Not only that, but he believes it is only a matter of time before his Telsa Model S electric car – which he says cost him a similar price to any other high-end sedan – eventually pays for itself.

“Of course you’re never going to have to buy petrol and there are no servicing costs,” he said.

“At 20,000 kilometres Tesla say bring it back and they’ll have a look the wheel alignment and maybe check your brake pads, but the way I’m driving it now I don’t think I’ll ever put brake pads in it so it’ll only be a bit of suspension and tyres.”

The vehicle was the centrepiece of Saturday’s Repower: Considering Renewable Energy forum at the Discovery Centre and Mr Watkins said he was inspired to go electric out of a long-term interest in sustainability.

“If you can charge it up from your own renewable power system then you’re running a car around without using any fossil fuels which I really like the idea of,” he said.

“We were sending out of this region $275 million to buy electricity, imagine if that money stayed locally.

“We could be generating all the energy that this town would require and therefore keep the money locally, keep the local economy stronger and create more jobs.”

City of Greater Bendigo native vegetation co-ordinator Jodi Cant said the forum was one of a series of discussions aimed at making Bendigo as sustainable as possible while raising environmental awareness.

“We talk about opportunities for people to make changes in their own individual spaces within their own communities,” she said.

“Council certainly has a role to play, as does the community and a range of other stakeholders and agencies, so it’s really that broader understanding about how we can work together in partnership, each doing our own small things or big things in our spaces to shift that and have that change.”

Sustainable environment unit manager Robyn Major said part of the council’s agenda was helping people understand the impact of their daily lives on the natural environment.

“One of the big things that people like about Bendigo is that it’s touted as a city in the forest, well we’re just wanting to help people understand what that means to them,” she said.