Sydney City seeks experts in renewable energy and recycled water

The City of Sydney is establishing an independent expert panel to guide its environmental programs.

The City’s 2030 Sustainable Sydney program is tackling energy, water and waste operations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent from 2006 levels. It will also cut drinking water used for non-drinking water purposes by a quarter, and divert two thirds of waste from landfill.

“The City is calling for tenders from expert consultancies and legal firms in areas such as renewable energy, precinct based trigeneration systems, recycled water, automated waste collection networks and alternative waste treatment to join the panel,” said energy efficiency expert Allan Jones.

“Much of what we are doing has never been attempted on such a scale in Australia before – in the face of climate change, we need to be able to successfully implement these projects,” Jones said. “We are also seeking expert legal and regulatory advice on public and public/private joint venture corporations for energy, water and waste.”

Key projects in development are:

•A trigeneration energy network for low carbon electricity, heating and cooling to CBD buildings – nearly three times more energy efficient than coal fired power stations which are responsible for 80 per cent of carbon emissions in the local government area.
•A city-wide recycled water network to collect and distribute non-drinking water for toilets, air-conditioning cooling towers, irrigation and other non-drinking water uses just a tenth of the drinking standard water from Sydney Water’s Warragamba Dam is actually drunk or used for cooking purposes.
•An automated waste collection network and advanced waste treatment to reduce waste to landfill and convert it to renewable gases for the City’s trigeneration systems.
•Renewable gases from agriculture and farming waste could also be used in the trigeneration network, and the City will install solar panels to produce zero carbon electricity.
The panel will be appointed for three years, complementing and providing expert guidance to the City’s energy, water and waste staff.