Community programs

Delivering Clean Energy Solutions

In 2010 Manningham City Council was successful in obtaining a grant from the Sustainability Fund to develop a regional bulk purchasing program for residents in the NAGA region.

DCES builds on past bulk buy programs run by NAGA members; residents from across the NAGA region can purchase solar hot water, solar photo-voltaic panels and electric bikes through the program.

In addition, the DCES program is developing resources focused on a social marketing and communications plan, a business plan to assess long-term viability and a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan.

DCES is a flagship project for the implementation of NAGA's Towards Zero Net Emissions regional plan. It is being delivered by Moreland Energy Foundation with NAGA members.

Carbon Neutral Communities

NAGA was one of the industry partners for the Carbon Neutral Communities research project (2007-2009) led by RMIT's Centre for Design. The project was funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant.

The research aimed to:

  1. Identify carbon neutral potential, and social, economic, cultural and capacity barriers to achieving this potential;
  2. Assess the application of established techniques to address such barriers and provide practical solutions to carbon transition;
  3. Develop and test strategies for building the capacity needed to facilitate the breakthrough required in achieving carbon neutral communities by 2020, the key date in The National Greenhouse Strategy ; and
  4. Disseminate this knowledge to project stakeholders and the wider community.

Research papers and presentations can be found at the CNC website.

Northern Metropolitan Sustainability Street

With funding from the Victorian Government's Community Support Fund, NAGA delivered the 3 year 'Strengthening Communities - Sustainability Street Northern Metropolitan Melbourne Community Greenhouse Action' during 2006-8. The project brought together the twin objectives of community building and sustainable living (focused on waste, water and energy). The project was delivered across the NAGA region in the Cities of Darebin, Melbourne, Moreland and Whittlesea and demonstrated the exciting achievement of a ''critical mass'' of community capacity building, greenhouse action, sustainability innovation and neighbourhood linking in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. The final evaluation report can be downloaded from the online library.

Home Energy Action

In 2003, NAGA received funding from DSE's Community Action Fund to deliver the Home Energy Action project that focused on training community volunteers and council officers to enable them to undertake energy audits.

As part of the Home Energy Assessment Training, 44 trainees completed the training, and 30 homes were audited in each of 6 NAGA municipalities. Post program feedback surveys indicated that participating households were reducing emissions by an average of 10%.