All BREAZE

Sunday 28 May 2pm - 4pm

Come and celebrate BREAZEs 10th birthday party!
Where: M.A.D.E.  The Museum of Australian Democracy (M.A.D.E) Theatre
102 Stawell Street South Ballarat
Light refreshments will be served.
Please register for the event for catering purposes
RSVP to - Contact Paul Duggan on 0432 390492 if you would like to help with this function.

BREAZE formed as a result of a groundswell of people meeting after Ballarat's 2006 "Walk Against Warming" rally at Lake Wendouree. The concept was further promoted at the 2006 Ballarat Springfest Extravaganza's  Environment Pavilion and a public meeting was convened with representatives of the Mount Alexander Sustainability Group and a local steering committee was established. The group hosted its first formal meeting at Aquinas University in February 2007 and later that month BREAZE became an incorporated body with an initial 44 signed up members. From the BREAZE's 2007 Strategic Plan the following statements that are still valid are provided:

BREAZE's Community Vision

By 2020, the Ballarat community will have significantly reduced its GHG emissions with the direct intention of achieving zero emissions by 2030.

BREAZE's Core Objective

It is the intention of BREAZE to facilitate, encourage and educate the wider Ballarat community towards a goal of zero emissions by 2030.The advocacy, installation and provision of renewable energy sources and improved efficiencies across the residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural and transport sectors of society will reduce Ballarat's greenhouse gas emissions and move the community towards a sustainable future.

BREAZE's Statement of Purpose

The principal objective of BREAZE is to protect and enhance the natural environment and increase sustainability within the region by promoting and developing renewable sources of energy and significantly reducing the region's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

Getting to know our volunteers –

Many of you would know Joe, he is a founding member of BREAZE and over the years has volunteered in a range of roles: Committee member, co-ordinator for Sustainable House Day and Smart Living Ballarat and Board member. Joe continues to play an active role in promoting renewable energy and sustainable practice.

Q&A by Tarn Kruger with Joe

This website has been built to reflect the BREAZE structure.   A brief explanation of this structure / web site follows.

This document needs to be updated.

April has been a busy month for Board members and volunteers with planning for our 10^th Anniversary event to be held next month (Sunday 28^th May) at the Eureka Hall, recruiting a Smart Living Ballarat Coordinator, making a submission to the City of Ballarat in relation to the Draft Council Plan 2017-21 and working collaboratively with other Regional Sustainability Alliance Ballarat members on positioning Ballarat as centre for renewable energy.

Peter Reid and Jane Lean have been working tirelessly on the New Energy Jobs Project and attended an interview with the funding assessment panel following submission of the application last month.

Getting to know our volunteers –

Ruth Bentley is the Membership Officer for BREAZE and has been since joining in 2007. This volunteer role suits Ruth because she can pick and choose time to work on the list in-between juggling her family of six, four children, husband Rob and of course Ruth.

Q&A by Tarn Kruger with Ruth

The BREAZE board has now the infrastructure to support the application for grants.

Recently the board were reluctant to apply for grants because we could not secure resources to support the ongoing work required within the grant.    While volunteers are crucial  to any organisation like BREAZE  it is unreasonable and unsustainable to expect the commitment required over an extended period to manage many of these grants.  As we have now established contractor panels to support projects and major events we have and will continue to investigate funding opportunities that are available and meet BREAZE's environmental principles.  

Read about our latest grant application Bio-energy Briquette Supply Chain

We are currently looking at several other oppurtunities.    If you woulkd like to help in this process please let us know.

BREAZE has submitted an application to the New Energy Jobs Fund for the Bio-energy Briquette Supply Chain project.  This project will prepare a business case for a briquette supply chain, based in the Ballarat area, that uses waste wood & sawdust to make briquettes and subsequently uses those briquettes for commercial and industrial processes.  The application is for $71,140 which will be match with a $69,840 in-kind contribution from project partners, BREAZE, BRI, PINARC and Federation University.  BREAZE is also contributing $2,500 in cash to the project.

The key objectives of this project are to

• design systems for the transport, manufacture and distribution of briquettes and their associated feed stock;
• establish fixed & variable costs, as well as break even points & sell prices, for briquettes;
• demonstrate how existing heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems can be converted to run on briquettes;
• clarify labour inputs associated with these processes and the extent of new job creation
• facilitate knowledge sharing of the findings.

We are currently looking at several other oppurtunities.    If you woulkd like to help in this process please let us know.