And a Council of Gasbaggers
You may remember that Moreland City Council proudly declared a climate emergency in 2018 – one of the first Victorian Councils to do so. In their fossil fuel divestment strategy plan they state:
“Moreland City Council prides itself on being regarded as a leader and innovator in driving the transformation towards a sustainable society, and will continue to implement creative and innovative solutions to improve the sustainability performance of its operations including reducing carbon emissions associated with its own operations and using its influence to encourage others to take action.”
You might therefore be confused to learn that the Council is considering installing new gas heating for its swimming pools. It did so at Oak Park, and now appears to be considering it for Fawkner and Brunswick pools. Just to remind us (or maybe just our council), natural gas is made up of mostly methane, and burning it creates Co2. Moving all Moreland leisure centre sites off gas would reduce the Council carbon footprint by as much as 27 per cent.
Moreland Council has a policy of being carbon neutral, a feat achieved financially, meaning that all emissions by Council Operations at the end of each year are added up and carbon offset credits are purchased. If emissions are reduced, fewer offset credits need to be purchased, a saving to Council and ratepayers. Currently Moreland’s four aquatic centres are responsible for 89 per cent of the Council’s gas consumption, with Brunswick Baths being the worst at (31 per cent), followed by Oak Park (24 per cent); Fawkner (19 per cent); and Coburg Leisure Centre (15 per cent).
For a council that sees itself as climate conscious, it is lagging both nationally and internationally. In Victoria alone, there are 4 leisure centres about to be demolished and rebuilt without any gas. They are: St Albans Leisure Centre (Brimbank); Carnegie Swim Centre (Glen Eira); Northcote Aquatic Centre (Darebin); and Kensington Aquatic Centre (City of Melbourne).
An enquiry to Brimbank Council on the energy systems in the rebuild of the St Albans Leisure Centre elicited the following response from Neil Whiteside, the Director of Infrastructure and City Services:
“Council officers advise that the new Health and Wellbeing Hub has been designed to include the use of electric pumps. The use of electric pumps will allow the facility to deploy a 100 per cent renewable energy powered whole of facility heating and cooling system.”
It’s well known the majority of people want action on climate change and that means stopping the use of fossil fuels. So, you could be forgiven for wondering why gas is even being considered.
By Ian Mack
The Coburg Meddler 