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Eurobodalla community group, Southcoast Health and Sustainability Alliance (SHASA), will have a comprehensive presence at this Saturday’s Moruya Rotary Renewable Energy Expo.
The alliance, which formed four years ago with the aim of practically addressing climate change in the region, will be on hand to help residents reduce their energy impact and save money.
SHASA chair Kathryn Maxwell said the alliance was instigated in 2014 under the direction of Anglican priest Lydia Chapman and Annette Kennewell following a climate walk in Moruya.
“After that, a few people got together to see what they could do to practically address and implement measures to achieve a low-carbon economy in the Eurobodalla,” she said.
Kathryn took on the role of chair in March 2017 and has since been twice re-elected to the position.
Since starting, one of the group’s main activities has been organising solar bulk buys.
“We are now onto our fourth and we’ve had over 500kW of solar panels installed on residents’ homes and businesses in the Eurobodalla and South Coast,” Kathryn said.“That’s been our biggie.”
SHASA also runs an energy audit service and has done around 20 of these so far to help people reduce their electricity bills by up to 25 per cent.
“We do an assessment, but also as part of the service we can install easy things, like LED lights and door seals,” Kathryn said.
The charge for this is just $99 which includes everything and is simply to cover costs for the group.
For the past four months, SHASA has been running electric bicycle bulk buys with Moruya Bicycles. Residents can obtain a 20 per cent discount on Shimano and Shogun electric bikes.
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“A big contributor to emissions is transport,” Kathryn said.
“And with a low level of public transport available here, this is another option.”
People can drop into the store to get more information on how to take part in the bulk buy.
SHASA’s set-up at the renewable energy expo will have information on all these projects and more.
“We have been part of the last two expos in Narooma,” Kathryn said.
“The big difference this year is we are going to be running two stalls.”
Outside the front of St Mary’s Hall SHASA will promote Cameron’s Hardware electric garden tools, such as electric mowers, chainsaws, hedge trimmers, whipper-snippers and pruners.
These tools are battery powered and cordless.
“One of the reasons we are focusing on gardening tools is a two-stroke lawnmower for example, can produce more greenhouse gases than a car over a 12 month period,” Kathryn said.
“So if people are upgrading their tools, we are keen for them to look at electric tools – they are lighter, much easier to start and quieter. We’ve got the information available on these tools and people can test them out.”
SHASA’s second stall will be to promote its fourth round of solar bulk buy, offering 5.22kW systems starting from $5500 and batteries to insulate against blackouts.
To help people with solar compare “electricity offers” SHASA will have a poster with information on electricity retailers’ deals currently available in the Eurobodalla.
SHASA wants households to get the best feed-in-tariff and overall best financial outcomes for their solar investment.
Other ways of supporting renewable energy in the area will include a raffle to help put a solar system on Anglicare’s Red Door Cafe. The cafe provides a free meal every Tuesday lunch.
The raffle will be drawn at the expo at 4pm. First prize is an electric mower and blower, while second prize is 12 LED light-bulbs.
This year there will also be a focus on water, given the drought. “Thanks to the Office of Environment and Heritage, we will be able to hand out free shower heads and shower timers, and we’ll also be handing out copies of council’s ‘water wise save money’ brochures,” Kathryn said.
SHASA has a memorandum of understanding with Repower Shoalhaven, a group which offers community finance for businesses to have solar installed at no cost and then pay it off by purchasing power from the installed solar system.
There will be information available on the Repower community financing opportunity.
The group also has information from the Office of Environment and Heritage to help low income households to upgrade their fridges and TVs to more efficient models.
“Those are the appliances which generally make the biggest difference,” Kathryn said.
Read more: Put your energy into expo