Coolmob September Newsletter No. 21

No. 21 - September 2011

In this edition:
Free Public Seminar - Solar Power - September 29th
Darwin's Sustainability Drinks - October 6th
National Ride to Work Day - October 12th
Living with Climate Change Symposium - October 12th - 14th
Have your Say in Darwin City Council's Parking Survey
October is 'Buy Nothing New Month' - Become a green consumer
COOLmob's New Sustainable Apartment's Project
COOLmob's New Real Estate Project
COOLmob on show in China
Buy an Australian Made Eco Switch from COOLmob
COOLmob's Greenhouse Friendly Book Launch
Electric Bike for sale at COOLmob

Find out the latest on Solar Power - Free public seminar this Thursday 29th September 5.30pm
The Australian Solar Energy Society (AuSES) will give a free public talk on:
-   Case studies on solar systems on homes in Millner
-   Structural performance requirements of roof top Photovoltaic panels
-   Australia’s largest tracking solar power station in Alice Springs
For catering purposes please register to Marion by emailing marion.buwaldapedler@nt.gov.au
When: Thursday September 29th, 5.00 – 7.30pm
Where: Darwin Museum Theatrette (Conacher Street Fannie Bay)

Darwin’s Sustainability Drinks – 5.30pm October 6th
Come and mix and mingle at Sustainability Drinks.   It is a monthly event held on the first Thursday of every month at the Top End Hotel (corner of Mitchelle and Daly Streets). The event provides an opportunity to meet other interested people in the sustainability field, exchange ideas and hear different perspectives about the social and environmental challenges we’re all currently facing.
There will be a guest speaker and you can subscribe to the Darwin Sustainability Drinks newsletter at http://darwinsustainabilitydrinks.com/ to find out more information closer to the date.
Please join us next Thursday and invite your friends and colleagues who share the same values.
When: 5.30pm October 6th
Where: Top End Hotel

National Ride To Work Day - October 12th

Ride to Work Day is a national program that aims to get people riding to work. It promotes cycling as a more efficient way to commute and encourages you to leave your car at home. It is important to register, even if you are already riding your bike to work! And if you haven't already done so, you should sign up to Bicycle NT which is a community cycling organisation based in the Top End advocating for improved cycling conditions, generating awareness and promoting cycling as a form of commuting.
Remember: The more people who are riding their bikes in Darwin, the more Bicycle NT and COOLmob and other community organisations can lobby for better facilities

The Ride to Work breakfasts will be held at:

Raintree Park, Darwin (CBD) 7.00am - 8.30am
Goyder Sqyare, Pamlerston 7.30am -8.30am
Royal Darwin Hospital 7.30am - 8.30am
Alice Springs Council Chamber Lawns 7.00am -9.00am

If you would like more information on the benefits of riding your bike to work visit the Bicycle Network website

Living with Climate Change Symposium, October 12th – 14th 2011
The Charles Darwin University is holding the Northern Territory Climate Change Symposium in October 2011. This symposium aims to build knowledge and understanding and identify the challenges and strategies that will help us to respond and adapt to climate change.
The Symposium will have talks on:

The risks of climate change and international responses
The climate-energy-water nexus
Lessons for the Northern Territory from other areas
Indigenous perspectives on climate change and applying Traditional Knowledge to adaptation
Impact on our Tropical Rivers
Lessons from the U.S.
Impact of climate change on the mineral industry
Challenges for the built environment
Health impacts from climate change
Local Government perspective

Where: Holiday Inn Esplanade, Darwin
When: 12th - 14th October
To register click here
NB: This is a FREE EVENT, however places are limited so please register. For more information, including a program, go to http://www.cdu.edu.au/cdss2011/

Darwin City Council Parking Survey
The study is looking at all parking, including bike parking and will look at current and future parking needs to ensure that parking is seen as an integral part of the city’s growth.
It will include both technical and economic studies as well as consulting with user and community groups from city businesses, residents and property owners to commuters, cyclists, public transport and everyone who lives, works or visits the CBD.

Have your say on the development of a new parking policy for Darwin’s CBD

Become a Green Consumer this October!
October is Buy Nothing New month and is aimed at reducing your carbon footprint by becoming a Green Shopper. COOLmob support this national campaign. But if you are looking to replace home appliances, air conditioners and pool pumps, only buy energy and water efficient products. You can further reduce your carbon footprint by buying only locally grown food and produce where possible as well.

The Buy Nothing New campaign reflects the growing consciousness of green and ethical purchasing across Australia and the globe. You are encouraged to think about the whole lifecycle of an object, including the environmental impact of its manufacture, its energy/water efficiency, and how it is disposed of once you have no more use of it.

The Buy Nothing New campaign promotes recycling, second hand shopping, swapping, batering and trading for non-essential items (like clothes, books and bikes for example). It emphasises that people who participate will save time AND money by modifying their consumption patterns and reducing waste.

If you think you can go one month without buying any new clothes, toys, books and other non-essential items then pledge to buy nothing new. Tell your story of how you bartered, traded, recycled, swapped or used pre-loved objects at the Buy Nothing New competition webpage and go in the draw to win $5000. Remember to be as creative as possible!

But green and ethical purchasing doesn't stop there!! ... To find out what we think you could spend the money you’ve saved by pledging to Buy Nothing New in the clothes department, go to the COOLmob website for some great ideas.

Sustainable Apartments and Sustainable Streets Project

Apartment blocks are often the most energy and water intense building types on the residential market. The Top End is currently experiencing a dramatic increase in the number of residential apartment blocks, replacing the older ‘Darwin Style’ detached homes. Addressing the inefficient nature of apartment blocks is central to improving the community emissions profile of the Top End and to promoting a sustainable lifestyle.

The COOLmob Sustainable Apartments Project, funded by an Grant from the NT Department of Resources, Environment and the Arts, is aimed at improving the overall environmental performance Apartment Blocks and Flats throughout Darwin and suburbs. We aim to make individual dwellings more sustainable, save dollars on your power and water bills and also create a positive environmental ethic throughout the whole building.

Similarly, the Sustainable Streets Project will look at creating sustainable streets in residential areas. Residents will work together to reduce their waste, water and electricity in their own homes. Together with COOLmob you can organise gatherings such as BBQs, car pooling, a walking bus, planting trees on the side walk, sharing produce or simply talking about how you are making your house more efficient and how you are reaching your sustainable household targets.

If you would like to be a part of these new and exciting projects, please contact either Adrielle or Bridget on 8981 3642

COOLmob and Top End Real Estate Project
COOLmob has identified from our audits over the last few years that many newcomers to the tropics experience high power bills when they get here, and want to find out ways to live more sustainbly. Through a Grant from the NT Department of Resources, Environment and the Arts, COOLmob will work with real estate to help their customers understand how to be energy and water efficient in the tropics, because life up here is drastically different to down south with our unique climate, temperature and housing design.

This project will target renters, low income housing, housing commission, defence, builders and developers. We aim to have people think ‘long term’ and how an energy/water intensive property will cost them down the line through increased power and water bills.

COOLmob on show in China
COOLMob has been invited to present thier story at the Low Carbon Earth Summit in Dalian in China in late October 2011. Robin Knox, COOLmob’s Program Manager and Alderman on Darwin City Council, is travelling to Dalian to explain how COOLmob grew from grass roots community involvement into the Top End’s one stop shop for sustainable living in the tropics.

Look out for COOLmob’s report on china in the next newsletter.

Buy an Eco-Switch at COOLmob
If you want to reduce your power bills, start by reducing your stand by power. The simplest way to do this is to switch off your devices, appliances and equipment at the wall outlet... but for most of us it is not that convenient, if at all possible.

The Eco Switch makes turning off apliances easy. You are effectively moving the location of your power point away from the wall to a more convenient location. It also has a green light on the switch to act as a reminder for you to switch it off. When if is off, then all the connected appliances are 100% off and you're not wasting electricity!

You can buy an Eco Switch from COOLmob for $15. Please email Adrielle at coolmobaudits@ecnt.org or Robin at coolmob@ecnt.org, or call us on 8981 3642

COOLmob's 'Greenhouse Friendly' Book Launch
Earlier in the month COOLmob launched the the new publications Design For the Tropics. This book now compliments the existing Hardwaste for Top End Housing and Greenhouse Friendly Habits in the Top End.

Design for the Tropics. Design for the Tropics aims to help those who are building, buying or renting on decisions based on a more energy and water efficient property. It has plenty of tips for the orientation, structure and inside/outside features that are needed to make a comfortable Troppo home. One of COOLmob's important messages is that the design of a house will have a huge impact on how environmentally intensive it will be. Design for the Tropics encourages you to think about how much electricity or water a property will use, and how to ensure these costs are kept down by having a smarter Top End home;
Greenhouse Friendly Hardware for Top End Housing: Greenhouse Friendly Hardware examines the simple changes to our every activities that can be made, that will save tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. It is designed as a catalogue of hardware changes that can be made to homes in the Top End. And;
Greenhouse Habits in the Top End: Greenhouse Habits examines how changing people's behaviour to energy/water is just as important to saving energy/water than structural changes in the home.

You can download these booklets for FREE at http://www.coolmob.org/booklets

Electric Bike for sale from COOLmob
If you are interested in purchasing an electric bike please contact COOLmob on 8981 3642 or email coolmobaudits@ecnt.org

To read a letter from a COOLmob supporter you can do so in our March 2011 Newsletter and find out their experiences with an E-Bike

Revisiting Sustainable House Day 2011
Sustainable House Day this year was a huge success, with 5 homes opening in the Darwin suburbs and rural regions. The dramatic increased interest in the environmental, health and financial benefits of living a more sustainable life is becoming more and more evident. We saw lots of new faces turning up at this year’s houses and plenty of new and creative ideas were discussed between home owners and the public.
We Visitors learnt:

How to keep cool in a home with no air conditioning through enhancing air movement around the house and removing hot air through the use of solar ventilators;
About designing a house that is fit for the tropics, so the house keeps the people comfortable all year round;
How to keep a dry-season tolerant garden lush and beautiful all year round, dramatically reducing annual water consumption and costs;
How to have an energy efficient apartment and stay cool without air conditioners;
How to get together with our neighbours and make use of communal spaces in apartment blocks to create productive food gardens;
Plus lots and lots more!

The key attribute to most of these homes was that they were not purpose built showcase houses. Most just looked like every other home on the street

You can download an information sheet on these homes to learn how yours can be equally energy and water efficient. Go to COOLmob's Sustainable House Day Fact Sheets . Please feel free to contact us on 8981 3642 with any questions about Sustainable House Day or if you have any inquiries about the features you saw at any of these homes.

COOL Inventions
And a final note on Sustainable House Day, since the event we have had a lot of people send us emails of their own inventions from recycled materials and ways to keep cool. One of our favourite so far has been recycled fridges and tractor tyres being converted into garden boxes
If you have any cool and creative inventions make sure you tell us about them so we can help spread the word for others to do the same. We are also currently running a competition on 'Your Low Carbon Footprint Story'
To enter: Go to our COOLmob Facebook page and click 'LIKE' and tell us what you did to reduce your carbon footprint. Keep it short, maximum 100 words. Entries close 19th October.
Win an Australian made Eco Switch.

Follow COOLmob on Facebook for regular updates, environmental news and competitions!

Thanks to COOLmob’s sponsors

Power and Water Corporation, NT Government and the Community Benefit Fund. The content of this newsletter does not necessarily represent the position of our sponsors.

We’d really love to hear your feedback on the information we have provided. If you’d prefer not to receive any future COOL e-newsletters and be taken off the COOLmob email list, please let me know. Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to anyone you think may be interested or leave it in a “waiting room” (with permission).

Stay Cool,

Robin Knox, COOLmob Project Manager