Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand

June 2011 What's Happening In My Back Yard seminar - Waste Management

This seminar was held on a wintery Hobart evening with about 16 attendees. The seminar featured informative, inspiring and passionate presentations from Timothy Dunn at Foodbank Tasmania Inc and Robert Wise, Veolia. A big thank you to Veolia and GHD who sponsored the seminar.
Timothy provided an excellent overview of Foodbank Tasmania, which has been operating for about six months. Foodbank receives food that is still fit for human consumption but is past the best before date and also donated food. Foodbank is based in Cambridge in a warehouse donated by Jan Cameron. It has the ability to process large quantities of individual food donations (eg it recently received 21 pallets of goods) and passes the food on to organisations that provide food for those in need (eg Colony 47, The Salvation Army etc). Foodbank is also trialling a program providing breakfast at ten schools for children who would otherwise go without. Foodbank has negotiated arrangements with a number of freight companies to transport and pick up goods at no cost.
Foodbank relies heavily on volunteers to assist with all aspects of the operation. It is always looking out for more volunteers and Timothy is very happy to provide a tour of the facility.
Robert Wise demonstrated his passion for recycling and the environment during this presentation. Veolia employees 310 people in Tasmania and the company has three recycling sorting facilities in Tasmania (Derwent Park, Launceton and Spreyton). The plants operate between 8 and 16 hours per day. Paper, cardboard, aluminium, steel and glass are separated mechanically however plastic containers are manually sorted into plastic type. Veolia is has extra capacity for sorting recyclables so it encourages Tasmanians to sort out more recyclable material. Recently Veolia worked with Hazell Brothers to develop a local market for crushed glass. A new carpark was constructed at the Rosny Park Tennis Club using recycled glass (equivalent to 300,000 stubbies!) in place of sand in the asphalt. Veolia is also investigating the collection and recycling of silage wrap and other stretch films.
Sue Allison-Rogers from Eenie Organics Recycling also provided a brief overview of their innovative project. Eenie has recently setup a food/organics kerbside collection program for Hobart residents and businesses. The material is being collected and composted by Soil First and the end product is available for purchase under the “Gardeners Friend” brand. The first 100 people to sign up will receive a significant discount. For more details, please go to http://www.organics.recycling.eenee.com

June 2010 What's Happening In My Back Yard seminar - Renewable Energy

Shane Bartel, Bartel Consulting, gave a presentation on the proposed wind farm at Cattle Hill, next to Lake Echo, north west of Bothwell. NP Power Pty Ltd is the proponent, a privately owned company based in California. They have commissioned a number of wind farms in Australia. The site is around 4 kilometres from the Waddamana power station, where the electricity produced will be fed into the grid. The geographical size of the wind farm is 8 kilometres by 4 kilometres and the land is privately owned. The proposal is for up to 100 turbines, each with an output of up to 3MW. The estimated capital expenditure is $500M.
A key environmental issue is the potential impact on wedge-tailed eagles. There is one active nest on the site and two inactive sites. The company has undertaken a two year survey into the activity of the eagles at the site so that wind turbines can be sited away from high collision risk areas.
The Development Proposal and Environmental Management Plan (DPEMP) has been submitted to the Central Highlands Council. The EPA will assess the environmental issues of the project. The project has been referred to the Australian Government for consideration under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as it is likely to have a significant impact on Listed Threatened Species and Communities and Listed migratory species. The DPEMP is available at www.nppower.ent/index.html. Comments can be made to the General Manager Central Highlands Council PO Box 20 Hamilton TAS 7140 and are due by 5pm on 7 August 2010.

Centre for Renewable Energy and Power Systems, UTAS
Professor Jane Sargison provided an overview of the activities at the Centre for Renewable Energy and Power Systems based at the University of Tasmania. The Centre offers higher education qualifications and Professional Development courses and undertakes research activities and consultancies. The Centre has been undertaking research in the area of biofouling of open channels and pipelines used in the production of hydro power. A few millimetres of film causes friction which can lead to a 10% loss in capacity. The Centre has been analysing methods to clean and reduce the occurrence of biofilms. The Centre is also seeking to experimentally validate the subfloor model within Accurate, an energy prediction software used by building designers. The Centre is working with Local Government on climate change mitigation initiatives. It has done some emission inventory work as well as working on project to offset and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Dr Ameen Gargoom, Research Fellow, gave an in-depth presentation on his research into control systems for wind and diesel standalone power systems. These systems are suited to remote areas. The system preferentially uses wind power to generate electricity. When there is excess wind power, the excess electricity is used to generate hydrogen which can be subsequently mixed with diesel and combusted to generate electricity during times of low wind. The control systems are complex, and it is essential to generate a constant voltage regardless of whether the power source is from wind, hydrogen/diesel or diesel only.