Page 5432 - Week 14 - Thursday, 30 November 2017
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the past five years. The latest inventory report reveals that gas usage in the ACT is at probably the highest level ever. Residential customers account for well over half of total consumption. This highlights the need to make efforts to reduce gas usage across the territory, especially in the residential sector. There are good opportunities for this, such as through the expanded use of highly efficient electrical appliances as an alternative to gas appliances.
The waste sector produces emissions through wastewater treatment and the release of landfill gas. Any organic material disposed of in landfill, such as garden waste or food waste, results in greenhouse gas emissions due to their breakdown in an oxygen-free environment. Waste emissions currently account for 2 per cent of the ACT’s greenhouse gas inventory. But by 2020, after the removal of electricity emissions, they are expected to account for about 6 per cent of our total emissions.
In positive news, emissions from solid waste disposal in 2016-17 were 16 per cent lower than in the previous year. The reduction was caused by the combination of a 7 per cent decrease in the quantity of waste going to landfill and a 20 per cent increase in the volume of landfill gas captured at the Mugga Lane and Belconnen landfill gas generators. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the future we will need to explore ways to divert organic waste from landfill, and explore treatment options such as composting and anaerobic digestion.
Industry emissions in the greenhouse gas inventory entirely comprise synthetic gases used in refrigerants and are taken from the national greenhouse and energy reporting system. These emissions have increased steadily, as projected through linear regression modelling, and are 5 per cent of total emissions. These emissions are attributed proportionally to the ACT from an aggregate New South Wales supply. Whilst this may not truly reflect emissions from this source in the territory, it is the most reputable estimate that can be provided.
Finally, emissions from both land use change and agriculture are small and show little change year on year. After material changes to land use emissions in the national accounts last year, the ACT saw only a small change between 2015-16 and 2016-17. Previously land use change constituted a net sink; however, it is now a small positive source of emissions. This essentially means that land-clearing activities in the ACT are greater than revegetation efforts.
If a vegetated landscape is cleared, it releases carbon emissions. This occurs when, for example, the ACT clears an area of grassland or forest to build new suburbs. This highlights the need to improve planning and the use of existing urban areas, through quality urban infill, for example, which will reduce pressure to expand Canberra’s urban footprint and remove grasslands and forests. As well as limiting deforestation, we will need to improve living infrastructure such as trees, open spaces with grass, and ponds. Some living infrastructure can operate as a carbon sink, but it also helps the city adapt to the extremes of climate change by providing shade or other cooling effects.
The ACT is a leader just through its ability to provide an inventory for the most recent financial year. The Australian government inventory and all other state inventories are
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