By Wendy Truong and Edie Mather 3 September 2010 - The success of the Federal Government's Solar Bonus Scheme has seen over 30,000 households generating their own solar energy. Following is an outline of scheme and how it can benefit individual homes. The Australian Government is finally back on the solar bandwagon ...Read More > >

1 September 2010 - The Victorian Government has announced it will establish a new Office of Solar Energy and commit $30 million to support renewable energy. Victorian Premier John Brumby said that the $30 million funding boost will support the development of alternative energy technologies, including $5 million for projects in ...Read More > >

Green roofs, massive wetlands with nesting boxes to attract birdlife, locally generated power, on-site bore water and the creation of local employment these are just part of the mix in the regeneration practiced in the UK by Tom Bloxham. By Lynne BlundellFAVOURITES: 29 April 2010 -Tom ...Read More > >

From Bloomberg - 19 August 2010 - Stuart Biggs reports: New Zealand’s sheep farmers are flocking to a government carbon trading program that pays more to plant trees than sell wool and mutton. The system, begun in 2008 and the only one of its kind outside Europe, awards farmers credits that ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto FAVOURITES: 3 March 2010 - Five years after Cbus Property signed up Insurance Australian Group and other tenants to pay about $10 million in extra costs so their new premises at 181 William Street in Melbourne’s CBD would be a 5 Star Green Star building the property industry ...Read More > >

FAVOURITES [REPORTS ]- 3 February 2010 - Following is a second extract from  ASX-Listed Office Trusts: Does "Green" Pay? a definitive new study of green buildings by Citigroup Global Markets’ Elaine Prior and Felipe Faria, with Adrian Dark, Laurence Parisi and Jackie Tin. See Part I -Studies Into "Does Green Pay?" In ...Read More > >

By Lynne Blundell In the six years since Melbourne-based LAB Architecture Studio started working in China the sustainability landscape has changed dramatically. Other Australians too have found the country moving fast on its sustainability agenda- especially once the authorities get behind an initiative. Nanjing,  for instance, is almost a forest of ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 19 August 2010 - Lend Lease's Chris Carolan is a happy man right now. He's heading up a new company venture that has the potential to transform the average Australian's view of renewable energy, by making it safer, cheaper and easier to have a mini-solar energy plant on ...Read More > >

By Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES: 19 November 2009 -The inaugural conference on Profitable Sustainability in Property, held in Sydney last week, brought together the pointy end of the property industry – decision makers and those with financial influence from valuers to developers, engineers to bureaucrats –all keen to hear whether or not ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 20 August 2010 - Here’s a hypothetical: The new Federal Government is sworn in on Monday morning. The very first thing it does is convene a "citizen's assembly" from key parts of the sustainable property industry to ask them what are the five most important things that it ...Read More > >

From The Age - 18 August 2010 - The Chinese government last week ordered its most outdated, carbon-intensive cement works and steel mills to shut down by the end of September, told 22 provinces to stop discounting the price of electricity to aluminium smelters and that it would set up ...Read More > >

17 August 2010 – The Greens have called for Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard to improve their five per cent emission reduction targets after the release of an Australian Academy of Sciences report detailing comprehensive evidence of climate change. The release of the “Science of Climate Change” report comes as Prime ...Read More > >

By Andrew Starc 17 August 2010 - An enhanced renewable energy target, $5 billion worth of loan guarantees for renewable energy developments, plans to revitalise local communities and improvements to public transport systems are among The Greens’ major policies heading into this weeks election. Plans to transform Australia into a 100 per ...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 > >

By Tina Perinotto 12 July 2010 - The GPT Group last week launched the upgrade to its premium-grade office building at 530 Collins Street in Melbourne to an early morning crowd of about 100 people. The tower is expected to score 5 stars for NABERS Energy after a major refurbishment that includes ...Read More > >

What we need is a very fast train By Tina Perinotto 12 August 2010 - They say that in Melbourne tenants have been gazumping each other for five-star office space. Especially in the premium end of town such as Collins Street. True or not, premium space is running out. Not the old-fashioned premium, ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto and Andrew Starc 12 August 2010 - Mandatory disclosure of energy efficiency for large offices will at last take effect on 1 November. After a series of delays and lobbying to head off unforeseen problems, the industry has won itself a year-long transition period and a number of exemptions ...Read More > >

12 August 2010 - The Federal Government's new website for the Commercial Building Disclosure program - the new name for the mandatory disclosure scheme -  includes a list of buildings and their energy ratings, without green power. NABERS Energy certificates come with and without  "green power" in their ...Read More > >

Compromising on the sustainability performance of a residential development may well diminish, rather than preserve, the financial return. By Shauna Coffey 12 August 2010  - Sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. While the benefits of delivering these new communities are obvious, adoption ...Read More > >

11 August 2010 – A lift that generates kinetic energy is one of the features that helped the Asia Square twin tower development in Singapore win a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Core & Shell Platinum certification by the US Green Building Council. Developed by MPGA and designed by Denton ...Read More > >

13 July, 2010 - The number of rating tools, policies, reports, incentives and legal rulings on sustainable residential  development has proliferated in recent years. In this comprehensive work, legal firm Herbert Geer has created clear and focused guide through the maze. At least for the eastern seaboard. In 2020, Australian greenhouse ...Read More > >

Brief - 10 August 2010 - A conference to be held at the Columbia Law School in New York City will address the legal issues surrounding island nations that are at risk of being wiped off the map due to rising sea levels. A 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on ...Read More > >

11 August 2010 - UPDATE - Cundall has introduced a search function to its NABERS/Green Star Google Map that allows users to see which buildings have a NABERS or Green Star rating. Cundall managing director Simon Wild said that the application would assist landlords and tenants now that  mandatory disclosure will ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 4 August 2010 - Global property giant Lend Lease yesterday signalled green property leadership was back on the strategic business agenda with its appointment of two founders of the world-wide green building movement – Australian Ché Wall and Canadian Joe Van Belleghem. The two will join the global ...Read More > >

By Michael Baker 4 August 2010 - There’s an old joke that speaks to the reliability of information received through our own senses compared with that received from what we think are trusted secondary sources. A man named Andy comes home and finds his wife and best friend Pete in bed together. ...Read More > >

by Andrew Starc 4 August 2010 - The Planning Institute of Australia has called on Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to address the issue of long term planning by issuing five key planning priorities it says are vital to Australia’s long term success. PIA national president Neil Savery said in a media ...Read More > >

By Adam Murchie FAVOURITES - 9 July 2010 - Initiatives such as water recycling, photo voltaic cells, tri-generation plants, grey and blackwater recycling and lighting improvements typically take much of the focus as ways to improve the environmental performance of property.  But while all of these outcomes certainly play a significant ...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 > >

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