Given the choice, few people would choose to live a life where they cause more harm to the environment than they need to.

The vast majority of people do not want to be the cause of pollution if they can help it, and do not want to contribute to any degradation of the natural world.

But they don’t want their green life to cost them considerably more than their current life.

Which is what makes the initiative on Charles Sturt University’s Bathurst campus detailed in today’s Western Advocate so interesting.

As part of its drive to be lean and green, the university has built a cogeneration plant here in Bathurst which will improve its energy use efficiency while lowering its annual greenhouse gas emissions by seven per cent. 

But it’s the finances that make this story particularly fascinating.

CSU estimates that after just one year of operation, the cogeneration plant – which is expected to produce 65 per cent of the power needed for its local campus – will save it nearly $250,000 compared with power used from the electricity grid. 

That’s a big saving. And it’s a saving that will surely be observed with interest by organisations with similar energy use.

It’s appropriate that this good news is coming out of CSU’s Bathurst campus, which has such a proud history of innovation and imagination in teaching.

And it’s great timing that the cogeneration plant at CSU is making the news now, as the city gears up for the Bathurst 1000.

It’s yet another reminder, for those who don’t know, that Bathurst is much more than a centre of motorsport excellence, it’s a centre of educational excellence.

And it’s a city of energy – in many forms.