Vision
Dunedin has its sights on becoming one of the world’s great small cities.
Strategic context
Being smart with energy is key to achieving our vision of becoming one of the world’s great small cities. By taking action on energy issues now we’ll be creating opportunities for employment, more disposable income, better health and increased energy security.
The Energy Plan 1.0 will deliver on our vision and the objectives set out in the city’s strategic framework, developed by the Dunedin City Council (DCC) and the community. The plan falls under Dunedin’s Economic Development Strategy, which aims to create 10,000 jobs over 10 years and an average $10,000 extra income for each person. Being forward-thinking about energy is essential if we are to meet these economic objectives, and others including having warm, healthy homes, reducing reliance on non-renewable energy and exploring better use of energy sources.
The Energy Plan 1.0 ties into other work, such as Te Ao Tūroa – The Natural World, Dunedin’s Environment Strategy, which seeks to reduce carbon emissions. This plan is a living document and will change as work is undertaken, such as the development of the city’s Parks and Recreation Strategy.
Development of the plan was led by the DCC, working with Grow Dunedin Partners, key stakeholders, the community and energy experts.
Goals
This Energy Plan 1.0 sets four goals:
- Take advantage of economic opportunities in a changing energy context
- Save costs and enhance quality of life resulting from energy efficiency improvements
- Boost the city’s energy security and ability to adapt to change
- Reduce Dunedin’s climate change and environmental effects
Strong, city-wide consensus that we have the right goals was confirmed through community feedback on a discussion paper on Dunedin’s energy challenges released in 2013. As a result of this endorsement, further investigation focused on what can be done in Dunedin to meet these goals.
Actions
Dunedin is a city of innovation and knowledge – strong credentials when it comes to tackling energy challenges. There is already a lot of energy-related work happening in Dunedin’s businesses and communities. The plan aims to address some of the gaps through actions that comprise strategic, partnership projects.
Two of the actions build a framework for future action development: Dunedin Energy Leaders and Energy Fast-Track. Other actions are Night Sky City, Cosy Homes, Baseline Energy, Dunedin Electric Vehicles, Biomass and Food Resilience.
The actions have been identified as work on the plan has progressed. The ideas of many people in our city have been analysed and assessed, expert advice has been examined and worked through, and technical work carried out around wind energy and street lighting possibilities. There have been many conversations with a wide range of stakeholders.
Effort has been focused on initial actions that build on strengths and have real foundations and partners committed to delivery. Economic development is a key focus for the actions – whether in the form of employment opportunities or disposable income. The result is a set of initial actions that are real projects with partners and wide support, and some have already begun. These actions are just the start. The Energy Plan 1.0 will get Dunedin some runs on the board by completing actions and demonstrating results.
Scope
The Energy Plan 1.0 is intended to be a beginning, and a working action plan rather than a high level strategy. The actions outlined here will evolve as work takes place, as new technologies and new thinking develops and as the context changes. New actions and partners will be added as they emerge and are refined into a ready-to-go state.
The process of working together on this plan is important, with partners and the community shaping the way forward through their actions over time. For example, as a result of the city deciding to work on the Energy Plan 1.0, the Otago Chamber of Commerce set up an Energy Committee that has driven the development of a baseline assessment identifying how and where we are using the most energy in Dunedin. This work was funded by the University of Otago, Otago Chamber of Commerce and the DCC.
Dunedin likes to get on with things, and the Energy Plan 1.0 is about taking early action to improve our lives now and into the future. The more people involved in the city’s energy work, the better the outcomes will be.