Science & Technology (alternative energy)

With over 30,000 people living in the West Australian city of Kalgoorlie- Boulder, they have positioned themselves as the ‘largest outback city in Australia’. Now the gold rush municipality, 600 km (375 mile) NE of Perth, has sets its sights on a new moniker. To be a ‘sustainable regional City’. The two key platforms of this strategy are energy and water. A $16 million, 2.5 megawatt solar power station is being built to “contribute to the energy requirements of mining companies,” with any excess being fed in to the local grid. They are also in the running to be one four Solar Cities in Australia, a project, which aside from use of photovoltaic cells also develops energy efficient measures, smart meters, demand profiles and so on. In concert with the solar efforts is their aim to be the “largest municipal user of treated effluent in Australia.” The city plans to treat waste water for use on their 55 hectares of parklands and playing fields, as well as schools, community facilities and non-Council sporting grounds. It is anticipated that this could cut their freshwater demand by 10%. Pretty damn significant when you realise that all their potable water is pumped from Perth. Yep, 600km away! ::Kalgoorlie- Boulder Council