The Building Better Homes for the Future Forum Recording is now available!
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Hello Visitor, Contents Building Better Homes for the Future Forum Recording is now available! (see below) In October BREAZE held a very well attended industry forum to discuss how new housing in Ballarat can be built in a more sustainable way. A robust discussion of the opportunities and barriers was explored on the night, including practical ways to source and use more sustainable materials, and ways in which the planning process can help or impede building housing that is more sustainable.
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Electric Ute Roadshow - Ballarat Green Drinks
The Ballarat Green Drinks program for 2023 includes a diverse range of topics, from EVs to bee-keeping, to green power initiatives, to cooking with induction cooktops and more. We've kept the old timeslot - third Thursday of the month from 6:30-8:00pm – but we's changed the venue. NEW VENUE: The Bunch of Grapes Hotel, 401 Pleasant St South BOOKING VIA TRYBOOKING: https://www.trybooking.com/CEXYC - to secure your seat & i-calendar entry |
President's December Report
• Via our leadership of the Grampians Community Power Hub, delivered by Sustainability Victoria we identified 46 community renewable energy projects: from feasibility studies for rooftop solar installations for local not-for-profit organisations, to contracting expert facilitator discussions on governance for a community-solar farm, to scoping a community renewables power hub, to first stage feasibility studies for community battery trials – along with extensive Level 1-2 energy audits for the Grampians Health Service on five sites across three regional locations. We estimate the potential total capacity of this pipeline as 12MW. Sometimes, however, the outcomes were not what we wanted. Community batteries we found, were more complicated than we had thought - the contractor Orkestra, has written an interesting article on the topic. BREAZE volunteers - Peter Boadle, Paul Duggan and myself – committed a $242,200 in-kind contribution to the G-CPH, which ran from 1/7/21-30/6/22. Thanks in large part to our Hepburn branch partner led by Hepburn Energy, we also implemented five projects - rooftop solar, btm batteries and heat pump bulk buys. • To promote environmentally sustainable design (ESD) and initiatives undertaken by the City of Ballarat Planning Department in collaboration with CASBE, a subcommittee of BREAZE Board members – Sally Missing (Coordinator), Sue Broadway and Pat Hockey – organised the Building Better Homes for the Future Forum. Over fifty local developers, architects and builders attended to hear a panel of speakers, led by renowned ESD architect Paul Haar, discuss the possibilities for reducing emissions across the building sector – which contributes 30% of GHG emissions. The video recording of the event can be viewed here.
MEMBER ACTIVITIESEnvironmental Stalls at Lucas 10 Year Party and Sunset Community Market
But it was the community group Gardens for Wildlife (GFW) who stole the show with boxes of tube plants - all natives - to give away. Shout out to the CoB nurseries and Sustainability Officer Dan Siemensma for providing the trees. Sam Strong from GFW and Dan had their work cut out advising on planting and placement of the natives - cool trees that went like hot cakes Smart Living BallaratSmart Living Ballarat talks host, Ellen Burns, is holding the last session for 2022 as a face to face workshop on How to make Comfrey Balm at Barkly Square. If you find it booked out, don't despair, Ellen had also arranged Facebook livestreaming so you can still join the workshop online. Just in time for Christmas, the 21 December Smart Living Ballarat workshop on making your own comfrey balm, a beauty product, is a chance to make gifts for your sustainability-aware friends and family members. Get your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/make-your-own-comfrey-balm-slb-december-tickets-478954254067 Ballarat Green DrinksA BREAZE sub-committee will be confirming the program for 2023 shortly. The program will run from February to November on the third Thursday of every month, from 6:30-8:00 pm. The BREAZE Board will be discussing ideas for BREAZE in 2023 at our final meeting on 19 December. If you have any thoughts on what we should be doing please get in touch and I will forward you the zoom link. Many thanks for your membership and support throughout the year for the work of our volunteers. Finally, thanks to our volunteers and Board members for all the work we've accomplished this year. It's been great working with you all. Wishing everyone a relaxing, Covid-free and low carbon Christmas. All the best Mary Dr Mary Debrett President, December 2022
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Smart Living Ballarat: December 21 - Making Comfrey BalmLidwine Oliver is a Ballarat local who makes her own beauty and skincare products at home.
She will be demonstrating how to make a multi-purpose comfrey and plantain balm moisturiser.
The session was held in person at the Barkly Square kitchen across from A Pot of Courage.
The session was streamed live and posted to the Smart Living Ballarat Facebook page.
Smart Living Ballarat is a monthly series of free workshops, looking at different aspects of sustainable living.
SLB, hosted by Ellen Burns is a collaboration between BREAZE Inc. and the City of Ballarat.
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