Council named as finalist in EECA Awards
Kāpiti Coast District Council is in the running for one of the prestige 2012 Energy, Efficiency and Conservation (EECA) Awards.
The EECA Awards celebrate excellence and innovation in energy efficiency or renewable energy. And its just been announced that the KCDC is one of the finalists.
The KCDC is one of only two local authorities to be recognised in the Public Sector category for its energy saving and renewable energy projects.
Mayor Jenny Rowan says Council is showing real leadership in the area of sustainability and making the finals of such a prestigious competition shows those efforts are being widely recognised.
She says: “We have some exciting projects on the go that are designed to reduce energy use, save money and kick start the transition to a more sustainable low-carbon economy. We also support community enterprises with the same goals.”
Energy saving projects outlined in the Council’s entry include:
- Wood fired boiler. Council has substantially cut its operational carbon emissions and costs through converting sewage sludge drying at its waste water treatment plant from using a diesel burner to a wood-fired boiler (pic on right).
- Ōtaki Pool solar thermal array. Council has installed an array of solar thermal panels to help heat the pool and has introduced other energy savings measures on site.
- Pensioner housing solar and insulation upgrade. Council has upgraded its 118 pensioner houses with roof and floor insulation and installed 44 solar water heating systems.
- Free compact fluorescent light bulbs. Council used savings from the wood fired boiler to fund the purchase of 49,000 energy saving light bulbs which were distributed to households.
- Ōtaki Library and Memorial Hall solar PV system. In conjunction with Electra, Council has installed 2.0 kilowatts of ‘grid-tied’ photovoltaic panels on the building to publicly demonstrate the technology, which converts the sun’s energy to electricity.
- Monitoring and promotion. Council tracks its energy use and regularly updates management and staff. It promotes energy saving to residents through events such as the Greenest Streets competition, the annual Sustainable Home and Garden Show and its Eco Design Advisor service.
Winners of the 2012 awards will be announced at a ceremony in Auckland on 23 May.
Last year the Kāpiti Council won the ‘Local and Central government stepping Up’ category in the Ministry for the Environment’s Green Ribbon Awards.
49,000 energy saving light bulbs
That should read 49,000 mercury bombs placed above the heads of Kapiti’s children.
The mercury gas inside these bulbs is so fine it can pass the blood/brain barer (what ever that is?) and leave mercury in your children’s brains, it can take up to 3 months with the windows open to clean the air so it is safe for the children to re enter their bedrooms. Thanks KCDC oh and Transition Towns.
This was the warning I tried to get out there … another pointless effort to wake the apathetic.
Cell phone towers ………. Are they as bad as CFL light bulbs?
We would like to draw your attention to this report http://oilcrash.com/articles/no_evil.htm , ignoring the ‘political’ side of this article, we think you need to research the possible/potential dangers to your children if/when a CFL light bulb breaks in your child’s bedroom/environment. The advice the government and KCDC are giving out is that if a bulb breaks in your home you are to ventilate the room for 15 minutes before cleaning up the broken class, keeping CHILDREN and ‘pregnantees’ away. Well the first 15 minute ventilation will only clear (and that is questionable) the air originally ‘contaminated’ as the glass and mercury fell through it to the floor. BUT the glass and the area it landed on (your child’s bed?) is still contaminated with microscopic mercury vapour/dust, every time this area or the glass is disturbed it re contaminates the air. KCDC and the governments advice is to “place the contaminated glass in a box or bag and take it to the library or council office”. The only safe way to transport a broken bulb is in a hermetically sealed container.
Unbelievably they also recommend vacuuming up the dust, which contaminates your vacuum cleaner and spews more mercury vapour around your house for the life of the cleaner.
Mercury is accumulative and the more you ingest the more you will have in your body.
Your car will also be contaminated, as the transported broken bulb will continue emitting mercury vapour, into the closed environment you and your children are sitting in. Who can’t work that out?
This should be a concern to parents, more so than a cell phone tower that is for sure (we agree towers should not be in residential areas) Every time a broken light bulb container/bag is moved it contaminates the air, for example, then carrying it into the council office, picture the Charley Brown cartoon character Pig Pen with his cloud of dust. We are ecstatic that the council office is being contaminated, and encourage as many broken light bulbs as possible should be delivered to the fools – as they have advised us to.
…………………………………………………………………DO NOT TAKE THEM TO THE LIBRARY……………………………………………………
Hi Robert
Please try to limit your comments to 200 words.
It’s best to give everyone a fair go.
Best wishes
Alan T
Sure Alan
Have ask who else is posting on here though?