Perth’s largest council will slash their carbon emissions by 70 per cent under an ambitious plan to turn all their energy sources to renewables by 2030.
The City of Stirling has spent three years developing a Sustainable Energy Action Plan to both reduce consumption and increase efficiency of council-owned building, vehicles and infrastructure in the community.
With an estimated increase of 18 per cent electricity demand during the next 10 years, the city will see its fleet vehicles transition from fuel to electric and lean on a power purchase agreement to cope with increasing demands, it says.
City of Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin says the plan is ambitious, but achievable.
“The SEAP [Sustainable Energy Action Plan] sets out 2030 and 2050 to achieve the goals… if it’s possible to do so before then, we will aspire to do so,” Mr Irwin said.
Mr Irwin says the changes are important to keep up with world leaders in energy sustainability.
“The rest of the world is constantly looking at ways to implement clean, green and emissions-free technology so we need to be keeping up to date with others committed to do doing their part in controlling climate change,” he said.
While other councils in the state have plans in place to tackle climate change, the City of Stirling boasts the most extensive plan it says.
Murdoch University physics and energy studies Professor Phillip Jennings says renewable energy solutions are a priority for WA and the City of Stirling’s efforts are encouraging in cooperating with this.
“[City of] Stirling’s efforts are certainly an option for decarbonising and will certainly help to encourage other councils to follow suit,” he said.
A City of Stirling spokesman says the SEAP is a positive for the city.
“The Sustainable Energy Action Plan has been in the works for a number of years and we’re really excited to take this step in the right direction,” he said.