Landfill gas to QEII wins carbon credits
Christchurch City Council's plan to gather methane from its soon-to-be-closed landfill in north-east Christchurch and pipe it to the sport and leisure centre at QEII Park as an energy source is included in the coming year's draft Annual Plan.
The scheme, if approved, will cut the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere and the Government recently announced that it qualifies for 200,000 carbon credits, potentially worth about $15 each.
At present the QEII facility uses liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as the main source of heating energy. Last year, it used more than 1.5 million litres of this fuel at a cost of about $550,000. If the scheme is approved, that LPG will be replaced with gas piped about 4km from the landfill. As well, the proposal includes installing a co-generation plant at QEII to produce electricity and heat, resulting in additional savings in electricity of about $150,000 a year.
Councillor Sally Buck, who is representing the Council in its work with the Communities for Climate Protection programme, says the CCC has a strong record in energy saving and lowering its dependence on non-renewable energy.
"The support we're getting from the Government's carbon credits scheme helps make the Burwood-QEII project a real winner and I think it's an example other councils can follow," Cr Buck says. "As well as saving on energy costs, there are significant environmental benefits. It's making use of landfill gas - methane - which is a powerful greenhouse gas and it's replacing LPG, which is a fossil fuel and which also does harm by producing CO2 emissions."
Cr Buck says one of the key aims of Communities for Climate Protection is for local governments around the world to lead their communities in making significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
"Since 1994, our Council has been implementing a diverse range of energy efficiency projects and has already achieved a 21 per cent reduction in energy use," Cr Buck says. At their meeting on 17 March, City Councillors heard from staff that in order to undertake this project, $3 million of capital expenditure would be needed, and that this additional spending would have a rating impact of 0.16 percentage points.
With the development of the new Canterbury regional landfill, the facility in the north-east of Christchurch will close at the end of May. Along with construction of the gas-collection system, final covering and landscaping will take place over the next few years.
- The Project to Reduce Emissions, the awarding of carbon credits and the Communities for Climate Protection programme are explained on the NZ Climate Change Office website.
- This year the QEII complex is on track to have 1.7 million visits and, with the opening of five new waterslides in mid-year, expects to attract more than 2m customer visits in 2005/06.
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