How we’re managing energy efficiency and reducing our emissions

Council is working hard to meet the goals of its ambitious Environment and Climate Change Strategy, by focusing on reducing its emissions and looking at ways to be more energy efficient.  

So far we’ve:

Installed over 800kw of solar on 40 of our buildings including Manly Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton Aquatic Centre, our depots, children’s centres, lifesaving clubs and administrative centres. Incorporated five battery electric vehicles and eight plug-in or hybrid vehicles as part of our fleet.Upgraded our sports grounds with energy efficient lighting.Reduced our energy usage with more efficient air conditioning systems as well as upgrading our building and car park lighting.Partnered with Ausgrid to accelerate the replacement of our residential street lights with LED’s to reduce our energy consumption.Made it easier for our community to use sustainable transport options by implementing the Northern Beaches Transport Strategy: Move 2038.Delivered Swap for Good, a program to support and empower local businesses to swap out single-use plastic.

Our next steps includes a significant program of work:

More solar systems on Council facilities are planned over the next year and we are working on a business case to install our first battery to further capture on-site renewable energy.Securing more renewable energy to power our facilities and streetlights.Delivering even more efficient buildings, by continuing our lighting and air conditioning systems upgrades to reduce the amount of energy these sites are using each day.Using less carbon intensive materials by developing new guidelines to help project managers choose more sustainable materials in Council developments.

Together, this and our adopted Protect. Create. Live – Northern Beaches Environment and Climate Change Strategy 2040 have helped us achieve our first pledge under the Cities Power Partnership.

Stay tuned for more news as these projects and initiatives are delivered.