Smart Future Cities 2015

Congratulations to The Tom Farrell Institute for the Environment and our Presenters

250 delegates descended on Newcastle Town Hall in early October to a feast of information, presentations and workshops on Future Transport, Clean Energy, and Innovation and Emerging Technologies in the Built Environment.  CLEANaS members contributed to the conference as presenters, session chairs, volunteers, and of course as delegates.  Well done folks!

Hunter Wetlands Solar

Solar Panel installation next week and go live in November

Congratulations to all that have donated to the Hunter Wetlands Solar project, with $19,000 fund-raised to date.  This will enable the Hunter Wetlands Centre to install 48 solar panels reducing their electricity costs by approximately $4000.  Installation starts next week and the go-live ceremony will be part of the Hunter Wetlands Centre 30 year celebrations on 7 November at 2:30pm. Come along and celebrate our success!

The latest news is we have applied for matched funding as part of the 2015 Newcastle Stronger Community Grants.  This will almost double our planned solar panel install, plus invest in some priority energy efficiency retrofits and an electric vehicle charge station. Finger’s crossed. Go ‪#SolarDucks‬ 

Lighthouse Community Energy
 

Coordinator appointed, Community Engagement well under-way and Filming complete
 

Our current chair Alec Roberts, has been appointed as Co-ordinator for the Lighthouse Community Energy project.  Alec will be working out of The Tom Farrell Institute for the Environment (TFI) offices. Many thanks to TFI for providing the accommodation and support.

A total of 5 of the planned 10 community workshops have now been completed as part of the project. The next workshop is with Lake Macquarie Sustainable Neighbourhood Alliance in November.

 A feasibility study into Virtual Net Metering (VNM) is being conducted by Dr Andrew Mears including a workshop session at the recent Smart Future Cities Conference. VNM is a potential value adding measure which may enhance the viability of CLEANaS initiated investments.

Filming is now wrapping up for the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) funded short film about CLEANaS and this project.  Lots of good footage and information was obtained by our film-maker Zephyr L' Green.

Take the power back with Enova Energy 
 

Community-owned Renewable Energy Retailer share offer now open.  Information sessions in Newcastle area

Enova Energy is providing a unique opportunity for individuals and like-minded organisations to participate in building Australia’s first community-owned, renewable energy retailing and installation business by buying shares. Enova launched its Share Offer to the public in late August and is already about half way in achieving the minimum start-up capital target of $3 million.

Enova Energy is confident it has the capacity to be a real game changer in the renewable energy sector. “We are the missing piece in the puzzle. Apart from changing things in this region, we can help other communities get their renewable generation projects off the ground,” says Alison Crook. “Communities all around Australia are looking for practical leadership. We are already receiving calls for help from groups wanting to know how they can do what we are doing. In the very near future, when we are fully operational, we will be in a position to give them all the assistance they need. After that, it won’t be long before similar projects are up and running in all Australian states. Change is on the way.”

Enova is now seeking support from communities all around Australia. An obligation free shareholder event will be arranged in Newcastle subject to sufficient expression of interest from prospective investors. Pre-registrations essential to Virpi Barrett at 0467 070 234 or virpibarrett@enovaenergy.com.au. Further information and the prospectus is available at www.enovaenergy.com.au.

If you are interested in investing, contact Virpi, come along to the meeting, and download the prospectus. Shares are from $1000 and the share offer closes on 27^th November 2015 so be quick.
 
If you cannot come up with $1000, and still would like to support this venture, CLEANaS is looking to find donations from members and supporters to acquire shares in Enova.  This provides CLEANaS with a tangible way to show our support for Enova. Helping Enova get off the ground may provide significant benefit for the future renewable energy generation projects, but at the same time the shares might provide CLEANaS with some much needed income in the form of future dividends