Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities Annual Report 2011–12
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- Environmental management framework
- Resource efficiency waste
- Resource efficiency and waste
- Australian Antarctic Division
Darwin/JabiruSites and staffingThe Darwin/Jabiru operation covers two premises—the Darwin office and the Jabiru Field Station. Both premises accommodate staff from the Supervising Scientist Division Darwin/Jabiru and Parks Australia Division. The Jabiru facility is also shared with a commercial tenant. It should be noted that calculations reported per person for electricity and water use at the Jabiru site will be inflated as the electricity and water totals are for both staff and commercial tenants but only departmental staff numbers have been used to calculate the per person figures. Staffing levels have been maintained for the Supervising Scientist Division Darwin/Jabiru and decreased slightly for Parks Australia Division. Supervising Scientist Division SSD buildings are used for office and laboratory operations as well as storage of plant and equipment. Environmental management frameworkDarwin/Jabiru contributes to the department’s sustainability objectives through a range of measures aimed at continuously improving the environmental performance of business operations and minimising any associated environmental impacts. The department is exploring the possibility of developing an Environmental Management System for Darwin/Jabiru in the future. In the interim, Darwin/Jabiru operations are conducted in a manner consistent with the department’s aim to minimise the ecological footprint on the environment. This involves a range of strategies including complying with legal and other agreements, actively promoting sustainable work practices, preventing pollution as a result of work practices, focusing on continuous improvement, public reporting of environmental performance as part of the department’s annual report and procurement and use of sustainable goods and services. EnergyDuring 2011–12, total power consumption for all sites combined decreased again by seven per cent as per the previous year. With an aim to more effectively manage electricity usage, major project work was commenced to modify the Darwin laboratory building air-conditioning system. These works are due to be finalised during August 2012 and benefits from the more energy efficient system should see a further decrease in Darwin electricity usage next year. Continued routine maintenance of electrical items including testing and tagging of electrical items, and replacing faulty and aged equipment has also assisted with the more efficient use of electricity. Due to Jabiru’s remote location, there are often power blackouts and a requirement to generate electricity using the generator during these times. Accordingly, there are fluctuations every year in electricity bought and electricity generated. It is important to note that both sites do not have separate metering so individual components of the electricity reporting are estimates only, based on area. Vehicle mileage decreased by five per cent from 170 568 kilometres to 162 655 kilometres, resulting in an overall decrease in fuel use of five per cent. Although there was an increase of one per cent in diesel use, it was balanced out by a significant decrease of 41 per cent in the use of unleaded petrol (ULP). As fleet vehicle leases have expired, ULP vehicles have been replaced with more fuel-efficient diesel vehicles. As at 30 June 2012, SSD and POT have a fleet of diesel vehicles used primarily for travel to and from Darwin and Jabiru and for off-road remote fieldwork activities. Fleet vehicles have an average GVG (Green Vehicle Guide) rating of 8.6 and use an average of 12.7 litres per 100 km. The continued reduction of distances travelled has been achieved through initiatives such as car pooling and the use of video conferencing facilities instead of driving or flying long distances to attend meetings. Total greenhouse gas emissions for the Darwin and Jabiru Field Station in 2011–12 were 686 tonnes CO2-e, a decrease of seven per cent compared with 2010–11. This lower emissions figure includes reductions of 11 per cent in transport fuel and seven per cent in electricity. Resource efficiency & wasteThe waste figures reported are for Darwin only as the Jabiru Field Station does not collect data on waste, although it continues to sort waste to be recycled at the local waste repository. There has been no change in total waste between 2010–11 and 2011–12. There was a four per cent (0.5 tonne) increase in landfill waste, a 14 per cent decrease in paper product waste, and four per cent decrease in co-mingled waste (plastic/glass only) sent for recycling. Changes to waste collection and disposal at the Darwin facility are also reflected in reduction in production of greenhouse gas emissions. Darwin continues to operate a worm farm for recycling organic food waste. All paper purchased is a partially recycled product. As with other areas in the department, the move to swipe-to-print technology has resulted in a decrease in paper purchased compared with 2010–11; for SSD it is an 11 per cent reduction. The organisation provides copies of all publications on the Supervising Scientist Division’s website, which has reduced the need to print publications for stakeholders. WaterWater consumption at the Darwin facility increased by 39 per cent during 2011–2012—from 2–022 kL recorded use in 2010–11 to 3065 kL. During the year, a new water meter was installed to monitor water usage in the lab area buildings, so this in addition to construction works in the area may have contributed to the increase in water usage, although at this stage further investigation into the cause of the increase is required. Water consumption at the Jabiru Field Station decreased by 19 per cent—from 10 111 kL in 2010–11 to 8217 kL in 2011–12. It is estimated that SSD is responsible for about 30 per cent of total water used at the Jabiru facility by staff, aquaculture activities and grounds maintenance. It is estimated that 70 per cent of water is used by a local Indigenous business that operates a native plant nursery on the site. Table 6: Summary of environmental indicators–Darwin/Jabiru
Parks AustraliaSites and staffingThis Parks Australia report covers the activities of:
The environmental performance for the Canberra-based staff is covered by the Canberra offices report, and the performance of Darwin-based staff is covered by the Darwin/Jabiru report. Management plans were in place or in preparation for all sites to ensure environmental, economic and social objectives and considerations are outlined and integrated. Environmental monitoring and reporting regimes were also in place. A range of operational requirements contributed to the carbon footprint of each site, including electricity generation, transport, development of new infrastructure and waste management. Some properties have specialised needs; for example, the Australian National Botanic Gardens has to maintain climate-controlled conditions in its glasshouses. The remoteness limited opportunities to reduce environmental footprints. Park management activities such as revegetation projects and fire and pest control also had implications for carbon emissions. Environmental management frameworkIn 2011–12, climate change strategies were developed for Christmas Island and Pulu Keeling National Parks. Climate change strategies are already in place for Kakadu and Booderee National Parks, the Australian National Botanic Gardens and Norfolk Island National Park and Botanic Garden. A climate change strategy was prepared for Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and has received support from the park Board of Management. Implementation of the strategies across the parks and reserves continues. Conserving biodiversity is a primary objective for all reserves, and careful management of the use of fire and vegetation can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, reliable indicators are not yet available to measure the contribution that biodiversity management activities make to cutting emissions. EnergyTotal energy consumption for the parks and reserves has decreased in 2011–12. Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta national parks continue to rely primarily on diesel power generation as they are not on an electricity grid. However, consistent with a three-year Energy Audit completed in 2009–10, Kakadu National Park has commenced replacing its diesel-powered generators with more efficient systems that require less fuel. During 2011–12 Kakadu National Park replaced two electricity generators in the South Alligator District, resulting in a saving of approximately 85 litres of diesel fuel per day and reducing CO2 emissions by over 84 tonnes per annum. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is undertaking a program of generator engine rebuilds which will ensure equipment is operating at optimal performance levels. The ANBG is also limited in its ability to reduce energy consumption, due to its business requirements for maintaining constant plant and herbarium conditions. However, the ANBG continues to aim for a 10 per cent offset in its energy usage and in 2011–2012 purchased 115 118 kilowatt hours of GreenPower (approximately 11 per cent of purchased electricity). The ANBG has commenced Stage 2 of recommended works from an energy audit to replace the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system in one of their buildings to deliver electricity savings in 2012–13. The Gardens are also continuing to introduce more electric vehicles to support horticultural operations and in 2011–12 introduced an electric powered people mover for public tours. Parks and reserves continue to implement and undertake a range of actions to improve energy use. While the impact of these actions may not result in a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions they do reflect the efforts being made to improve operations in areas, some of which are remote and provide limited opportunities for large impact changes. Actions and improvements include:
Parks staff continue to make a conscious effort to minimise business-related travel, while recognising that face-to-face contact and visits to remote locations are sometimes necessary, particularly for the three parks that are managed jointly with their Indigenous owners. Parks Australia increasingly uses alternatives to air travel such as teleconferencing and videoconferencing. Resource efficiency and wasteAccess to regional recycling facilities is gradually improving for more remote locations such as Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta national parks and external territories. Basic recycling facilities are now available on Norfolk Island and office paper is being sourced from renewable sources when available. Kakadu National Park is participating in a regional recycling and resource recovery program, and will continue its recycling programs in and around offices for paper, glass and aluminum. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is operating the Mutitjulu waste site facility in line with the ‘Waste Management Guidelines for Small Communities in the Northern Territory–Working Towards Best Practice 2009’ and have engaged the services of an appropriate service provider to manage the Mutitjulu waste site facility. Recycling facilities continue to be available in all ANBG offices and onsite facilities including composting of organic kitchen waste. The ANBG is a ‘rubbish bin free’ site for the public and they are encouraged to take home their waste for recycling. In 2011–12 approximately 500 cubic metres of plant material was recycled as mulch and used onsite. In 2011–12 Parks Australia purchased an average of four reams per employee. This represented a very slight increase in paper usage from the previous year. The increase reflects the bulk purchasing patterns of remote parks. The parks and reserves are still well under the departmental target of 10 reams per employee per year. WaterSince 2011 the Australian National Botanic Gardens has been extracting non-potable water from Lake Burley Griffin for irrigation requirements saving up to 170 million litres of potable water from Canberra’s water supply. In addition the gardens continues to use water saving initiatives such as soil sensors, water saving irrigation components and priority watering, recycling of water from catchment ponds, and use of mulch to reduce evaporation. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park has commenced a process to develop and implement a new and improved water management system for the Mutitjulu Community and the park Head Quarters precinct. As well as ensuring the quality of drinking water an improvement in the statistical data collection will enable the park to better monitor usage. Pulu Keeling has installed three new water tanks to supply water to Parks residence that will service amenities in addition to drinking water. Norfolk Island National Park operates entirely on harvested rainwater. New tanks with larger capacity have been installed for the office and newly constructed information centre. Parks and reserves continue to upgrade water infrastructure and institute savings where possible. Activities range from upgrading water reticulation infrastructure at Cave Beach in Booderee National Park to modifying watering regimes in the Christmas Island Mine-site to Forest Rehabilitation program nursery. Table 7: Summary of environmental indicators–Parks Australia
Australian Antarctic DivisionSites and staffingThe Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) reports on its environmental performance for the offices, laboratories, workshops at Kingston and the port facility in Hobart in Tasmania, as well as environmental performance at subantarctic Macquarie Island station and three Antarctic stations—Davis, Mawson and Casey. Each year over 100 expeditioners are sent south to manage and support scientific research and operational programs. Many of these are return expeditioners, however most are new and undergo extensive environmental training before going south. Up to 300 other personnel go south each year as scientists, field workers, summer personnel and round trip projects, inflating station numbers for periods of hours to months. These numbers affect water consumption, energy use and waste generation, resulting in peaks during the summer months. Station populations drop to as little as 12 to 15 over the winter months. Environmental management frameworkThe AAD continues to act on its commitment to ecologically sustainable development principles, as described in the AAD’s 2012–2015 Environmental Policy, through its efforts to continually improve environmental performance across all its operations in Australia, the Southern Ocean and the Australian Antarctic Territory. This is achieved through ongoing external certification of the AAD’s Environmental Management System (EMS) to the international standard for environmental management systems (ISO 14001:2004). External auditors undertake surveillance audits each year for Australian-based operations, and at least one station is visited every three years. Australia is the only Antarctic Treaty party to hold such certification for environmental management and it continues to champion this systematic approach through the Committee for Environmental Protection of the Antarctic Treaty System. Efforts to improve environmental sustainability of AAD’s activities in Antarctica continue, with improvements to waste management and wind generation. At Macquarie Island, monitoring for the largest island vertebrate pest eradication program ever attempted has required an increase in personnel present on the island over winter, with a commensurate increase in energy use, water consumption and waste production.
EnergyEnergy use at Kingston facilities has increased due to construction on site to improve and update facilities at Kingston. The warehouse racking has been completely replaced and the whole facility upgraded to meet work, health and safety requirements as well as improvements in waste management for Kingston. It is important to note that the Kingston facilities do not have separate metering so individual components of the electricity reporting are estimates only, based on area. A remarkable achievement of note is the contribution of renewable energy to conserving fuel in the Antarctic. Since commissioning in early 2003, the Mawson wind turbines have made a significant renewable contribution to the station’s electrical and heating energy requirements. Further energy efficiency and fuel savings are achieved by using cogeneration to capture waste heat from the station’s diesel powered electrical generators. This heat is used to warm the station along with boilers powered by the wind turbines and booster diesel-fired boilers. For the last six years, renewable energy has provided around 40 per cent of the energy needs of Mawson station. For further information and live data, visit AAD’s website- Resource efficiency and wasteSignificant improvement in office paper recycled from the AAD is due to a major cleanup in the warehouse facility, which included boxes of old brochures, posters, booklets and the like, a major clean up of engineering drawing storages and files, substantial clean up of a number of offices and the disposal of duplicate records. AAD ran education programs, placarded waste disposal sites with new labels and extended its deployment of waste bins across the site all which contributed to increases in co-mingled waste and office paper recycling. The AAD does not have a swipe and print facility, so records of office copy paper actually used and the usage per person data are not collected. However, it is worthy of note that increased electronic record keeping using HP TRIM seems to be reducing the amount of paper used through printing. The increase in recycling and total waste production from Kingston, including waste to landfill, is due to the major warehouse clean up at Kingston. Waste returned to Australia from its stations has increased, but this is artificially inflated due to the ship successfully getting into Mawson station this year to collect two year’s waste. In fact, waste from the stations that has been diverted from landfill has increased to 40 percent in 2011–12 with improved packing, recycling and reuse practices. Improvements in waste management labelling, storage and packing procedures have also led to improved manifesting of cargo and sorting for disposal on return to Australia, thereby ensuring greater recycling and reuse outcomes. WaterWater production and consumption at the AAD’s Antarctic and Macquarie Island stations varies widely and is dependent upon the unique method of water production and storage employed at each station. Water at Davis Station is drawn from a tarn and then processed through a continuous micro-filtration system and a reverse osmosis desalination plant. The water produced is then pumped via a calcite filter to two 600 000 litre tanks for storage and then onto smaller tanks for consumption. Total water storage at Davis is 1 430 000 litres. Water at both Mawson and Casey stations is produced primarily by melting snow and ice in a melt cavern using hot water pumped through a melt bell. The water is then pumped into storage tanks before passing through a gauze filter at Mawson and a calcite filter at Casey to the end user. During summer there is a limited amount of free water depending on ambient temperature, which controls the extent of the melt. Total water storage at Mawson and Casey stations is 270 000 litres each. The water for Macquarie Island is run off from the plateau, collected in a small dam, piped to two storage tanks before passing through gauze, sand and UV filters to the end user. The total water storage capacity at Macquarie Island is 104 000 litres. Because freshwater is a precious commodity which has to be produced by the variety of methods outlined above, including the use of fuel to melt ice, water saving appliances are installed wherever possible and each person on station is asked to use as little water as possible. Table 8: Summary of environmental indicators–AAD Kingston offices
Table 9: Environmental Indicators–Antarctic and Macquarie Island Operations (Four Stations)
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