to March 2015)

Energy savings:



109 MJ/m2 per annum


A total area of 514m2

Opening hours are typically 10am to 4:30pm, seven days.


Estimated Cost Savings $1942.11 per annum - Payback period = 2.2 years

*based on cost per/MJ (12 months to March 2015)

Page 7

SID#005

1.5 Tea Gardens Library & District Office

Location (address) Myall St, Tea Gardens, NSW 2324

Type of building, facility or site Regional library and Administration Centre

Activity type and measure 1. Energy Assessment conducted on both Library and District Office

2. Replace T8 lights with T5 or LED equivalent

3. 1x ZIP HWS Upgrade Depot


Desktop analysis undertaken by David Howard (Partners Energy). Full Energy assessment pre installation to be undertaken to confirm savings and develop business case for future energy efficiency activities.

Baseline Energy Usage 64,123MJ per annum



63,000 MJ per annum


Energy savings:

1123 MJ per annum - 2% reduction


140 MJ/m2 per annum


The library has a total area of 450 m2

The district office has a total area of 900 m2

The library is open Monday-Friday 9:00am-5:00pm, and Saturdays 9:30am-12:00pm.

The district office is open 9:00am - 4:00pm Monday to Friday and is staffed by 2 people throughout the day.


2. $2,600

3. $1,500

4. Total cost of $5,300

Estimated Cost Savings $89.09 cost savings per annum to date. Payback Period 59 years**


** This activity was completed very late in the project period and so this figure is not indicative of actual consumption as it does not include significant amount of monitoring time to demonstrate savings. Further monitoring should show a greater reduction.

Page 8

SID#006

1.6 Coomba Community Hall

Location (address) 86 Moorooba Road, Coomba Park, NSW, 2428

Type of building, facility or site Community Hall

Activity type and measure 1. Lighting upgrade (T8 to T5 retrofit replacement)

2. External Lighting



Desktop analysis undertaken by David Howard (Partners Energy) based on 12 months of recorded metre data




15,000 MJ per annum


Energy savings:

-2,605 MJ per annum - 21% increase


52 MJ/m2 per annum

See section 6 for discussion on savings from Community Halls


Total area of 290m2

The community hall has a relatively high level of community use (estimated at six out of seven days on average) for various events and by various community groups. Capacity of 120 people.

The hall was established in 1986


2. $1,470

3. $1,912


Estimated Cost Savings $0 cost savings per annum to date.



Page 9

SID#007 1.7 Pacific Palms Community Hall

Location (address) The Lakes Way, Pacific Palms, NSW 2428


Community Hall

Activity type and measure 1. Lighting upgrade T8-T5 retrofit replacement




Baseline Energy Usage 23616 MJ per annum



New energy usage:

25,000 MJ per annum

(12 months to MM YYYY)

Energy Savings



90 MJ/m2 per annum


Total area of 278 m2

The community hall has a relatively high level of community use for various events and by various community groups. The hall has a capacity of 100 people.

The centre was officially opened in 1977.


2. $2,058

Total cost of $3098

Estimated Cost Savings ($/pa) $0 per annum


Page 10

SID#008 1.8 Hawks Nest Community Centre

Location (address) 71 Booner Street, Hawks Nest, 2324

Type of building, facility or site Community Centre



3. Exit Lighting upgrade (10w globes to 3w LED)




Baseline Energy Efficiency 62.4 MJ/m2 per annum


39,000 MJ per annum


Energy savings:



76 MJ/m2 per annum



Total area of 511m2

Hawks Nest Community Centre is extensively used by the community and has a wide variety of activities and groups using its facilities. The hall has a capacity of 200 people.

Building construction date 1970.


2. $2,226

3. $1,279


Estimated Cost Savings $0 cost savings per annum to date.



Page 11

SID#009 1.9 Stroud School of Arts

Location (address) 18 Cowper Street, Stroud, NSW, 2425


Community Hall


2. External floodlighting

3. 1xZIP HWS (Stroud Depot)






New energy usage:

20,000 MJ per annum


Energy savings:



36 MJ/m2 per annum



Total area of 550m2

The Stroud School of arts has a relatively high level of community use for various events and by various community groups.

The Hall is a well-used community venue and houses the Stroud and District Preschool at the rear of the building, and is also the local community playgroup venue. Hall capacity of 200 people.


2. $2,226

3. $1,500


Estimated Cost Savings $478.19 per annum - Payback Period = 10.28 years


Page 12

SID#0010 1.10 Public Park Lighting - Tuncurry and Hawks Nest

Location (address) Tuncurry Foreshore (John Oxley Park) , Pallman Street, Tuncurry NSW 2428

Providence Bay Park, Booner St, Hawks Nest,

Type of building, facility or site Public park lighting

Activity type and measure 1. Tuncurry Foreshore: Replace 6 public foreshore lights (250W) with 6 17W LED standalone solar lights

2. Providence Bay Park: Replace 10 public foreshore lights (150W) with 10 17W LED standalone solar lights


Desktop analysis undertaken by David Howard (Partners Energy) and Council's Electrician

Baseline Energy Usage 1. 23,652 MJ per annum

2. 23,652 MJ per annum

Baseline Energy Efficiency 1. 3,942 MJ per light per annum

2. 2,365 MJ per light per annum


1. 0 MJ per annum

2. 0 Mj per annum


Energy savings



New energy efficiency

1. N/A – no electricity now used

2. N/A – no electricity now used


Due to its age, the existing lighting at these two sites needs a significant infrastructure upgrade to be brought up to an acceptable community standard, and is liable to require a high degree of ongoing maintenance. The option is to either replace these lights with standard grid connected lighting at $5000+ ongoing consumption costs, or replace with standalone solar lighting at $8000 with no ongoing energy consumption costs + longer lamp life (resulting in reduced maintenance costs)


2. $80,000


Estimated Cost Savings $10,560 per annum - Payback Period = 12.12 years

50

Attachment 2 Summary of Communication Activities

Final Report

Media and Community Education outputs summary

Contents

Media Release: Control your energy use and save money ..................................................................... 2

Photos: Community Energy Efficiency Workshop ............................................................................... 3

Media Release: Parks become solar powered ........................................................................................ 4

Photos: Solar lights .............................................................................................................................. 5

Media Release: You're invited to cut energy costs with Jon Dee! .......................................................... 6

Internal education: Switch-off Blitz- Its PC to Switch-off! ....................................................................... 8

Switch-off Blitz: Follow-up data ........................................................................................................ 10

Internal education: static display ...................................................................................................... 11

Internal Education: Presentation to Great Lakes Council's S-Team ...................................................... 12

Interpretive signage for project completion ......................................................................................... 14

Creek to Coast article ............................................................................................................................ 15

Media Release: Control your energy use and save mon ey Jon Dee, the founder of PlanetArk made two presentations to residents and businesses in Tuncurry

last week. Those that attended discovered that taking control of our own energy use is very simple,

and can result in big savings for households and businesses.

The events were a joint Great Lakes Council and Australian Government energy saving initiative.

Jon spoke to a group of community members and attended a business breakfast with the Forster

Tuncurry Chamber of Commerce to create awareness about how we can take back control of our

energy use.

Council was delighted to host Jon for these events, as he brings with him a wealth of experience and

knowledge from his many successful campaigns, including 'Ban the Bulb', National Tree Day,

Recycling Near You and his successful first book - Sustainable Growth.

Mr Dee claims that just a 1% improvement in Australia's energy efficiency would boost our economy

by $1.5 billion*. He believes that a 1% energy reduction is easy to achieve. In fact most households

and businesses can save up to 25% without doing much at all.

Council Environmental Officer, April McKay said, "Jon made it clear that one of the main culprits that

cost households and businesses money is energy wastage. This is the energy used to keep equipment

on standby, leaving appliances on, lights in an empty room, or excessive heating and cooling.

Identifying and shutting down these energy leakages or 'vampires' can save our homes and

businesses a lot of money."

"The best way to save on standby power is to turn appliances off at the wall when you're not using

them. There are many gadgets out there these days that can help ranging from timers, master

switches to Wi-Fi enabled plugs that you can turn off from anywhere in the world', Ms McKay said.

Jon's book EnergyCut is available for free online at EnergyCut.info/SME-book. It provides a simple 20

step process to help you understand, monitor and manage your energy use. The book provides basic

advice on energy efficiency, but also explains in detail other options including solar power and

battery storage, natural refrigerants, lighting options, and even provides specific questions to ask

when considering new purchases.

*(source:EnergyCut)

Released 29/05/2015

Photos: Community Energy Efficiency Workshop

Media Release: Parks become solar powered Great Lakes Council has been busy making two of their parks 'greener' than ever, with the installation

of environmentally friendly solar lighting.

Council has recently replaced the park lighting at Oxley Park in Tuncurry and Providence Park in

Hawks Nest with new solar powered units.

This lighting retrofit is part of a larger energy efficiency improvement program funded by the

Australian Government. This program also includes energy efficiency improvements on community

halls, centres and libraries.

Manager of Parks and Recreation Andrew Staniland said, "The old lights were corroded and

inefficient so we replaced them with these standalone solar lights. They will be much cheaper to run

and require very little maintenance, being dust, water and rust proof. The LED globes used inside also

have a much longer life span and are very efficient."

Solar lights at these locations will provide improved lighting reliability. This will ensure that these

areas remain illuminated after dark, allowing the public and visitors to continue to use the park when

the sun goes down.

"The old lights had to be replaced, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to trial solar

lighting. Council is committed to reducing our energy consumption. Over time this reduces ongoing

costs and ensures financially sustainable management of our assets."

Released: 27/05/2015

Photos: Solar lights

Solar lights at Providence

Park, Hawks Nest (left) and

Oxley Park, Tuncurry

(above)

Media Release: You're invited to cut energy costs w ith Jon Dee!

Great Lakes Council is inviting the public to attend a special presentation by world renowned social

and environmental entrepreneur, and co-founder of Planet Ark, Jon Dee. The presentation is part of

an Australian Government program of funding for energy efficiency improvements to some of

Councils community buildings.

Jon will be in the Great Lakes area to present two sessions on energy efficiency in the home, and

business. The first session will be open to all members of the community and will focus on reducing

energy costs in the home.

The second session is a business breakfast in partnership with the Forster Tuncurry Chamber of

Commerce, and will provide guidance to small businesses on how to reduce their energy costs.

All attendees at both sessions will receive a copy of his new book 'Energy Cut', a 20 Step Guide to

cutting your energy bills, which was published by Jon's not-for-profit organisation 'Do Something!'

Jon was awarded Australian of the Year in 2010 and is one of Australia’s most influential figures on

environmental issues. In 1991, he co-founded Planet Ark with Pat Cash to show people and

businesses the ways they can reduce their impact on the environment. He instigated National

Recycling Week, the National Recycling Hotline, and recyclingnearyou.com. Jon co-founded National

Tree Day with Olivia Newton-John, an event for which Australian volunteers have planted 15 million

native trees and shrubs. In 2008, Jon became the founder and Chairman of the Australian social

advocacy organisation Do Something!.

The session details are as follows:

Community Session

Date: Monday 18th May, 2015

Time: 6 - 7:30pm

Location: Tuncurry Memorial Hall, Point Road, Tuncurry

Cost: Free

Light refreshments will be provided

RSVP: Please RSVP for catering purposes to April McKay 6591 7222, or email

[email protected]

Business Breakfast

Date: Tuesday 19th May, 2015

Time: 7am

Location: Tuncurry Memorial Hall, Point Road, Tuncurry

Cost: $20

RSVP: Bookings essential, please contact Forster Tuncurry Chamber of Commerce 0412508235, or

email [email protected]

The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the

Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for any information or advice contained herein.

END

Photo's of Jon Dee from left to right, Jon Dee with Al Gore, Jon Dee with Olivia Newton John, Jon Dee

with Richard Branson, and Jon Dee.

FOR THE INFORMATION OF MEDIA

(not for publication)

Jon Dee is available to talk to the media and can be

contacted on 0414971900

For further information in relation to the above item

particularly in relation the event information please

contact April McKay on telephone 02 6591 7314

Internal education: Switch-off Blitz- Its PC to Swi tch-off!

A digital assessment of staff computers was run over a weekend to determine which computers were

left on. This was followed up by an email campaign highlighting the results of the assessment

From: April McKay Sent: Monday, 25 May 2015 6:38 PM

To: All Staff Subject: You've been busted! Turn your computer off.

Well, not exactly, but since I've got your attention I'd like to let you know about a little experiment

that was conducted over the weekend involving you and your computers.

After you all left work on Friday to enjoy the weekend, IT ran a test to see how many computers

were left on. Of the 250 computers (not monitors) that were tested it was found that 19 were left on

all weekend (that's 64 hours of energy and money wastage). 15 of these were in the Administration

building.

Now you're probably saying - so what?

To be honest, one computer left on occasionally isn't much of a big deal, but when many of them are

left on consistently it all adds up. Electronic equipment left on overnight and on weekends are

referred to as 'Energy Vampires' - sucking energy and money. Computers left on after hours also

pose significant IT security risks, and they should be shut down at the end of the day, and for the

weekend.

Here's a few stats to put it into perspective:

• If those 19 computers were left on every weekend for a year, it would cost Council almost

$340. This was calculated on just the weekend hours only (Friday 5pm through to Monday

9am). If we include the weeknights too, those 19 computers could potentially be costing

Council $680 a year. If you care about carbon emissions, that's 2.9 tonnes of carbon.

• If all 300 computers under GLC's control were left on all the time, it would cost us almost

$11000 a year (we're not talking monitors here either folks, just the computer). Anyone

else think that is ludicrous? Again, for those that care about carbon here that’s 47 tonnes

of carbon

We'd like to reduce and even eliminate the number of computers left on after hours. It's simply just

remembering to turn off. Attached is an image you can use as a reminder to turn your computer off.

If you really find it hard to remember, you can use your calendar in outlook to set a reminder.

This campaign to reduce energy consumption is part of a larger energy efficiency improvement

project that has been funded by the Australian Government. You may have noticed some new

windows going in (greater thermal efficiency), lighting upgrades, motion sensors, new hot water

systems and even public solar lighting popping up. It's all part of a bigger project to improve the

efficiency of Councils facilities, for staff and for our communities that use these facilities. A full

breakdown of the project will be sent out in the coming days.

However we'd also like for you to benefit from energy efficiencies in your homes too, so there's some

handy hints included in this email, plus a link to some more detailed information.

I've also included the full set of calculations for the computer usage in the table below for those of

you that are interested.

Handy Hints You Can Use at Home

• Standby Power can account for up to 10% of your electricity bill. Switch things off when they

are not in use.

• Install timers or smart power boards to automate when to turn equipment off

• When buying new appliances, consider the cost of running it as well as the initial price

purchase. It may cheaper to purchase upfront, but will cost you more in the long run -

especially with the price rise of energy.

• Change your lighting over to LED - either all at once if you can afford it or gradually as the

lights need changing - especially halogen downlights

• If you're not on a contract with your electricity company - negotiate a better deal - a possible

15% discount is waiting for you

• Heating and cooling - a 1 degree difference on your thermostat can increase your

heating/cooling bill by 10% - summer settings should be set at 24-27 degrees, and winter

setting should be at 18-20 degrees

For more information, please visit http://energycut.com.au/business/wp-

content/uploads/2015/02/EnergyCut_Book.pdf

Estimated Annual Savings Kwh Saved* $$ Saved**

Carbon Emissions

(kg)***

Number of Desktop

Computers 1 300 1 300 1 300

Action

Shut down computer at 5pm

every working day for 1 year 147 44088 $ 35.81 $ 10,743.06 157 47174

Ensuring your computer is

turned off for the weekend for

a year (5pm Friday - 9am

Monday) 73 21965 $ 17.84 $ 5,352.23 78 23502

Kwh Cost $

CO2 Emissions

(kg)

If 19 computers were

left on every weekend

for a year 1391 $ 338.97 1488

If 19 computers were

left on every weekend

and weeknight for a

year 2792 $ 680.39 2988

*Energy measurements based on actual readings taken from a GLC standard PC with energy meter

** Costs calculated based on current electricity tariffs for GLC Administration Building

*** based on 1kwh electricity (produced in NSW) creates 1.07kg of C02 equivalent taken from http://www.savepower.nsw.gov.au/get-the-facts/power-use-in-nsw.aspx

April McKay Sustainability Officer Mon - Thurs

Natural Systems Great Lakes Council PO Box 450, Forster, NSW, 2428 P: 02 6591 7314 | F: 02 6591 7368 E: [email protected]

Your Environmental Rate - Delivering a Healthy Great Lakes

Great Lakes Sustainable Business Find us on Facebook

www.facebook.com/greatlakessustainablebusiness

or visit the website

Great Lakes Sustainable Business

Please think & act sustainably - print only if required

Switch-off Blitz: Follow-up data

A second assessment of staff computers was undertaken on the weekend of the 29th May. Of the 250

Council computers assessed only 19-14 are being left on overnight.

It's PC to Switch OFF

Friday

22/05/2015

Friday

29/05/2015

Head Office 15 9

Community Centre 2 2

Forster Visitor Information Centre 1

Stroud District Office 1 1

Tea Gardens District Office 1

Tuncurry Depot 1

Total 19 14 26.3%

Internal education: static display

A static display has been set up in the staff lunchroom of the Administration Building to promote the

outcomes of the project as well as opportunities to undertake at home.

Internal Education: Presentation to Great Lakes Cou ncil's S-Team

Great Lakes Council has a Sustainability Advisory Committee (S-Team) made up of managers and

directors from across the organisation.

As well as reporting regularly to the S-team on the progress of this project, project team staff also

presented to the S-team in February on the potential for Council to adopt energy efficiency targets

across the organisation.

The data for this presentation and draft energy efficiency goals was gathered from the energy

consumption data gathered for this project, and the potential savings from this project were

incorporated into the presentation as examples of where and how savings could be made.

A proposal to attempt to cap electricity expenditure at $500,000 per annum was floated. The

predicted savings from the CEEP program for the Administration building alone would equate to

assisting council to meet this target in 2015.

A copy of the presentation is available upon request. Some sides have been included below.

Interpretive signage for project completion

6 posters for the six key sites addressed by this project will be printed out and hung-up at the target

sites. Static displays will also be set up in the library and Council- lunch rooms to support the

finalisation of this project.

Below is the (draft) design of the poster for the Administration building. The other posters will be

similar in style and message, but with different figures, relative to their building's consumption.

Final printing of these posters has been delayed due to delays in project completion.

Creek to Coast article

51

Attachment 3 Energy Savings Plans

Documents

Great Lakes Council Community Facility Energy Efficiency ... · The overall objectives of Great Lakes Council's Community Facility Energy Efficiency Upgrade (referred herein after