This is a big call, but think about it. We have extensive wind farms the district, stretching from Taralga in the north to Lake George in the south and there are other wind farms still under construction in the area. Some of these wind farms are already feeding the the ACT energy market.

The Community Energy for Goulburn is building a community owned solar farm, right here in the city. There’s also a bio-reactor at Woodlawn and now this initiative, a Bioenergy plant at the abattoir. 

This renewable energy plant at Southern Meats has been given the go-ahead and will start operating in Goulburn early next year. The plant will run on Biogas, which is a mix of methane, produced from a lagoon filled with wastewater from the meat processing plant. Natural gas will augment it during periods of peak demand. 

What a great initiative. It comes on top of an interesting energy forum that was held in Goulburn last week at Politics in the Pub. The forum highlighted that batteries are becoming cheaper and they will definitely be part of the energy mix in the future. They will also allow more security to the national electricity grid, with less reliance on coal-fired power stations in the future. 

It is not easy to become someone’s friend. In fact, a good friend is hard to come by, which makes the State Medal of Friendship appointed to Peter Sykes by the Mongolian government a big deal.

There is nothing extravagant about his past. The hard working builder was raised on a farm, lived on the land and then took a trip overseas. Where most people would return bearing gifts and flashing photographs, Mr Sykes saw something different.

He returned to Mongolia more than 20 times, immersing himself in the culture, allowing himself to become somebody he might never have expected.

Today he is the author of three books and anticipates another, his growing recognition of the world’s wonders further exemplifying the art of good travel. 

This medal represents that real travel, done right, does not stop at an Instagram trending hashtag or wearing a chic traditional necklace. Travel can open the mind to create, or in some cases, like the one of Mr Sykes, unite the people of two countries.