On the 9th Jan 07 a small meeting was held at the Bowling Club with about 20 people present and a decision was made to form a group and join C.E.F.E from Bega with a branch Called Snowy Mountains C.E.F.E. A committee was formed with 7 people. Committee meetings have been held every 2 weeks till recently when everybody has been too busy so monthly meetings. Sunday 11th Feb. we assisted Friends of clean Energy with an Expo. in Jindabyne. A community forum, chaired by Mayor Richard Wallace, was held in the Memorial Hall Jindabyne on 9th March 07. Guest speakers were Owen Pearson and Emily Matenson >From the two schools in Jindabyne. Ray prowse, A,N,U.Centre for Sustainable Energy, Erwin Jackson , Climate Institute, Matthew Nott C.E.F.E. Bega, and Rashida Nuridin, Friends of Renewable Energy. Dr. Cath Newman ,of Jindabyne then moved that the meeting adopt the target of 50/50 by 20/20. and join with Bega. This was carried unanimously by the 120 residents present. The next week the Snowy River Shire adopted this target. Jaye Walton spoke at the Forum. He suggested the group attract young people by having a rock concert in the winter. This has not happened yet as he was not able to attract really good bands. So we are hoping that it will happen next year. We had an open house day for 25 people on 17th June 07.Things to see were, passive solar design. so;ar on the grid, geothermal heating , Worm farm toilet, and thermal design bricks. We have been working on the Action plan that Bega produced converting to the local needs. A global warming column is in the Summit Sun weekly with tips for people for sustainable living, Also articles in th Echo. The S,R,Shire Council has a Jindabyne Sustainability Plan happening and we have 2 people involved. We have met with council and have asked for a member to regularly meet with one of our group to help each other in ways forward to meet our target. We are looking at perhaps getting the churches here to go solar and or wind like the surf clubs are on the coast. The Sailing club which is the local surf club sometimes is looking into this as well. Another open house day is planned for the 14th Oct.07 again with passive solar, solar connected to the grid, solar heating for the house with hot water flowing through the the concrete floor. and a small wind gererator.. Cities for Climate Protection C,C,P. a worldwide organization with more than 800 councils involved has been shown to the council and they seem interested in adopting the program. 
 

One of the strong messages highlighted by Dr Mark Diesendorf (Uni of NSW) at the Monaro/ Snowy Mountains Renewable Energy Forum held in Berridale on Nov 6 08 was that we do have the necessary technologies available right now to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% within just a few decades given social and political will to make it happen.  Dr Mike Kelly (Federal Member for Eden-Monaro) agreed that action on climate change was necessary and praised his electorate for its forward thinking and action on the issue so far.

This praise is well justified as illustrated by Philippa Rowland whom informed the forum that our region has procured $100,000 in Green Precinct funding for Clean Energy For Eternity to conduct a feasibility study to establish Australia’s first community owned 2MW solar farm in the Bega Valley.  This farm will not only move the Bega Valley shire towards achieving a 50% reduction in GHG emissions, but also provide an investment opportunity in the SE region by prospective investors from all over Australia.    

The forum also heard that wind power also has the potential to provide great ecological and economic benefits for our region due to the availability of this resource on Monaro.  As an example, CEFE’s founders Dr Nott pointed out that the proposed Boco Rock windfarm would generate a total investment of $20 million as well as produce enough renewable power to account for at least half of Cooma Monaro shire’s energy needs. 

But the possibilities don’t end there, as David Shapiro (Future Energy) illustrated with his presentation about the (smaller scale) Hepburn Community Wind-farm in Victoria which has now launched its prospectus and is accepting investment by shareholders, thanks to the commitment and vision of a community willing to take leadership and create local solutions.   

Real solutions that reduce GHG emissions and safeguard our children’s future ecologically, socially and economically are needed to tackle climate change, and the forum demonstrated that we are well placed to do so.  Look out in future CEFE columns for more detailed information on Community Renewable Energy Farms.

Antia Brademanns

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