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Stand up and take a bow Greater Bendigo, Central Goldfields, Hepburn, Pyrenees, Loddon, Swan Hill, Gannawarra, Mount Alexander, Buloke, Ararat, Northern Grampians, Hindmarsh, Horsham, Yarriambiack, West Wimmera and Mildura. These 16 councils comprise nearly half the entire area of regional Victoria. And they are all changing over all of their old inefficient street lights to new LEDs that will reduce energy and greenhouse emissions by 77%. They are demonstrating what councils and communities can...

Another 12,600 lights being changed over to energy efficient alternatives, this time across 100 communities in regional and rural Victoria who have overcome the old barriers to deliver a massive sustainable street lighting project. The community engagement side of this project is a real highlight as councils have used the support of existing network groups and community organisations to connect with stakeholders and communities across the region. This input also went into the development of each...

They keep on coming... Wellington Shire's streets will soon take on a brighter hue with council deciding on buying and installing 2,250 LED street lights. Council looked at various options before deciding on the LED option which will save around 16,000 of greenhouse emissions over the 20 year life of the new lights. Wellington are part of the Municipal Association of Victoria's standing tender panel of energy efficient street lights having signed up when the process started in September 2012.

Energy efficiency and renewable energy policies at Federal and State levels have constantly been in the news over the last 12 months, but not so much on how these changes affect councils. Australian councils could well be excused for a feeling of apprehension around the future of mechanisms that support energy efficiency and renewable energy at a local level. However history tells a different story, and it has actually been in the more challenging policy settings where local government has come...

Warrnambool City Council are the first Australian council to use LEDs for a bulk changeover of street lights! This isn't a trial or a few lights here and there - this is a bulk change of all of their residential street lights. Massive financial savings for Council and ratepayers, massive reduction in greenhouse emissions. It's massive all round! Council received CEEP funding and also financing through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) who released this press release. We've been working...

Last year MAV announced that 183,000 streetlights were in the process of being replaced by energy efficient alternatives throughout Victoria. We’ve been working with MAV having being engaged to provide technical support and advice through the MAV Street Lighting Program. We also provided the figures for this press release but it turns out we were wrong. Here we explain more and provide an update on what is now the second largest energy efficiency street lighting projects in the world. Yes, the...

Ironbark have been working with 35 of the 39 Victorian councils who were successful in applying for street lighting funding through round two of CEEP. The installation of the new energy efficient lights has begun and councils have started saving on electricity and maintenance costs as well as greenhouse emissions. So when the Federal Budget was handed down a few weeks ago a few councils had an eye on potential future projects and also the impact on currently funded projects. Here’s the wrap.

There has been a lot written about the Federal Government’s Direct Action policy, but we’ve found less about the impacts and opportunities for councils. Here we analyse the ERF from a council point of view and summarise the main themes that the Environment Minister Greg Hunt has been conveying, most recently at the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) Environment Conference in May 2014. In our reading it seems to get down to three key words: Aggregation, aggregation and aggregation.

Yep, another one! The City of Whittlesea has begun their energy efficient street lighting changeover. Council are changing a massive 6,900 street lights to more energy efficient alternatives that use 70% less energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and saving the community millions of dollars that can now be spent on more important services.

It's well and truly happening. Old inefficient electricity-guzzling street lights are coming down throughout Victoria. In Yarra Ranges there are 7,000 of them being replaced by efficient alternatives that use 70% less energy, reducing emissions and savings ratepayers millions of dollars through reduced electricity and maintenance costs. Ironbark are rapt to be working with Yarra Ranges - we're project managing the installation and assisting with design, preparation and all of the procurement...