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Saving sports clubs money by making them more energy efficient is the task taken on by the team from Project Litefoot, who recently visited Hibiscus Coast Netball Centre and Raiders Rugby League Club.
Things such the type of light bulbs and appliances used, heating systems and refrigeration are checked by sustainability advisors as well as how the club disposes of food waste, what recycling is done and insulation.
Sustainability advisor Claire Keeling, who visited Raiders League Club in Stanmore Bay last month, says most clubs immediately see the benefit of making changes.
“They are gobsmacked that it’s a free service and also at how much they can save long term,” she says. “It leaves them with more money to spend on their core sport activities.”
The project has been running since 2011 and included previous visits to Hibiscus Coast Clubs in 2012 and 2014.
Project Litefoot is a Charitable Trust supported by sportspeople, including Brendon McCullum, Sarah Walker, Conrad Smith and Barbara Kendall, and is brought to local clubs by field workers.
The service is funded by the Ministry for the Environment, NZ Community Trust, Lion Foundation and ratepayers: the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board recently gave it $2435 for the work at the Hibiscus Coast Netball Centre.
The team travels the country in a van stocked with LED lightbulbs, water saving devices, hot water cylinder wraps, pipe lagging and indoor recycling bins for clubrooms. So far they have visited 579 clubs nationwide.
Over a two hour visit, each club has energy efficient products installed and receives advice and ideas on its particular issues.
The work includes replacing light bulbs, lagging the pipes to retain heat and installing gizmos in the toilet cistern and aerators on taps to reduce water use.
Claire says insulation is the biggest problem for sports clubs. “Often they invest in a heat pump, but when there are large rooms with no insulation, around 40 percent of that is lost,” she says.
She says insulation is also one of the most difficult issues to solve, because it’s expensive for clubs to install.
She says old appliances with leaky seals are also a common problem – the seals can be checked and maintained, but replacing old appliances with Energy Star rated models, which Project Litefoot recommends, may be beyond a club’s resources.
Along with energy efficiency and cost savings comes a win for the environment. Claire says recycling cans, bottles and cardboard from a club’s bar not only saves recyclables going to landfill, but saves the club money on waste disposal.
Any club that owns its own clubrooms is eligible for the service. Info: projectlitefoot.org
- Hibiscus Coast Netball Centre: Changes to lighting, water consumption and waste disposal are calculated to save $11,200 and 500,000L of water (over the eight-year lifetime of the products installed). A total of 46 light bulbs were upgraded to LEDs.
- Raiders Rugby League Club: Savings here, with the installation of a gizmo cistern weight, tap aerators and lightbulbs (28) are estimated at $6488 and 100,000L of water.
