• Tim Smith

21 January 2010So why does everyone else’s seem to cost so much, asks Tim Smith, Mayor of Stonnington, on Crikey

AS OUR FEDERAL politicians prepare to once again get bogged down in a mire of name calling and mud-slinging over action on climate change, local government is getting on with the job. Proving that an emissions trading scheme is not necessarily the best or only solution to climate change, local government has been leading the way in adopting sustainable practices that not only protect the environment but save people money.

During the past two years, the City of Stonnington, which includes the areas of Toorak, Prahran and Malvern in Victoria, has run a program to install more than 20,000 energy-saving light globes in households throughout the City, saving 19,881 tonnes of CO2 and reducing household energy bills by a total of nearly $2.1 million.

Stonnington has also recently approved an ambitious photovoltaic project that will see solar panels installed at the Stonnington Works Depot in Malvern. The project is expected to be operational by March 2010 and has the potential to generate between 19,000 and 26,000 kWh of renewable energy each year with excess energy being returned to the grid. Stonnington also has a target of reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions by 20% of 2005 levels by 2015...

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