Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Environmental management framework
- Resource efficiency and waste
- Sites and staffing
- Australian Antarctic Division
Darwin/Jabiru officesSites and staffingThe Darwin/Jabiru operation covers two premises—the Darwin office and the Jabiru field station. These accommodate staff from the Supervising Scientist Division Darwin/Jabiru (SSD) and the Parks Operations and Tourism Branch (POT), Parks Australia. The Darwin office is shared by the SSD and POT. SSD buildings at both sites are used for office and laboratory operations as well as storage of plant and equipment. POT only uses office space in Darwin. The Jabiru facility is also shared with a commercial tenant. It should be noted that calculations reported per person for electricity and water use at the Jabiru site will be inflated as the electricity and water totals are for both staff and commercial tenants but only departmental staff numbers have been used to calculate the per person figures. Staffing levels have increased by one FTE staff member. Environmental management frameworkDarwin/Jabiru contributes to the department’s sustainability objectives through a range of measures aimed at continuously improving the environmental performance of business operations and minimising any associated environmental impacts. Although there is no formal environmental management system in place, the Darwin/Jabiru operations are conducted in a manner consistent with the department’s aim to minimise the ecological footprint on the environment. This involves a range of strategies including complying with legal and other agreements, actively promoting sustainable work practices, preventing pollution as a result of work practices, focusing on continuous improvement, public reporting of environmental performance as part of the department’s annual report, and procurement and use of sustainable goods and services. EnergyDuring 2012–13 total power consumption for all sites combined increased by 29 per cent from the previous year. With an aim to more effectively manage humidity build-up, major project work was undertaken to modify the Darwin laboratory building air-conditioning system. This has had an unexpected impact on the energy usage for the Darwin site resulting in an increase of 30 per cent for 2012–13. Continued routine maintenance of electrical items, including testing and tagging electrical items and replacing faulty and aged equipment, assists with the more efficient use of electricity. Due to its remote location Jabiru often has power blackouts. The office uses a generator for electricity during these times. Accordingly there are fluctuations every year in the amounts of electricity bought and electricity generated. It is important to note that both sites do not have separate metering, so individual components of the electricity reporting are estimates only, based on area. Vehicle mileage decreased by six per cent from 162 655 kilometres to 152 310 kilometres, resulting in an overall decrease in fuel use of three per cent. Although there was an increase of seven per cent in diesel use, it was balanced out by the elimination of use of unleaded petrol (ULP). As fleet vehicle leases have expired, ULP vehicles have been replaced with more fuel-efficient diesel vehicles. At 30 June 2013 the SSD and POT had a fleet of diesel vehicles used primarily for travel to and from Darwin and Jabiru and for off-road remote fieldwork activities. Fleet vehicles have an average green vehicle guide (GVG) rating of nine and use an average of 9.18 litres per 100 kilometres. The continued reduction of distances travelled has been achieved through initiatives such as car pooling and the use of videoconferencing facilities instead of driving or flying long distances to attend meetings. Total greenhouse gas emissions for the Darwin office and Jabiru field station in 2012–13 were 839 tonnes CO2-e, an increase of 22.4 per cent compared with 2011–12. This higher emissions figure includes increases of 22.9 per cent in electricity and 3.2 tonnes CO2-e resulting from the need to run a generator to supply electricity at the Jabiru Field Station. Resource efficiency and wasteThe waste figures reported are for Darwin only. The Jabiru field station does not collect data on waste, although it continues to sort waste to be recycled at the local waste repository. There was a decrease in total waste between 2011–12 and 2012–13. There was a six per cent (0.72 tonne) decrease in landfill waste, no change in paper product waste and a 41 per cent decrease in co-mingled waste (plastic/glass/cardboard) sent for recycling. Changes in the co-mingled waste figures are due to a different billing approach resulting in a more accurate measuring method. Darwin continues to operate a worm farm for recycling organic food waste. All paper purchased is a partially recycled product. As with other areas in the department, the move to swipe-to-print technology has resulted in a decrease in paper purchased compared with 2011–12; for the SSD there was a 19 per cent reduction in the total amount of paper purchased. The organisation provides copies of all publications on the SSD website, which has reduced the need to print publications for stakeholders. The SSD is currently working with the department to roll out a full electronic document record management system called SPIRE, which will be fully operational in early 2013–14. This will significantly reduce paper usage as all hardcopy files will be closed and all SSD departmental information will be maintained electronically. Table 5: Summary of environmental indicators—Darwin/Jabiru
Parks AustraliaSites and staffingThis Parks Australia report covers the activities of:
The environmental performance for the Canberra-based staff is covered in the Canberra offices report, and the performance of Darwin-based staff is covered in the Darwin/Jabiru offices report. In 2012–13 management plans were in place or in preparation for all sites to ensure environmental, economic and social objectives and considerations are outlined and integrated. Environmental monitoring and reporting regimes were also in place. A range of operational requirements contributed to the carbon footprint of each site, including electricity generation, transport, development of new infrastructure and waste management. Some properties have specialised needs; for example, the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) has to maintain climate-controlled conditions in its glasshouses. The remoteness of some parks limited opportunities to reduce environmental footprints. Park management activities such as revegetation projects and fire and pest control also had implications for carbon emissions. Environmental management frameworkIn 2012–13 all Parks Australia parks and reserves had climate change strategies in place and continue to implement them. Conserving biodiversity is a primary objective for all reserves, and careful management of the use of fire and vegetation can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, reliable indicators are not yet available to measure the contributions biodiversity management activities make to cutting emissions. EnergyTotal energy consumption for the parks and reserves has slightly increased in 2012–13. Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta national parks continue to rely primarily on diesel power generation as they are not on an electricity grid. However, at Uluru-Kata Tjuta, the Mutitjulu powerhouse has recently been upgraded to install a switchboard and datalogger system that enables the generators to switch automatically depending on the load required by the community. The switching will ensure the generators are running at their optimal capacity depending on load needs. Additionally the dataloggers enable the park to monitor production demands, fuel use and other systems that will enable the organisation to make more informed decisions relating to economical and efficient use of the generators. The ANBG is constrained in reducing energy consumption due to its business requirements for maintaining constant plant and herbarium conditions. However, the ANBG continues to aim for a 10 per cent offset in its energy usage. In 2012–13 it purchased 1 126 330 kilowatt hours of GreenPower (approximately 10 per cent of purchased electricity). Parks and reserves continue to implement and undertake a range of actions to improve energy use. While these actions may not result in a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions they do reflect the efforts being made to improve operations, including those in remote areas where there are limited opportunities for large-impact changes. Actions and improvements include:
Parks staff continue to make a conscious effort to minimise business-related travel, while recognising that face-to-face contact and visits to remote locations are sometimes necessary, particularly for the three parks that are managed jointly with their Indigenous owners. Parks Australia increasingly uses alternatives to air travel such as teleconferencing and videoconferencing. WasteAccess to regional recycling facilities is gradually improving for more remote locations such as Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta national parks and external territories. Basic recycling facilities are available on Norfolk Island and office paper is being sourced from renewable sources when available. Kakadu National Park is participating in a regional recycling and resource recovery program, and will continue its recycling programs in and around offices for paper, glass and aluminium. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is operating the Mutitjulu waste site facility in line with the Waste Management Guidelines for Small Communities in the Northern Territory—Working Towards Best Practice 2009 and has engaged the services of an appropriate provider to manage the facility. Recycling facilities continue to be available in all ANBG offices and on-site facilities, including composting of organic kitchen waste. The ANBG is a rubbish bin free site for the public and they are encouraged to take home their waste for recycling. In 2012–13 approximately 114 cubic metres of plant material was recycled as mulch and used on site. In 2012–13 Parks Australia purchased an average of 4.34 reams of paper per employee. This represented an increase in paper purchases from the previous year, and reflects the bulk purchasing patterns of remote parks.
WaterSince 2011 the ANBG has been extracting non-potable water from Lake Burley Griffin for irrigation requirements, saving up to 170 million litres of potable water from Canberra’s water supply. In addition, the gardens continue to use water-saving initiatives such as soil sensors, water-saving irrigation components and priority watering, recycling of water from catchment ponds, and use of mulch to reduce evaporation. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is developing a water management plan that will incorporate water-saving educational programs for the community. The park communicates directly with the community about reducing water use and actively seeks out businesses and residences that have not implemented water-saving techniques. Norfolk Island National Park uses only harvested rainwater. Parks and reserves continue to upgrade water infrastructure and reduce water use where possible. Table 6: Summary of environmental indicators—Parks Australia
Australian Antarctic DivisionSites and staffingThe Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) reports on its environmental performance for the offices, laboratories and workshops at Kingston and the cargo facility at Hobart port, as well as environmental performance at subantarctic Macquarie Island station and three Antarctic stations—Davis, Mawson and Casey. In 2012–13 the AAD had 301 full time equivalent (FTE) employees at Kingston and Hobart port as well as 25 FTE employees of the Marine Reserves Branch of Parks Australia at the Kingston site. This year 103 FTE expeditioners were employed and sent to one of three stations in Antarctica or to Macquarie Island station in the subantarctic to manage and support scientific research and operational programs. However, up to 300 other personnel go south each year (scientists, field workers and other summer personnel), increasing station numbers for periods ranging from hours to months. Therefore, instead of using expeditioner FTE in the following tables, a figure of 136 equivalent full time participants is used to account for those who participate in the Australian Antarctic program in calculating energy use, water use, paper use and waste generation. Environmental management frameworkThe AAD continues to act on its commitment to ecologically sustainable development principles as described in the AAD’s 2012–2015 Environmental Policy through its efforts to continually improve environmental performance across all its operations in Australia, the Southern Ocean and the Australian Antarctic Territory. External certification of the AAD’s EMS to the international standard for Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001:2004) is maintained through annual surveillance audits at Australian-based operations, and at least one station every three years. Australia continues to be the only Antarctic Treaty party to hold such certification for environmental management across all of its operations. EnergyElectricity use at the Kingston site is reported to the AAD by the energy provider as a total because individual buildings are not metered separately. Similarly, tenant light and power and base building energy use are also not metered separately and are estimated using known laboratory, workshop, warehouse and office areas. Electricity use is reported separately for the cargo facility at the port and, for the first time, for the small boat shed and training facility leased by the AAD at Kettering, south of Kingston. Energy use at Kingston has increased slightly due to more people working on site, including seven Supply Services personnel who moved to Kingston in April when the lease expired on the sheds at the Hobart port. The decrease of 23 per cent in energy consumption at the port facility reflects this move. A new Cargo and Biosecurity Facility has been leased and personnel are expected to move back to Hobart port in August. Changes to the AAD’s expeditioner training program last year resulted in more use of the site for training programs on weekends, which has contributed to electricity consumption. One extra vehicle has been added to the AAD’s fleet at Kingston, resulting in commensurate increases in diesel use and distance travelled. Greenhouse gas emissions at the Kingston site appear to have decreased by 30 per cent, but this reflects the change in the emissions factor for indirect emissions (scope 2) from purchased electricity from the grid in Tasmania, published in the Australian National Greenhouse Accounts Factors, July 2013. In Antarctica, electricity use per person is affected by the weather and can fluctuate from year to year depending on temperatures and number of people on station at any one time. Wind turbines continue to make a significant renewable contribution to Mawson station’s electrical and heating energy requirements using cogeneration to capture waste heat from the station’s diesel-powered electrical generators. This heat is used to warm the station, along with boilers powered by the wind turbines and boosted by diesel-fired boilers. The 25 per cent increase in renewable energy contribution has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent and brings the renewable energy contribution back to normal levels after a less productive year in 2011–12 due to turbine breakdowns. For the last eight years, renewable energy has provided around 40 per cent of the energy needs of Mawson station. Further information and live data are on the AAD’s website at: www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/stations/mawson. Resource efficiency and wasteThe proportion of waste from the Kingston site that has been diverted from landfill has improved by 56 per cent. This is due to great efforts by the Property Services team to install new waste sorting bins and labelling in all of the tea rooms on site, resulting in a 27 per cent improvement in waste going into the co-mingled recycling stream over the last year and a 44 per cent reduction in waste going to landfill. Cleaning staff have noted a significant cultural change in AAD employees and their attention to sorting rubbish in tea rooms and reducing the number of bins in offices. The amount of office paper recycled has decreased by three tonnes (34 per cent) due to last year’s figures being artificially inflated by a major cleanout of the warehouse facility. The AAD has just begun to monitor copy paper use in preparation for implementing a swipe-to-print facility across all of its printers. The amount of waste returned to Australia from AAD stations appears to have been reduced by 20 per cent in 2012–13 as a result of improved packing, recycling and re-use practices and improvements in waste management labelling. Better storage and packing procedures have also led to improved manifesting of cargo and sorting for disposal on return to Australia, resulting in an 11 per cent improvement in recycling and re-use outcomes. The amount of waste sent to landfill decreased by 40 per cent, however, this could be due in part to less waste being returned to Australia overall; however, additional waste at Mawson was retrieved that was not collected last year due to weather and time constraints on shipping.
WaterPotable water consumption at the Kingston site has dropped by 22 per cent over last year. The washdown facility for vehicles, plant and equipment at Kingston now uses rainwater instead of potable water. Two buildings at Kingston have refurbished toilet facilities with more efficient toilets and cisterns which save up to six litres of water per flush and sensor taps on sinks that save hand washing water. Water production and consumption at the AAD’s Antarctic and Macquarie Island stations varies widely and is dependent upon the method of water production and storage employed at each station. Total water use has decreased 11 per cent over last year due to fewer people going south this year than last year. Water at Davis Station is drawn from a tarn and then processed through a continuous micro-filtration system and a reverse osmosis desalination plant. The water produced is then pumped via a calcite filter to two 600 000 litre tanks for storage and then onto smaller tanks for consumption. Total water storage at Davis is 1 430 000 litres. Water at both Mawson and Casey stations is produced primarily by melting snow and ice in a melt cavern using hot water pumped through a melt bell. The water is then pumped into storage tanks before passing through a gauze filter at Mawson and a calcite filter at Casey to the end user. During summer there is a limited amount of free water depending on ambient temperature, which controls the extent of the melt. Total water storage at Mawson and Casey stations is 270 000 litres each. Macquarie Island sources its water as run off from the plateau, which is collected in a small dam and piped to two storage tanks before passing through gauze, sand and UV filters to the end user. The total water storage capacity at Macquarie Island is 104 000 litres. Because fresh water is a precious commodity that has to be produced by the variety of methods outlined above, including the use of fuel to melt ice, station personnel are asked to conserve water and water-saving appliances are installed wherever possible on stations. Table 7: Summary of environmental indicators—AAD Kingston Offices
Table 8: Environmental indicators—Antarctic and Macquarie Island operations (four stations)
Notes:
Human rightsThe department operates within the context of Australia being a signatory to the seven key human rights treaties, with human rights being protected and promoted through a range of domestic legislation, policies and practices and independent bodies. In line with Australia’s Human Rights Framework, the department promotes a human rights culture. This involves an expectation that departmental staff treat all people with respect and consideration, and avoid making assumptions based on personal characteristics or behaviour. It also involves ensuring that the department is a safe and respectful workplace that reflects the diversity of the people it serves. This commitment is consistent with our obligations under the APS Values and Code of Conduct, as contained in the Public Service Act 1999. Staff have access to a range of resources, including the publication In Our Hands: A Guide to Human Rights for Australian Public Servants provided by the Attorney-General’s Department to assist staff to understand human rights obligations and take them into account in their daily work. For more information and to access the publication, visit the Attorney-General’s Department website at: www.ag.gov.au. Yüklə 7,95 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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