SUSTAINABILITY

GKI Revitalisation Plans Team of expert environmental scientists and advisors will work with the community and leading researchers to ensure the Plan is an inspiration to guests, suppliers and local residents. GKI Revitalisation Plans Team has jointly contributed to the creation of a Sustainability Statement that commits to delivering a truly sustainable island resort.

Click here to view or download the Great Keppel Island Revitalisation Plan Sustainability Statement

Delivering Australia’s First 'Carbon Positive' Island Resort

Climate change is one of the most serious issues affecting the long term survival of the Great Barrier Reef. The cornerstone of the new GKI Revitalisation Plan will be a significant commitment to the use of renewable energy by embracing one of Australia’s most significant natural resources – its abundant sunshine. This is an ambitious target which will provide a model for future tourism projects to begin to address the issue of climate change.

ARUP Engineers, a world leading firm of sustainability engineers, has concluded that the GKI Revitalisation Plan can achieve its target of being Australia’s first carbon positive Island through the installation of over 23,500 solar panels on the rooftops of the tourism accommodation.

In total the solar panels will generate over 11,200 megawatt hours of clean renewable energy each year.

The Resort will generate more green power than it can use allowing additional energy to be fed back to the mainland through a submarine cable. Through this activity, additional green energy will be fed back into the grid for the benefit of Central Queensland residents.

Being ‘carbon positive’ equates to a significant reduction in carbon pollution that is the equivalent of taking 2,672 cars off the road each year.

Runoff Management

The GKI Revitalisation Plan will include appropriate buffers to sensitive areas and the adoption of best practice water sensitive design to ensure that no adverse runoff from the Resort will enter the marine waters.

Sustainable Water Use:

GKI Revitalisation Plan design has a strong focus on reducing water use, water harvesting and recycling. Each one of the eco-tourism villas will be fitted with a rainwater tank.

A mainland water connection will be provided to guarantee supply to meet the Resort’s water demands to supplement the rainwater harvesting.

The Resort will incorporate a range of water efficient fixtures.  These will include water efficient showers, taps, toilets, smart appliances such as dishwashers and clothes washing machines, smart meters on water supply and recycle water supply pipe lines and the installation of smart pipe line technology able to sense and alarm high flows and leaks in the supply networks.

Outdoor water demand will be reduced through the use of native plant species, low-water demand grasses, drip irrigation and smart irrigation controls such as rain sensors.