Whoops - isn’t something missing?
Published 8 months, 3 weeks ago in Where I Live.The following is taken verbatim from the Municipal Association of Victoria’s weekly newsletter (week ending March 14th):
Council Initiative on Combating Climate Change
Last year, Glen Eira City Council offered to install energy efficient compact fluorescents in residents’ homes free of charge. To date, 265,087 globes within the municipality have been replaced. This is equivalent to 234,072 tonnes of carbon dioxide that will not enter the atmosphere or the removal of over 3,500 cars off the road for good. The new energy-saving globes last 15 times longer than the old, saving 3.7 million incandescent light globes from landfill, and $25 million less will be spent in household energy bills over the life of the globes. Councils interested in finding out more should contact Andrew Newton, 9524 3333, ANewton@gleneira.vic.gov.au.
Isn’t self promotion and gilding the lily wonderful? I wonder what Green Energy, THE SUPPLIERS AND INSTALLERS of these light bulbs would say? Reading this one would think that Glen Eira developed and initiated the project, had their own staff come into people’s homes and physically install these bulbs, and that everything achieved is due to their wonderful environmental conscience. The real facts of course are far different. Green energy developed this scheme years ago and have been active in NSW for ages. One installer claimed that the only reason Glen Eira decided to come on board was the fear that Kingston would beat them to the punch. So much for media releases! and so much for information which really informs the public as to the veracity of all clowncil’s claims!
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Just to highlight the difference between our wonderful clowncil and KINGSTON’S approach to this identical scenario - I offer the latter’s media release dated 29th Febm 2008. Readers should note that Kingston does not claim all the glory; it specifically notes a ‘partnership’ and who is doing most of the work. For the final ‘proof’ of what this is all about, then you should visit the Live green website itself and see their record and how they portray their relationship with various councils. The point is that self aggrandisement must have its basis in fact.
“This is a great offer that the City of Kingston is very excited to support because itwill help the environment as well as help residents save on power bills,” said
Kingston Mayor Bill Nixon.
“The energy-saving bulbs use 80% less energy to run than incandescent bulbs which means that they not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but are also cheaper to run. The bulbs also last about fifteen times longer than standard globes so, on average,won’t need to be changed again for about fifteen years. Compared to an incandescent
bulb, the energy saving bulbs save approximately 1 tonne in co2 over their life,” he said.
All Kingston residents are invited to participate in the project which is called Live Green with LESS. The project was piloted in Glen Eira by Low Energy Supplies & Services Pty Ltd (LESS), and is now being expanded to other households in Melbourne, starting with the City of Kingston.
Kingston residents will soon receive a flier in their letterbox outlining the free offer,and simply need to dial 1300 855 362 to arrange installation. Otherwise they can
accept an installation on the spot from one of the installers who will be dressed in Live Green with LESS uniforms and wearing identification. The installers will be
door knocking households in the City of Kingston for the next few months, starting in Oakleigh South and Clarinda.
Mayor Nixon believes that this offer is probably one of the easiest ways for householders to help fight climate change.
“We hope that Kingston residents will start living green with LESS, because climate change is certainly something we should all be thinking about and it is up to all of us
to do our bit to help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. ” he said.
For more information visit website: www.livegreen.com.au.
And will Council also start a recycling service for used bulbs? Is Council telling people they should NOT go in landfill and are unsuitable for kerbside recycling as they may break and contaminate other materials.
Here’s what you have to do if you accidently break one.
www.environment.gov.au/settlements/energyefficiency/lighting.html#disposal
Open nearby windows and doors to ventilate the room for at least 15 minutes.
Use disposable gloves and using a disposable brush sweep up the broken bulb (Do not use a vacuum cleaner, because this could trap or spread the mercury through the house.)
Then use a moist paper towel to wipe up any remaining fragments.
Wrap the pieces in newspaper, and seal them with the gloves, brush and paper towel in a plastic bag for safe disposal in your general waste bin (not recycling bin).
and while the site in this instance tells you to put it in the bin, further on it says of disposing of old bulbs”-
” If there is no other option, wrap used lamps in newspaper to prevent them from breaking and place them in your rubbish bin. This is NOT the preferred method of disposal.”