[Greens-Media] Greening parliament house - a fridge too far for Premier Iemma

[Lee Rhiannon]

Media release - 24 September 2007

Greening parliament house - a fridge too far for Premier Iemma

Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has called on Premier Morris Iemma to mark the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Montreal Protocol by reversing his governments refusal to remove from the NSW Parliament an old CFC air conditioning chiller that is a source of greenhouse pollution and gases that damage the ozone layer. 

"There is no excuse for the Premier to continue dragging his feet on upgrading to environmentally friendly refrigeration for the NSW parliament", Ms Rhiannon said.

"Australia has signed the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and in the past week theParties to the Montreal Protocol have reached a significant agreement to accelerate the phase out of hydrochloroflurocarbons. CFCs and HCFCs are found in some of the NSW parliamentary chillers. 

"We understand that three of the main chillers in the NSW parliament are outdated and emit ozone depleting greenhouse gases. One is a 27-year old centrifugal chiller using CFC-11, a potent ozone depleter and very powerful greenhouse gas. The remaining two chillers use HCFCs which emit significant greenhouse gases now targeted for swifter phase out.

"The governments refusal to retire these old systems before they leak any more harmful gases does not say much for the Labor governments environmental credentials and commitment to reducing greenhouse pollution. 

"Premier Iemma's failure to remove these refrigeration systems is breaking the rules the government established for public sector operations.

"The NSW Greenhouse Plan specifically states that the NSW government will reduce the use of potent industrial (synthetic) greenhouse gases and introduce stricter controls on synthetic greenhouse gases such as hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants (point 3.5.8).

"For a small investment, it is possible to replace these old systems with an energy efficient low global warming potential refrigerant.

"When these chillers are removed professional help will be needed to ensure the CFCs they contain does not leak out. The CFCs should be sent to Refrigerant Reclaim Australia for destruction.

"It is time these old chillers were removed from the NSW Parliament and the NSW government started leading by example", Ms Rhiannon said. 

For more information: Lee Rhiannon 9230 2551, 0427 861 568 
Brent Hoare, Natural Refrigerants Transition Board (www.nrtb.org.au) - 0417 478 268