A Tale of Two Shopping Centres

Askgerbil staff writer | Thursday March 29 2012

The Australian Government carbon tax starts in July 2012 and some of the big polluters do not have any viable alternative but to pay. In particular power companies are stuck with coal.

A great many businesses seem unaware that they do have a viable alternative to paying any carbon tax that big polluters may want to pass on to them: Big power companies might well be stuck with coal, but Australian businesses are not stuck with these big power companies.

City of Sydney Decentralised Energy Making it happen - clean, green energy The City has an ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent by 2030 which can also cut electricity bills for NSW consumers. To help achieve this target the City has appointed UK energy expert Allan Jones. His previous work reduced greenhouse gas emissions at the city of Woking by 80 per cent and produced similar results for the city of London At the moment, 80 per cent of the City of Sydney’s emissions come from the production of electricity by coal-fired power stations in the Hunter Valley. Two thirds of the energy being used by these stations is wasted as heat from the cooling towers and on long-distance transmission over power lines to Sydney. The City’s goal is to produce 70 per cent of its energy needs locally from trigeneration plants. These local generators are nearly three times more energy efficient than coal-fired power plants because they use the waste heat from electricity production to both heat and cool buildings. (From Making it happen - clean, green energy )

RT @greenvillagesyd: Sydney to build Australia's first low-carbon energy network bit.ly/HREkcQ

— City of Sydney (@cityofsydney) April 4, 2012

Shopping centre management and shop-owners at the “Thick Shopping Centre” and “Not-So-Thick Shopping Centre” in nearby suburbs of any Australian city make different choices about the carbon tax that starts in July 2012.

At the Thick Shopping Centre, the shopping centre management pays for electricity from its existing supplier and passes on the cost of the carbon tax to the shop-owners who operate in the shopping centre. The shop-owners continue to buy electricity from their existing suppliers too, pay extra because of the carbon tax, and pass both this cost and the extra costs of the Thick Shopping Centre management on to their customers.

At the Not-So-Thick Shopping Centre, the shopping centre management installs a trigeneration system that generates power, heat and cooling for the whole shopping centre. It saves money on its power bills, and passes these savings on to the shop-owners who operate in the shopping centre. The Not-So-Thick Shopping Centre Management trigeneration system also generates enough power to supply the shop-owners who operate in the shopping centre.

The shop-owners at the Not-So-Thick Shopping Centre decide to buy their power at the reduced price offered by the shopping centre management, and pass both this saving and the extra savings of the Not-So-Thick Shopping Centre management on to their customers.

Customers of the Thick Shopping Centre quickly learn that they can enjoy great savings by doing all their shopping at the Not-So-Thick Shopping Centre.

Carbon tax: a lot of fuss about nothing.  

Nothing is the amount of carbon tax shoppers pay at the Not-So-Thick Shopping Centre.

Some examples (These are links that open web pages in new tabs):

1. Australian first: Investa and Origin switch on a commercial building trigeneration precinct for Sydney 
2. Introducing BlueGen: Clean on-site power, Case Study (2) Victorian Government - Public housing (at page 13 of 23) 
3. Haron Robson assists Rooty Hill RSL to lead NSW Clubs in Emerging Technology 
4. Women’s and Children’s Hospital Trigeneration Plant – Adelaide, SA  
5. Allan Jones: getting off the grid 
6. BASIX Multi-Unit Residential Cogeneration Demonstration Project  
7. Smart Energy Zones Case Study: Glenfield, Australia