Council wins award for outstanding performance in carbon management

Kāpiti Coast District Council took out the Overall Award for Outstanding Performance in Carbon Management (Large Organisation) at Enviro-Mark Solutions’ Outstanding Performance Awards night in Auckland on Tuesday 6 June 2017.

Enviro-Mark Solutions CEO Dr Ann Smith said the awards acknowledge “the best of the best when it comes to carbon emissions reduction and environmental management.”

“The award winners have embraced the reality of the current business and consumer landscape and are reaping the benefits of their environmental programmes.” she said.

Council was recognised for not only drastically reducing emissions but also reaping the financial benefit of managing its carbon footprint. The energy savings through one project implemented as part of its Certified Emissions Measurement and Reduction Scheme (CEMARS) certification have led to reduced costs of $300,000 per year.

Kāpiti Coast District Council has been CEMARS certified since 2012. In this time, it has been able to identify a number of energy efficiency and self-sufficiency opportunities, which also helped it win a commendation at the 2016 EECA Awards. These awards celebrate excellence and innovation in energy efficiency or renewable energy, of which Council was able to cite a number of examples, including:

• Retrofitting low flow shower heads and variable speed drives on pool pumps to generate energy savings. The Coastlands Aquatic Centre was designed from the outset with sustainable principles in mind. Its translucent roof harvests solar energy – which satisfies 12% of the facility’s annual heating demand and has reduced energy required for lighting by 70%.
• Converting the boiler fuel source at the Paraparaumu Wastewater Treatment Plant from diesel to wood chip and supplementing power requirements with a 32kW array of solar panels, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the operating costs of the plant by approximately $300,000 per year.
• Replacing a diesel-powered compactor truck with an electric version – the first New Zealand electric heavy road vehicle. The Council also purchased a Nissan Leaf battery-electric vehicle for its carpool in 2016. This vehicle has the lowest costs of ownership compared to other vehicles in its class and will reduce GHG emissions by 2 tonnes per year.
• Partnering with Spark to put in EV charging points around the District.

23 June 2017