Carbon Neutral Communities

An Australian Research Council funded project

This is a three year project, funding beginning in 2007.

Towards Carbon Neutral Communities - Making the Transition is aimed at making Australia a world leader in applying innovative methods to overcome non-technical barriers to achieving carbon neutrality at community level. The project partners include Manningham City Council (Vic), City of Playford (SA), Northern Alliance for Greenhouse Action (NAGA), ICLEI, Moreland Energy Foundation (MEFL), Community Power and Consumer Affairs Victoria. The project team includes researchers from the University of South Australia and RMIT Centre for Design. The Centre for Design is the lead manager of the project (see Centre for Design website for more information on other projects).

The project will focus on the role behaviour change initiatives and other non-technical interventions in transitioning towards carbon neutrality. By evaluating selected initiatives and undertaking action based research at the local government and household level the project will identify the necessary transition mechanisms required to assist the transition to carbon neutral communities.

Key phases of the project will include:

• work on resolving the baseline methodology – how do you measure the baseline energy use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions?;
• exploring the options for energy efficiency and renewable energy in a geographically defined area;
• developing a database of projects focussing on resolving non-technical barriers to carbon neutrality;
• developing an evaluation method for programs;
• action research phase; and

• communication of research results.

Completed work can be viewed on the Research reports page (see right hand navigation bar).

For further information please contact margaret.bates@rmit.edu.au