Brief - 1 September 2010 - The Australian Local Government Association has welcomed an agreement between Labor and the Greens to hold a referendum in this parliamentary term to include local government in the Australian constitution. ALGA president Geoff Lake said that such a change to the constitution would help protect ...Read More > >

31 August 2010 - The National Association of Women in Construction last week awarded its prestigious Rider Levett Bucknall Crystal Vision Award to CEO of Lend Lease Tony Costantino and principal of Arup Marianne Foley. NAWIC’s NSW Chapter President Bridgeen Rocks praised both winners for their contributions towards promoting women working ...Read More > >

Brief - 25 August 2010 - The City of Sydney today said that businesses in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria have been misused in a "deceitful campaign to attack the City of Sydney cycleway program." Chief executive officer for the council Monica Barone said a legal letter from Mahoney Dominic lawyers ...Read More > >

BRIEF - 18 August 2010 - “Quality urban design does pay,” was the message of outgoing president of Living Streets Aotearoa Peter Kortegast at the recent this year’s Dollars and Sense of Walking conference held in Wellington, New Zealand. Creating walkable towns and cities through urban design – liveable communities that ...Read More > >

Brief - 17 August 2010 - The Australian Conservation Foundation has welcomed Labor’s $10 million commitment to create large green corridors connecting national parks and reserves but says more could be spent to support Australia’s natural life support systems. According to a recent Auspoll survey commissioned by the ACF and WWF, ...Read More > >

BRIEF - 16 August 2010 - Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited has won a legal action in the Federal Court over poor investment advice in an action prosecuted by IMF Australia Ltd, which funded the case. Ceramic Fuel Cells, which has developed high efficiency and low emission electricity generation units for domestic ...Read More > >

Brief - 11 August 2010 - A twin tower development in Singapore designed by designed by Denton Corker Marshall and Architects 61 has been awarded the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Core & Shell Platinum certification by the US Green Building Council (click here to view the case study). Developed ...Read More > >

Brief - 11 August 2010 - The federal government will provide financial incentives for households and businesses to invest in off-grid systems as part of changes to the Renewable Energy Target legislation. The new system relies on the “Solar Credits” scheme multiplier to provide the financial incentive for people in remote ...Read More > >

Brief - 10 August 2010 - Thermal imaging company Digital Mapping Australia, who specialise in thermal orthophoto technology (see our story here), will be hosting a presentation on the multi sensor approach to digital imagery in Sydney on 14 September. The presentation will give details on the use of LIDAR, thermal ...Read More > >

Events - 9 July 2010 - Malcolm Turnbull, Bob Carr, Allan Jones (City of Sydney) and Quentin Dempster are just a few of the all-star, all-expert line up turning up on Thursday night at Sydney Town Hall for a 6 pm (sharp) launch of the Beyond Zero Emissions Stationary Energy ...Read More > >

Brief - 4 August - The Productivity Commission is calling for individuals and organisations to take part in a public inquiry into the case for microeconomic reform in Australia’s urban water sector. The 12 month inquiry will look to identify opportunities for efficiency gains in the Australian urban water and wastewater ...Read More > >

Brief - 3 August 2010 - The Australian Conservation Foundation has welcomed policy commitments from the Australian Greens to cut energy consumption by 20 per cent over the next decade. ACF executive director Don Henry said that the Greens energy targets would help reduce power bills for businesses and households. “The Greens ...Read More > >

Brief - 3 August 2010 - The KNOWCHANGE the grassroots sustainability group will hold a fringe event on 10 August at the Shelbourne Hotel in Sydney during the Australia-New Zealand Climate Change and Business Conference. Key question for the forum will be: “How would you describe Australia in 2020 if by ...Read More > >

28 July 2010 - The Victorian government is among 14 customers across six countries to order gas-to-electricity BlueGen fuel cells from Ceramic Fuel Cells, according to a company report released today. The demand for the cells comes after a CSIRO report confirmed that significant carbon savings can be made through BlueGen, ...Read More > >

Brief 28 July 2010 - Ndever has claimed the Best E-Business Product honour at the 2010 Australian Business Awards for their GHG Accounting Software. CEO of Ndever Maureen Clifford said that the win for the product, which allows companies such as Oracle, Abigroup, Thiess, BGC, CSBP and Stockland manage their environmental ...Read More > >

Brief: 23 - July 2010 - Good Environmental Choice Australia has been recognised under the Green Building Council of Australia’s new more competitive assessment framework for Product Certification Schemes, after being sole assessor for several years. GECA is now one of four certification schemes to be recognised under the Framework. Other ...Read More > >

Brief - 21 July 2010 - Harvey Norman has reached an agreement with Ceramic Fuel Cells to stock their BlueGen gas-to-elecricity generators (view our story on fuel cells here). The generators will initially be sold through Harvey Norman’s commercial division to government bodies and commercial clients, with a view to later ...Read More > >

Brief - 20 July 2010 - Harvey Norman has reached an agreement with Ceramic Fuel Cells to stock their BlueGen gas-to-elecricity generators (see our story on fuel cells here). The generators will initially be sold through Harvey Norman’s commercial division to government bodies and commercial clients, with a view to later ...Read More > >

BRIEF - 15 July 2010 - The international standards organisation could soon have an energy management standard that could influence up to 60 per cent of the world’s energy use, according to the International Organization for Standardisation, or ISO. http://www.iso.org/iso/home.html The future ISO 50001 standard for energy management was recently approved ...Read More > >

Brief – 14 July, 2010 – About 200 leading researchers have gathered in Cairns for an international conference looking into the future prospect of farmers “growing” plastic. In the next few decades, scientists believe advances in technology could see plant oils replace petroleum as the precursor for plastics. CSIRO plant industry deputy ...Read More > >

Artists impression of an Icebergs site in New York City Brief – 13 July, 2010 – Woods Bagot New York has initiated a  “super-green” building system that reimagines and revitalises stalled construction sites as 100 per cent recyclable, high performance inflatable temporary “Icebergs” that can be used for a variety of ...Read More > >

BRIEF - 9 July 2010 - The potential to change the sustainability of the energy guzzling retail centre will be the focus of new research to be undertaken by Lend Lease and the University of Newcastle, with the support of the Australian Government’s Australian Research Council. The work is expected ...Read More > >

Brief: 9 July 2010 - Paddington Reservoir Gardens has continued to notch up major awards, the latest an international architecture award from the The Chicago Athenaeum and The Urban Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. Designed by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architect's and JMD Design the gardens now have a place as ...Read More > >

Brief – 29 July, 2010 – New Zealand marine energy company Wave Energy Technology has developed a wave converter that is designed to capture power from waves. Working under the title WET-NZ, a joint venture between the Crown Research Institute, Industrial Research Limited, and Power Project Limited, the converter has just ...Read More > >

29 June 2010 - The six-star Green Star The Ark commercial building in North Sydney developed by Investa and designed by Rice Daubney Architects will be offered to the market on a half share basis. A report this morning in The Australian Financial Review said estimated worth of the project at ...Read More > >

Brief – 29 July, 2010 – Woodhead has scooped top sustainability honours at this year’s Western Australian Architecture Awards, receiving the Walter Greenham Sustainable Architecture Award for its work on Durack House in Perth. In a double triumph, Durack House also received the Ross Chisholm Award for Commercial Architecture, with the ...Read More > >

25 June 2010 - The enhanced Renewable Energy Target and Building Energy Efficiency legislation has passed through the Parliament, to ensure that 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity supply in 2020 will come from renewable sources. Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Senator Penny Wong, welcomed the move and said ...Read More > >

Brief – 25 June, 2010 – The Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Airconditiong and Heating will produce two best practice guidelines aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption of Australia’s built environment. Expected to be released May 2011, AIRAH will receive funding from the AusIndustry Green Building Fund to ...Read More > >

Brief – 25 July, 2010 – Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum have agreed to embark on a project to create up to 20 low-carbon model cities using energy-efficient technologies including smart grids and renewable power generation. Announced at APEC’s forum meeting in Japan 19 June, the 21-member body will ...Read More > >

Brief – 25 June, 2010 – SA Water House, which won the Development of the Year at the Property Council’s annual Rider Levett Bucknall Innovation and Excellence Awards, was developed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide in collaboration with architecture firm HASSELL and builders Hansen Yuncken,. SA Water House was the ...Read More > >