Sustainable council buildings, infrastructure and assets

The City of Casey is committed to becoming Climate Active certified carbon neutral in its operations by 2030. A lot of work has been done to improve the efficiency of our new and existing buildings, infrastructure, and assets like sporting facilities, parks and reserves in-line with this goal. The following projects are examples of how Council is reducing its operational greenhouse gas emissions.

Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD)

In January 2019, Council endorsed its Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) Buildings Policy. The objective of the policy is to ensure that all new Council buildings have sustainable design features to minimise energy and water consumption and costs. This includes the materials the building is made from as well as waste material generated.  Sustainably designed buildings benefit from low running and maintenance costs, low greenhouse gas emissions and improved comfort and amenity for building users. 

The policy applies to all new Council buildings and facilities and to existing buildings that require major renewal, upgrade or refurbishment. The policy covers:

• building orientation and solar passive design
• efficient management of energy and water
• management of materials adopting a circular economy approach
• protection of environmental quality and ecological values
• protection of health and indoor environment quality
• reinforcement of natural systems in an integrated design approach.

Rooftop solar PV and battery storage systems

To date, the City of Casey has installed a total of 1.66 MW of solar PV systems and 135kW of battery storage on 89 Council buildings. 

The top ten largest rooftop solar systems on Council buildings are:

• Casey ARC – 340 kW
• Casey RACE – 99kW (with a further 241kW to be added)
• Casey Stadium - Terry Vickerman Building – 99kW
• Casey Works Centre, Vesper Drive, Narre Warren – 80 kW
• Cranbourne West Community Hub – 31.5 kW
• Strathaird Family and Community Centre – 31 kW
• Fairhaven Family and Community Centre – 31kW
• Eliston Family and Community Centre – 31kW
• Bridgewater Family and Community Centre – 30kW
• Myuna Farm – 30kW

Council continues to invest in rooftop solar systems and battery storage technology to reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy Efficient Street Lighting

The City of Casey is replacing approximately 8,152 of its mercury vapour decorative street lights to LEDs. The project needs to be undertaken due to the inability to source mercury vapour lamps as a result of banning these products from being imported into Australia from 2022.

The replacement program is scheduled to occur between April 2024 and June 2026 and is expected to cost around $9M over the 3 years.

For more information, visit Street lighting LED changeover project.

Purchasing Renewable Energy

City of Casey is committed to sourcing renewable electricity for its operations. In addition to installing rooftop solar PV systems on Council buildings, the City of Casey has committed to a 10-year streetlighting Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) from 1st January 2021. This means we purchase 100% renewable electricity generated by the Bald Hills Wind Farm in South Gippsland to power our streetlights.

Building Energy Efficiency Improvements

The City of Casey’s Building Improvement Program improves energy efficiency in existing buildings.

Programs include:

• Building envelope draught sealing and insulation upgrades
• Solar passive design improvements
• Building management system optimisation – Heating and air conditioning controls and scheduling to maximise energy efficiency
• Heating and air conditioning efficiency upgrades
• LED lighting upgrades
• Energy audits

Getting off Gas

The City of Casey is committed to transitioning its remaining 129 gas  consuming buildings to 100% electric in-line with Council’s Climate Action Plan and asset renewal program (when products reach their end-of-life).

This includes upgrading gas ducted heating units to electric split systems, variable refrigerant flow (VRF) and packaged (PAC) units, swapping gas hot water units for highly efficient electric hot water heat pump systems and replacing gas cooktops for electric induction cook tops.