Council to go a la natural

The Capes Herald
Tuesday 13/3/2007 Page: 7

THE Augusta-Margaret River Shire Council has taken another step towards environmental sustainability in deciding to use electricity sourced from wind power at its administration buildings. Power supplied to the council's' Margaret River and Augusta buildings will soon be delivered by Synergy's Natural Power program and, in the 2007-08 Budget, council will consider converting all its energy use across the shire.

Natural Power is energy generated across Australia through renewable sources such as wind or solar power. WA's Natural Power is generated through a wind farm in Albany and added to the main Synergy grid. Natural Power customers pay a higher premium for their electricity, but are guaranteed their power did not come at a cost to the environment.

Head of Synergy's stakeholder relations Andrew Gaspar said Natural Power customer numbers increased by 63.75 per cent in the last quarter of 2006, after the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth was screened. Mr Gaspar said Busselton, Margaret River and Dunsborough made up less than one per cent of all Natural Power customers. "There are not a lot of Natural Power customers from those three locations," he said.

In promoting the move to green power, Cr Brian Middleton said the conversion was "an opportunity to demonstrate community leadership in contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions". Cr Middleton has used Natural Power in his own business for many years. An average household linked to Natural Power was expected to pay an extra $3.15 a week.

Cr Middleton was also behind the push to create the Sustainability Advisory Committee of community members and council representatives, to guide the council to make decisions that gave equal weight to economic, social and environmental issues.

"Our council is in a position to lead the way in demonstrating how to conserve natural resources and reduce impacts on the environment while ensuring adequate facilities and employment for a fast-growing population," Cr Middleton said.