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Appendix 3 - Ecologically sustainable development environmental reporting

Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

A DOCITA Environmental Management Plan was endorsed in May 2000 and implemented during 2000-2001. The Plan has a range of objectives and targets to ensure the Department's compliance with the Government's environmental management policies, particularly in relation to waste minimisation and energy management targets.

DOCITA recycles cardboard, paper, aluminium cans and used toner cartridges. Energy usage figures and costs are monitored and reported to the Department of Industry, Sciences and Resources on an annual basis.

The Department maintains its commitment to ensuring that all newly constructed or substantially refurbished commercial buildings, where it is the majority lessor, meet Commonwealth building energy use guidelines. New leases entered into include the requirement that the building owners are responsible for the installation of separate metering for tenant lighting and power and where feasible central services are attributed on a user-pay system.

Considerable attention was paid to environmental matters relating to the construction of the National Museum of Australia at Acton Peninsula. An Environmental and Conservation Management Plan was developed for the site and 'environment' was used as one of the quality measures for assessing performance throughout the construction of the facilities. The 'environment measure' was assessed on six components comprising environmental management, waste management, water quality, air quality, energy efficiency/life cycle, and ecologically sustainable development. Quarterly reviews were undertaken of these environment measures since January 2000. The final score for the environment quality measure was assessed as being satisfactory. Outstanding scores were achieved for environmental management, waste management, water quality, and air quality. Ecologically sustainable development also scored well. Whilst energy efficiency did not rate as well as the other components, required levels were met as far as possible given the design constraints.

DOCITA energy use and greenhouse gas emissions 2000-2001

Building in Canberra	Kw	MJ	GJ	(KgCO2)	Number of Employees	Area (m2)	MJ per Employee	MJ per m2
38 Sydney Ave	1 066 288	0	3 839	998 140	511	8 975	7 513	428
28 National Circuit	131 318	0	473	122 980	40	771	11 825	614
7 National Circuit	Refer to
	Note 3 below
Old Parliament House	3 213 141	9 884 931	21 452	5 577 520	150	25 000	16 347	858
122-124 Gladestone St	7 949	0	27	7 020	0	563	27 000	48
TOTAL 2000-2001	4 418 696	9 884 931	25 792	6 705 920	701	35 309	36 793	730
TOTAL 1999-2000	4 653 895	8 968 861	25 723	6 687 980	783	44 338	32 852	580

NOTES:

1) 1999-2000 energy usage figures included building operations for the National Office of the Information Economy.

2) The Department entered into a new electricity supply contract with ACTEWAGL arranged by the Australian Greenhouse Office.

3) No electricity bills had been received from the Lessor for 7 National Circuit (John McEwen House) due to billing difficulties.

4) Old Parliament House (OPH) operates between the hours of 7.00 a.m.-7.00 p.m., 7 days per week. OPH facilities include a café, galleries, restaurant, bar, conference and function areas. After hours functions are held in various locations, and airconditioning for the galleries operates 24 hours per day.

Questacon-The National Science and Technology Centre

General

• Questacon purchases 20 000 kWh per year of 'green power'.

• All 14 printers in the Centre use recycled toners and used paper is recycled.

Changes related to the upgrade of the airconditioning system

• The new plant was designed for long life (25 years) to minimise waste and lifecycle costs. All the new components were the most energy efficient, commercially available.

• Major elements of the old plant were recycled.

• The old cooling towers have been replaced by air-cooled chillers to eliminate water usage and the chemical contamination of waste-water. The chiller plant was designed using the most modern energy efficiency principles.

• While outside air ventilation rates were increased substantially to improve air quality when the building is occupied, all high occupancy areas were equipped with air quality sensors and dynamic control systems to vary air-flow as required. This provides major energy savings compared with fixed ventilation schemes. The system has an 'economy mode' in which the building is cooled by outside air when climatic conditions are suitable-overall the Canberra climate is very favourable for this feature.

During 2001-2002, the operation of and energy use by this system will be carefully monitored to establish benchmarks and identify areas for potential improvement.

Questacon-The National Science and Technology Centre: energy use 1999-2000 and 2000-2001

	Energy Use	Energy Use	Energy Use		MJ per person	Area sq m	MJ per sq m
	kWh	GJ	kg CO2	No of employees (average)
1999-2000	1 528 375	5 504	1 431	91	60 480	10 500	524
2000-2001	1 853 309	6 674	1 736	116	57 533	10 500	636

Questacon is a public institution, with exhibitions and programs open to the public.

The building is open seven days a week with evening activities often extending opening hours to 12 hours or more. Total energy use figures include energy for operating/lighting the exhibitions; airconditioning and lighting all the public areas; and operating the workshop and café, in addition to office energy requirements.

Total energy use increased during 2000-2001 was primarily as a result of the installation of a new airconditioning system in the building, to improve substantially the air quality (especially in public areas).

ScreenSound Australia

ScreenSound Australia has integrated environmental management practices and principles within its daily functional activities. It has developed specific programs and policies for the monitoring, recovery and recycling of environmental resources as follows:

recycling paper and cardboard materials;
recycling and/or environmentally friendly disposal of chemical wastes in accordance with local and State environment protection regulations;
regularly monitoring international best practice with regard to chemical management for laboratories;
managing energy consumption; and
removing and replacing ozone depleting substances.

Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions 2000-2001

Building	Energy Use Electricity Kwh	Energy Use Gas MJ	Total Energy Use GJ	Total Kg Co2	Number of Employees	Mj/ Employee	Area (m2)	Mj/m2
McCoy Circuit, Acton⁵	1 760 429	4 035 853	10 373	2 697	208	49 872	8 694	1 193
6-8 Baillieu Court¹	514 890	0	1 854	482	0	0	1 718	1 079
10-12 Baillieu Court²	54 166	0	195	51	13	15 000	1 350	144
Unit 6, 160 Lysaght St³	242 185	1 637 620	2 509	652	0	0	960	2 614
Film Vaults, 16 Vicars St⁴	179 227	0	645	168	0	0	225	2 868
223 Park St, Sth Melb	34 970	0	126	33	10	12 589	279	451
Tenant1a Building61, Fox Studios, Sydney	20 358	0	73	19	9	8 143	262	280
Total 2000-2001	2 806 225	5 673 473	15 776	4 102	240	65 733	13 488	1 170
Total 1999-2000	2 687 558	4 023 506	13 698	3 562	191	71 717	13 850	989

1 This building consists of climate controlled stores operating 24 hours per day.

2 This building consists of climate controlled stores operating 24 hours per day.

3 This building consists of climate controlled stores operating 24 hours per day.

4 This building is a climate controlled Nitrate Film Storage Vault operating 24 hours per day.

5 McCoy Circuit (Headquarters) contains office space (3588 m2), climate controlled stores (1309 m2), climate controlled laboratories (2075 m2) and public areas which are climate controlled and include a theatre and exhibition areas (1722 m2).

Document ID: 12568 | Last modified: 6 February 2008, 9:46am