CSIRO rolls out green fleet

The CSIRO is furthering its environmental credentials with the rollout of a green fleet. The first two of 10 petrol-free electric cars and electric bikes has been delivered to the Discovery Centre at Black Mountain in Canberra. The centre is the first cab off the rank, with additional cars due for delivery to another seven sites including Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart, Perth, Townsville and Newcastle.

The move is in addition to the installation of solar PV panels, which CSIRO will be using to generate renewable energy to charge the cars, making them emission-free.

In a case of 'practising what you preach', the general manager of building and infrastructure services, Mark Wallis, said, "The cars and electric bikes are the latest in a raft of initiatives to lower emissions, reduce waste and improve the sustainability of operations across CSIRO.

"As our scientists continue to lead the way in many aspects of alternative energy, emissions and waste reduction, and water and energy-efficiency technology — we also want to be an organisation that puts those same things into action across our sites and operations.

"The money saved or earned can be reinvested into national science priorities," said Wallis.

Some of CSIRO's other recent sustainability initiatives and benefits include:

• 36 electric/petrol hybrid cars introduced to the CSIRO fleet in 2015 to replace petrol-only vehicles.
• A 2300-tonne carbon dioxide equivalent (tC02e) emissions reduction and $176,000 estimated cost saving from a nationwide campaign to close laboratory fume hoods during 'downtime'.
• A 162 tC02e emissions reduction and $32,000 saving each year from 120 kW photovoltaic (PV) rooftop solar panels generating  214 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity each year at the joint venture Pawsey Supercomputing Centre in Perth, Western Australia.
• A 134 tC02e emissions reduction and $26,000 saving each year from 100 kW PV rooftop solar generating 176 MWh of electricity each year at the Australian Resources Research Centre in Perth, WA. The PV systems complement approximately 260 kW PV, 5 kW of wind generation and 120 kW cogeneration capacity at the Newcastle site.
• 900 tC02e emissions reduction and $114,400 saving from lighting upgrades in stairways, exits, balconies and building recommissioning projects in selected laboratories.

"Together with electric cars and these sustainability measures, where it makes good sense, we are reducing our environmental footprint by consolidating our operations at key sites, as we have just done at Black Mountain, Canberra," said Wallis.