The world is changing and Dunedin needs to change too or it will be left behind, was the message from Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull last night, releasing a discussion document for an energy plan for the city for the next 10 years.
More than 160 people gathered at the public meeting to hear what Mr Cull and council chief executive Paul Orders had to say about a document that had already created controversy before it was released, when the Otago Chamber of Commerce, having not seen it, raised concerns that it would be ''overrun with green ideologies'' during public consultation.
Mr Cull said the document outlined the council's initial stab at a 10-year plan to achieve cost savings and enhance residents' quality of life by improving energy efficiency, and increase the city's energy security and ability to adapt to any future change in supply.
It also looked at how to reduce Dunedin's impact on climate change, how the city could take advantage of economic opportunities in a changing world and how it could assess its energy infrastructure needs.
He said Dunedin used 5631 million litres of petrol and diesel each year. It produced about 23% of the energy it consumed, but it was already known there was the potential to double the amount of electricity generated in Dunedin.
With the level of dependency on energy, the increasing cost of it, climate change, Dunedin's relatively low level of energy security and pressure from Government towards more renewable energy use, the city needed to start getting serious about the issue.
''The message for the city is we need to ride the wave of change, or be drowned by it.''
The document suggests the city could focus on doing things such as educating people more on ways to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and businesses; setting standards for housing and supporting local food initiatives to mitigate the costs of rising fuel prices.
Other suggestions are finding ways to encourage more use of public transport, walking or cycling; supporting the increased use of rail for freight and development of low-cost, local fuel and energy supplies for residential use.
Mr Orders said it could also mean supporting businesses to increase their competitiveness by becoming more energy efficient or supporting those interested in the business opportunities low-carbon goods and services presented.
Mr Cull said the energy plan was about the energy that was consumed in Dunedin, not oil and gas discovery proposed off its coast, which, if it did go ahead, would be unlikely to fall within the plan's 10-year timeframe anyway.
The council would be undertaking a separate consultation on that matter later in the year.
The council had inevitably missed out some of the issues or ideas that might help the plan's further development and sought feedback from the community by July 26, he said.
