What are the most effective and timely pathways to
Zero Emissions?
Climate change is one of many global challenges and likely the largest of these. Wollongong Council is part of a vast group of local governments around the world taking the initiative to act on climate change at a local level. It has joined the international Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and the national Cities Power Partnership Program. In 2019, Council declared a state of climate emergency. Emissions reduction targets are net zero emissions by 2030 for its own operations and for the LGA by 2050 or earlier.
In that context the Illawarra branch of the national community-based sustainability organisation Renew (formerly the Alternative Technology Association) developed a comprehensive submission to Council’s planning process.
This document involved many people professionally qualified across most aspects of sustainable living and technologies, social geography and community linkages. Renew Illawarra represented the community at the preceding Kiama workshop organised by NSW DPIE Zero Emissions team for Wollongong and four other regional councils.
The submission comprises multiple complementary proposals to achieve the target:
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Electricity from Renewables
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Transport - i) Public & Freight ii) Passenger Cars iii) Active Travel.
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The Built Environment - i) Planning and New Builds ii) Existing Buildings
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Offsets - Creating an Urban Forest
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Waste and Recycling
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Planning, Policy and Institutional Arrangements
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Marketing Wollongong as a Low Carbon City; Community Involvement
Council's comprehensive planning process resulted in the Draft:
The specific actions are organised under six themes similar to the Renew submission categories:
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Climate change leadership and planning
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Energy efficiency and renewable energy
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Transport
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Waste
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Trees and vegetation
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Working with our community
A small team of Renew-Illawarra members was formed to assess and develop priorities. That 6-month process of extensive research and consultation resulted in the proposals described in this Website.
Read on to see who we are, and browse the other pages to see what we are doing.
The Team
Greg Knight was the Technology Planning Manager for BlueScope Steel Research. Qualified as a Metallurgist and developed skills in Quality Management, Statistics, Process improvement, and Scientific Method.
He was the Research Team Leader for Stop Coal Seam Gas-Illawarra, Greg led the Submission to Wollongong Council for their Climate Change Mitigation plan facilitating a 55-page document with the help of 8 other authors available on the Renew Website.
To continue the mission of Zero Emissions, Greg has let the current project outlined on this website to establish priorities and enable residents of the Illawarra to participate in reducing their Carbon Footprint.
Dr Neville Lockhart was Strategy and Business Development Manager for the CSIRO’s Division of Energy Technology. He established the original Flagship Program “Energy Transformed” to address efficiency and emissions issues across the electricity generation, transport and energy end-use sectors.
He became an early adopter of solar panels, then batteries and now the electric car. He uses these active strategies, along with passive design, insulation, energy-efficient appliances and materials recycling to achieve sustainable living.
As a committee member for Renew Illawarra he organised guest speakers on these topics, together with Sustainable House Day and Tesla Tiny House/EV demonstrations. He is also a volunteer for the charitable organisation CICADA (Cochlear Implant Club and Advisory Association) where he provides worldwide content and e-books for the website.
We have been helped along the way by a number of helpful organisations:
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ACTEW (ACT Electricity and Water)
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BRC-A (Business Renewables Council of Australia)
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Tesla
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BlueScope Steel
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Ausindustry