Absolutely positively green
24/01/2006 12:00:00 a.m.
WELLINGTON City Council (WCC) is looking for ways to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.
It recently completed an inventory to identify where the ozone-eating gasses are coming from.
"Climate change is the biggest environmental threat of the century," says the council’s environment portfolio leader Councillor Celia Wade-Brown. "Every city world-wide has to do its best. Generating the energy needed to run our businesses, including offices and swimming pools, produces the majority of the emissions at 58%, followed by running the vehicle fleet and powering streetlights and, fourth, pumping water and sewerage."
The inventory earned the council the Community for Climate Protections (CCP) Community Milestone One award. Milestone Two will be achieved by identifying ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and Milestone Three will follow an action plan to deal with it.
The council is now looking at ways to conserve energy through better staff education and by using energy-efficient technology and equipment. It will also look at alternative energy sources such as solar water heaters and wind power.
WCC is one of 15 local authorities participating in the CCP programme which is run by the International Council of Local Environment Initiatives and the government’s Climate Change Office.
