The Hub Foundation
Founded in May 2014, the Hub Foundation Castlemaine Ltd is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. It was set up to help reduce our Shire’s – and our planet’s – CO2 emissions. Our largest project to-date is MASH, short for ‘More Australian Solar Homes’. MASH is a community solar bulk-buy project which has cut emissions by over 2,600 tonnes a year (equal to around 525 cars off the road) with 1.7MW of solar installed since September 2014. This is saving residents over $380,000 each year off their electricity bills. Check out the MASH Map to see exactly where MASH solar rooftops have been installed.
The Hub Foundation has also initiated and organised other projects such as the Evening with Tim Flannery at the Castlemaine Town Hall in September 2015, two Ride-to-Work brekkies and a plan to increase the number of vegetable wicking beds in Castlemaine. Recently, the Hub Foundation worked closely with Mount Alexander Sustainability Group to support community groups in the region to put in applications for grants under the Federal Grant Solar Towns Scheme.
The Board
The chair, Neil Barrett, has worked as an economist, state coordinator of FOE, CEO of Video Education Australasia, and founder and inaugural chair of the local sustainability group, MASG. He has also co-authored a book on uranium mining and produced many educational and public interest videos. He is currently manager of the Hub building.
Heather Barrett has a background in both business and community development. In 1994 she won the inaugural Victorian Business Woman of the Year. Currently, she is a committee member of the Growing Abundance Project, coordinator of the Hub Plot community garden and treasurer of the Foundation.
Mark Carter has worked as a graphic designer in Melbourne and Castlemaine for mainly public sector clients, NGOs and trade unions. Since working with Neil at FOE over 40 years ago he has maintained an interest in political and environmental campaigning and now contributes to the Foundation’s print-based marketing.
Project Officer
Jo Kaptein has been the Foundation’s project officer since mid 2014. With a Masters in Marketing and a successful track record of managing large marketing departments in commercial software and publishing in the UK, she has been instrumental in the success of the two MASH bulk-buy projects. She is responsible for all aspects of the promotion of the MASH community solar bulk-buy as well as partnerships and supplier relationships.
Advisory Panel
Deane Belfield is an engineer/entrepreneur, having worked for, or consulted to, major bluechip companies around the world. He is the principal of ECO2SYS which brings businesses together to create synergistic, industrial, ecology and renewable energy solutions, and also a director of Regenerative Australian Farmers (RAF).
Geoff Crosby is the principal of Crosby Architects and director of the Castlemaine Institute. He has a strong interest in sustainable housing design and building, in helping solve issues related to energy and water use in the community, and in the arts. One of his current projects is the development of a carbon neutral eco village.
Taryn Lane works for Embark Australia, a not-for-profit set up to kickstart the community energy sector in Australia. She has also worked for Australia’s first community-owned cooperative wind farm, Hepburn Wind, for over five years and is a founding director of the Australian Wind Alliance and an adviser to the Coalition for Community Energy.
Damien Moyse, the Alternative Technology Association’s Policy & Research Manager, leads ATA’s policy and advocacy work, covering the areas of energy efficiency, demand management, renewable energy and carbon markets, water conservation and sustainable transport. He also oversees ATA’s portfolio of research and consulting projects.
Jodi Newcombe is director of Carbon Arts, an organisation exploring the frontiers of art, science and ecology. She founded Carbon Arts following an international career as an environmental economist and sustainability consultant. Jodi’s experience in natural resource management and policy design, green technology and low-carbon urban development inform her current work.
Dr David Stratton is a retired IT lecturer and engineer. He is on the board of Renewable Newstead and has a long history of involvement in climate change issues. As David says `I used to teach computer networks; I’m now involved in community networks and the Hub Foundation is an important part of the local network’.
Terry White has been working creatively in the area of conservation and climate change for many years. He established the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance – the first of many alliances involving local councils in Victoria – in 2000 and later worked with the Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action in Melbourne.
Memberships and Affiliation
The Hub Foundation is a member of Environment Victoria, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Victorian Wind Alliance and Solar Citizens and is affiliated with Friends of the Earth Melbourne.
