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Sunshine Projects for Community
Currently we are running two projects called the 'Green Community' program and 'Adapt & Mitigate' Education program.
Green Community Projects:
How it works:
Sunshine Project's Green Community Projects raise funds for community not-for-profits to fund renewables and energy efficiency options so they can divert more financial resources to their core services.
1. IDENTIFY SUITABLE NOT-FOR-PROFIT RECIPIENT ORGANISATIONS
The first step in the Sunshine Project process is to identify suitable not-for-profit recipients. Our due diligence dictates we understand the organisation’s history, operational processes and outcomes in the context of their mission, community impact, compliance record, governance and financial stability. Critically, we need to know the organisation’s security of tenure and longevity in the building(s) it occupies.
2. IDENTIFY THE MOST SUITABLE UPGRADE
We assess the organisation’s energy consumption regime and identify renewables or energy efficiency upgrade options. We calculate the cost of each option, selecting the option that will provide the most benefit to the organisation. We seek the organisation’s approval (and where applicable, the building owner’s consent) to commence the selected project.
Selection includes meeting the criteria that the project will assist the organisation to:
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Divert more financial resources from energy costs towards maintaining and improving its vital social services to community.
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Reduce its carbon footprint.
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Be local environmental role models for energy generation and/or consumption.
3. PROJECT FINALISATION
Once target funds are raised, SPFC project manages the acquisition and installation of the selected project upgrade. SPFC only use good quality product and installers with warranty. The recipient organisation does not have any responsibility to manage the project. Adequate insurance coverage is maintained for all installations. However, future repairs and maintenance are the responsibility of the not-for-profit organisation.
Our Current Green Community Project
Springwood Drop-In Centre:
The Drop-in Centre was established in 2013 after the Linksview bushfire. Originally it was to be a temporary service to provide counselling services, emergency food specifically for people affected by the impact of the bushfire (which destroyed 193 homes and damaged approximately 100 in Winmalee and Yellow Rock).
However, it soon became apparent that the Centre’s services were needed more generally for people outside the bushfire affected areas. It now services the mid and lower Blue Mountains communities with:
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Gambling & financial counselling
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Family & relationship counselling
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General counselling including zoom & phone counselling services
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Linking service
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Cool Kids program for school kids with anxiety from primary school through to high school.
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Read 4 Wellbeing program and a community women’s circle to promote social connection.
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Computers, desk area and study space
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Emergency food
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Coffee or tea for people who wish to drop in for a chat and social connection.
The Drop-in Centre also auspices the Springwood Community Garden, Winmalee which was launched in 2017 by Costa Georgiadis to help the local community heal after the devasting 2013 bushfire.
Community Education Program
Adapt & Mitigate
AMCP is a project to educate community members on climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. The program is designed to empower people to take action on climate change in their daily lives.
The program is designed to show participants how to:
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Calculate their carbon footprint.
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Understand how to read their energy bill.
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Reduce their energy costs.
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Passively cool & heat their home.
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Design garden plantings for a warmer climate.
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Work out the business case for renewables.
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Become carbon neutral.
AMCP is a program that can be presented face-to-face or via zoom. It can be tailored to suit the needs of the community or organisation. Please contact us to find out more about AMCP.
Community Education Program
"I thought I already knew a lot but I learned a lot of new things that I didn’t know before this workshop and it has already saved me money."
- Julius Zimmerman - Workshop Participant
Some of our Completed Projects
Gateway Family Services
The Sunshine Project raised the funds to supply and install a 7.9kW solar system on the roof of Gateway Family Services, a charity located in Blaxland, NSW. The project also included the supply and installation of a Tesla Powerwall 2.0 Battery. The project was completed successfully in October 2020. The solar system is now generating 8 megawatt hours of power annum.
"Sunshine Project has done such a great job raising the funds to donate a 7.9kW solar system and Tesla Powerwall 2.0 battery to us. The supply and installation of the solar/battery system at our Blaxland operational premise has been seamless and now our former electricity cost has disappeared. Thank you Sunshine Project and thank you to our local state and federal members of Parliament, Trish Doyle and Susan Templeman, who supported Sunshine Project to raise the funds to make it happen."
- Gregory Lazarus, CEO, Gateway
Earth Recovery - Katoomba NSW
Sunshine Project, working with Katoomba Rotary Club, successfully raised the funds to supply and install a 5kW solar system on the roof of Earth Recovery, a not-for-profit organisation created to nurture social justice projects and the environment. The projected annual energy cost saving to that organisation is $1,500 per annum initially, increasing year on year. Now free sunshine can be the energy source for a significant part of their energy consumption.
Other advantages of the project include:
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Per annum it will displace 11,278,000 kWh of coal fired generated electricity.
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The project activity will lead to alleviation of poverty by generating additional employment, investment in the region and contribution to provision of basic amenities to people in the Madhya Pradesh district, as the offsets were acquired through the Clean Development Mechanism standard with the majority of the offsets acquired for the construction of 7.52 MW bundled solar facilities in Madhya Pradesh, India.
"The Green Community Program by Sunshine Project has helped to alleviate our energy cost burden and allowed us to allocate more resources supporting people in need. It has also generated tremendous local community awareness of what we do. The Sunshine Project is a win-win for all."
- Rosa Del Ponte, Director, Earth Recovery
Wentworth Falls Public School
Sunshine Project assisted Wentworth Falls Public School P&C to fund, procure and install a 20kW solar system on the roof of the School. The project also included the creation of a teachers’ aide to show the Wentworth Falls Public School children how the solar system works. A logger was included in the project to monitor all electricity flows from the system to the school and to the grid. Students are able to monitor the system performance by simple access to the laptops used for student tuition.