Staff in our remote Antarctic bases are among the most enthusiastic campaigners for cutting energy use, writes Jennie Curtin.
After a summer of endless daylight, the sun will set just in time on Saturday for the members of the Australian Antarctic Division to have a candelit dinner for Earth Hour.
The 17 intrepid souls at Mawson station may be the most isolated Earth Hour participants. They arrived by ship from Hobart in October, taking nearly four weeks to push through some very thick sea ice and making a couple of stops at Casey and Davis stations on the way. This month the supply ship Aurora Australis called in (delivering, among other things, their Earth Hour T-shirts), but it will be eight more months before they see another person or ship.
The isolation of Antarctica is one of its attractions, along with its fragile yet stunning environment, which envelops all that this group of scientists and tradesmen do. The station leader at Mawson, Narelle Campbell, says personnel had enthusiastically embraced the Earth Hour concept.
“Everyone down here is drawn to the Antarctic because of its pristine, untouched environment and … whether they are a plumber, communications person or a scientist, they all have the same thing in common, and that is the passion for the environment,” she says.
Since they arrived, the crew members have long been attuned to finding ways to cut energy consumption and minimise waste and are particularly conscious of their power use.
“We never leave lights on and turn all equipment off when not using it,” she says.
“We must be the most energy-conscious bunch of people around. We are constantly checking usage figures, week on week, year on year, to ensure we are always under previous years’ usage - this is a team thing, and we all get behind this,” she says.
“We lose most of our heat by not shutting doors. Our set-up is similar to ski resorts: you walk through one door into the cold porch, take your heavy layers/boots off then through another door, where you walk into the main building.
“This is the set-up for all our buildings. If you leave the first door open too long we lose a lot of heat so there’s a rush to shut the door to ensure we maintain a constant temperature. If a door is left open our pagers ring indicating which door [it is].”
All fuel has to be brought in, which is a massive job, as Mawson is so isolated. Last year, one of the supply ships could not get through and a limited amount of vital equipment - including humans - had to be brought in by helicopter. “So any fuel that comes in, we know we have to treat it very carefully in case we don’t get any more,” Campbell says.
Individual consumption is also calculated and if there is a spike somewhere, it will be investigated to see if someone perhaps breached the three-minute shower rule. Despite the presence of so much ice, Antarctica is the driest continent, hence the shower rule. Sometimes staff are limited to a shower every second or third day if water supplies are particularly low.
Campbell’s crew are part of Australia’s contingent of up to 250 staff working during the summer research season and 60 over winter at its three Antarctic stations and its sub-Antarctic base at Macquarie Island. All of the bases will be observing Earth Hour.
The Antarctic Division has taken important steps in recent years to reduce the footprint left by those who use the continent for scientific study. Powdered milk and concentrated soft drinks and juices has reduced the number of plastic bottles used by 25,000 a year.
Waste is mostly sent back to Australia for either recycling or disposal; some is burnt in incinerators on the bases. All waste water is treated before it is discharged into the sea.
The bases generally use diesel to make water, generate power for light and heating and to run vehicles and camp stoves. But at Mawson, which is known as the “land of the blizzard”, and on Macquarie Island, wind turbines produce renewable energy and have greatly reduced the reliance on fossil fuels. During summer, with endless sunlight, solar supplies power for hot water and the laundry on Davis station.
On Mawson for Earth Hour, the crew will turn out the lights and any equipment that is not in use, but the heating will be reduced rather than switched off. With the temperature likely to be about minus 10, even worse if the wind is blowing, they are to be forgiven such an indulgence.
source:smh
