Council's emissions

Waste at Broadlands Road Landfill is Council's largest source of emissions.

Alongside this, many of our other council functions generate some greenhouse gas emissions.

We operate a large amount of infrastructure, including street lights, large facilities and venues, and water plants, which use a lot of electricity.
Our wastewater processing also creates emissions.
We operate a number of vehicles and gardening equipment.
We build and renew a significant amount of infrastructure each year.

Council emissions 2018/19 graph — Source: *Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report for Taupo District Council*, prepared by CoLab Energy and Carbon Manager in accordance with ISO 14064-1:2018, June 2023.

Waste to landfill

Council organises rubbish and recycling collection in urban areas, manages waste transfer stations in our smaller towns, and disposes of most of the district’s rubbish and waste at the Broadlands landfill in Taupō.

Organic waste (such as food scraps, wood, paper and cardboard, and green-waste) releases greenhouse gases as it decomposes that contributes to climate change.

Under the Emissions Trading Scheme, Council is required to surrender carbon credits for the emissions associated with waste dumped each year at Broadland landfill, which costs around $1.8 million a year at current (2022) prices.

Electricity

Some electricity generated in New Zealand, even ‘renewable’ geothermal electricity, creates greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, at peak times when electricity is in high demand (typically 7 – 11am, and 5 – 9pm), New Zealand runs coal and natural gas power stations to provide sufficient electricity supply, which creates significant emissions.

In a dry year, New Zealand’s hydro generation is also reduced, resulting in further burning of coal and gas to meet demand. Geothermal electricity generation also creates emissions (although significantly less than coal and gas). Hydro, wind, and solar generation create very few emissions through operation.

New Zealand’s electricity generation by type

Council uses significant electricity from national generation for treating water and wastewater; providing street lighting; and heating buildings and community facilities like libraries, event centres, pools, and council administration buildings. It’s the equivalent of around 1,800 households.

These are council’s highest electricity use facilities.

Council has some control over its electricity use. However, a large amount relates to the operation of water and wastewater treatment plants which are critical for public health and wellbeing. There is some, but limited scope to reduce electricity use, or to shift electricity use to off-peak times when New Zealand’s electricity is mostly renewable or low emission.

The emissions associated with generation of New Zealand’s electricity are outside council’s control. Meeting these targets will require NZ electricity generation to be met from fully renewable and low emission sources over time.

Wastewater

For most urban areas when you flush the toilet, pull the plug from a sink, or have a shower, Council collects, processes and disposes of the wastewater. Wastewater is also generated from commercial and industrial premises.

Wastewater includes organic matter such as human waste, food scraps, fats, oil and grease, and other debris such as sand, grit and plastic. The organic material, including human waste, releases greenhouse gases as it decomposes. The decomposing process, including the microbes involved and level of air, determines the amount of greenhouse gases produced.

Vehicle fleet and gardening operations

Council has a fleet of 132 mostly petrol and diesel vehicles, made up of 52 cars, 59 utes, 12 vans and nine trucks.

We also use petrol gardening equipment. Burning petrol and diesel emits greenhouses gases.

Infrastructure and facilities construction programme

The building and construction sector is a large contributor to greenhouse gas emissions from producing materials, constructing buildings, and the energy used in buildings. Council builds and renews a significant amount of infrastructure each year with an annual capital investments programme in the order of $50 – 60 million a year. By its nature this infrastructure uses a lot of concrete, steel, bitumen, and other materials that require a lot of energy and chemical emission to make (known as embodied emissions), as well as during construction.

At the time of construction whole of life costs and emissions are also determined – I.e. the energy efficiency of the design determines its required energy use.

Although it is difficult to quantity, and it is not included in Council’s baseline 2018/19 emissions inventory done using the international standard, construction emissions are likely to be the Council’s largest emissions, after solid waste.

Key drivers of emissions are the quantities of materials needed, types of materials used, and operational and energy efficiency of the infrastructure or building being built. The greatest opportunities to reduce whole of life embodied carbon emissions and whole-of-life operational carbon emissions are at the planning and design phases of a project.[1]

[1]New Zealand Government Procurement, Procurement guide to reducing carbon emissions in building and construction, June 2021

Green construction graph. — Source: Green construction Board after HM Treasury (UK), Infrastructure Carbon Review, (November 2013)

Other

Council also is responsible for a small amount of other emissions associated with its operations, from refrigerants, LPG, natural gas, air travel and accommodation.

Council's emissions

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