Penrith City residents and future generations will reap the benefits of Council’s Sustainability Revolving Fund, which aims to ensure sustainability is affordable into the future.
With more than 172,000 residents, Penrith is located on the western fringe of the Sydney metropolitan area.
The Sustainability Revolving Fund is an internal Council financial mechanism, where a proportion of the savings made as a result of sustainability initiatives is diverted into a designated fund to provide funding for future initiatives.
The fund recently took out the Financial Incentives category of the NSW Sustainable Water Challenge Awards, hosted by the WSUD (water sensitive urban design) in Sydney Program, in partnership with Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authroity and the Stormwater Industry Association Inc.
Penrith City Mayor, Jim Aitken, said the fund will provide for future projects that support sustainable resource management to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, address water conservation and improve water quality.
“The fund is constantly topped up from the savings that Council has made in reducing its energy and water use over the past few years,” he said. “Put simply, the sustainable practices that we have implemented now are paying for the sustainable practices of tomorrow.
“Council envisages that the Sustainability Revolving Fund will grow exponentially as more and more savings are made from the projects that are paid for by the fund.
“Essentially, the Revolving Fund funds itself with no outside source.
“It is yet another example of Council’s commitment to ensuring a healthy environment for ourselves and our children.”
In 2003, Council conducted an Energy Performance Contract on two main Council buildings.
This involved an analysis of energy consumption and a walk through audit of the sites.
From this, key projects were identified to improve energy efficiencies, while achieving cost savings.
These included improvements to lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, energy management systems, domestic water heating and so forth.
Over the past five years, implementation of these projects has resulted in savings of almost 7,000 tonnes of CO2 and $1.1 million, enabling Council to pay back the initial loan that commenced the Sustainability Revolving Fund.
Council has also used the fund for backwash reuse projects at local leisure centres, the development of water and energy management plans, a trial of heat reflective roof paint to reduce the amount of energy used for air conditioning, and the installation of solar panels at two neighbourhood centres.
Together with other sustainability initiatives separate to the Sustainability Revolving Fund, such as improvements to vehicle fleet and technology, these activities have resulted in savings of 14,859 tonnes of CO2 in the six years since 2002/2003 to 2007/2008.
For further information on the fund visit www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/index.asp?id=3795
