BRIEF – 16 October 2009 – The Economist’s latest edition makes a clear case for not relying completely on the market to solve our energy and emissions problem. On 12  October the UK’s Committee on Climate Change, chaired by Lord Turner (who is also a financial regulator), published its first report concluding that “although recession is holding emissions back, they are dropping at an average annual rate of under 1 per cent, rather than the 2-3 per cent needed, The Economist says. “The committee’s diagnosis was stark: the market, left to its own devices, is failing to deliver. Consumers are not buying energy-efficient appliances or insulating their houses, carmakers are failing to get emissions down and power companies still prefer fossil fuels to greener alternatives. “A bracing dose of re-regulation was prescribed: the CCC suggests compulsory emissions caps for cars, feed-in tariffs to help green-power producers and a state-enforced minimum carbon price to encourage... 
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From The Atlantic magazine, some excerpts from the article, The Elusive Green Economy, by Joshua Green: “The best way to get an idea of what a green future might look like is to visit Silicon Valley. It’s impossible to convey how otherworldly the place felt this spring. While the rest of the country suffered beneath the blackening clouds of recession, Silicon Valley buzzed with giddy anticipation that “cleantech,” in local parlance, represents the next great economic boom. In a place that reveres its idols the way ancient Rome did, no less than the famed venture capitalist John Doerr has pronounced cleantech “the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century.” Today, Silicon Valley is the anti-Detroit. “Last year, cleantech was the third-largest recipient of venture funding, after IT and biotechnology, with investments of $5.8 billion. But that statistic doesn’t begin to convey its psychic significance. It’s all anyone wants to talk about. “Exhilaration over clean... 
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FAVOURITES- From The Atlantic magazine, some excerpts from the article, The Elusive Green Economy, by Joshua Green: “The best way to get an idea of what a green future might look like is to visit Silicon Valley. It’s impossible to convey how otherworldly the place felt this spring. While the rest of the country suffered beneath the blackening clouds of recession, Silicon Valley buzzed with giddy anticipation that “cleantech,” in local parlance, represents the next great economic boom. In a place that reveres its idols the way ancient Rome did, no less than the famed venture capitalist John Doerr has pronounced cleantech “the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century.” Today, Silicon Valley is the anti-Detroit. “Last year, cleantech was the third-largest recipient of venture funding, after IT and biotechnology, with investments of $5.8 billion. But that statistic doesn’t begin to convey its psychic significance. It’s all anyone wants to talk about. “Exhilaration... 
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In a move that underlines its growing global activities and alignment with the WSP group of companies, Australian green engineering group Lincolne Scott has re-branded as WSP Lincolne Scott. The re-branding brings significant benefits to both organisations. For Lincolne Scott it means access to the extensive international network of the WSP group of companies, while WSP will leverage the expertise and global reputation of Lincolne Scott in international bid teams. Lincolne Scott’s managing director, Che Wall, says the move is a win-win for Lincolne Scott as it cements the opportunities and benefits of being part of a global network. “The decision to re-brand as WSP Lincolne Scott reflects a natural evolution since we joined the WSP Group in mid 2007, and the reality that both partners have been strengthened by the union,” said Wall. As examples of the benefit of the WSP network to Lincolne Scott and its clients, Wall pointed to the fact that Lincolne Scott’s bid team for Barangaroo... 
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by Lynne Blundell The stick and carrot approach is proving a good one for pushing sustainability globally. As governments around the globe respond to the climate change challenge with stricter building codes, together with incentives, green buildings and technologies are booming. In the US, the introduction of California’s Green Buildings Standards Code is expected to result in a significant growth in green technologies and homes. A 2007 report by McGraw Hill Construction, Green Homeowner SmartMarket predicted the market for green homes to increase 10-fold over the next five years and to account for 10 per cent of all new building starts by 2010. According to the report, green products are already used in 40 per cent of all US home renovations. The new Californian code calls for a 20 per cent improvement in water use efficiency, 50 per cent increase in water conservation, and 15 per cent reduction in energy consumption in all new construction. The code is voluntary until 2010, when... 
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by Chris Miller Part 2 of a snapshot view of China’s sustainability challenge … The urban fabric of modern Chinese cities changes at an amazing rate. The same strictures and checks on the development process that we’re used to do not apply to many of the jurisdictions in China. When a development is approved nothing will stand in its way, whether that is the physical or cultural environment, or people. In Zhuhai, hills and historic housing precincts are razed to make way for more apartment towers. In Hong Kong there may be public expressions of disquiet over environmental issues but on the mainland public dissent to the dislocation caused by major civil projects is often dealt with harshly and summarily. Outside the city many new apartment developments spring up in fields where formerly there were a small cluster of houses. Often these scenes are bleak and barren. In the prosperous city developments landscaping is more evident. Long history of landscape design China, of... 
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The demise of a planned eco-city in China highlights it is not just global economic woes, but more often political machinations, that threaten such projects in China, according to a report in The Economist. Dongtan, a project located on an alluvial island near Shanghai, was designed by British design firm Arup to house 500,000 people on a 8,600-hectare site. It was billed as a low-carbon alternative to urban sprawl and a blueprint for other eco-cities. But four years down the track nothing has been built and former Shanghai Communist Party chief, Chen Liangyu, who steered the land into the hands of state-owned developer Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation (SIIC), is under house arrest for property-related corruption, the report says. While Arup denies the project has been cancelled, its original plans to move 50,000 residents in by 2010, when Shanghai hosts the World Expo, have been dropped. A new bridge and tunnel spanning the estuary will open to traffic later this year putting... 
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By Chris Miller FAVOURITES  – 8 April 2009 - China’s remarkable economic resurgence in the last few decades has seen it become the world’s manufacturer. With the enormous outpouring of exported goods has come a rapidly-expanding middle class with a good deal of affluence that would have been unimaginable 30 years ago. The love affair with cars alone tells the story. But with growing prosperity has come increased concerns on sustainability. Until now at least, China’s ecological footprint has been far less than that of developed nations but the sobering thought is that it is the older, undeveloped China that it is keeping it in this position. Of the 31 provinces in China, Guangdong Province in the southeast has been the one that has benefited most with its seaports and special economic zones and is now the most prosperous province in China. Even here, the relative nature of prosperity is clearly evident. A short trip away from the major cities in Guangdong Province reveals... 
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[UPDATE 14 November 2009] : 5 November 2009 – Green buildings have many benefits, everyone agrees. But now investors have proof that green buildings also bring in bigger dollars – a premium of up to five per cent on comparable non-green buildings in fact – thanks to new research in the United States commissioned by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and presented last week in Sydney at the joint Australian Property Institute-Australian Direct Property Investment Association conference, Profitable Sustainability in Property. [Full report soon.] In an ironic twist, the research also found that after governments the next biggest occupiers of green buildings were oil companies. According to RICS the research, Doing Well By Doing Good, by Nils Kok and Piet Eichholtz of Maastricht University and John Quigley of the University of California, Berkley, proves what many people have believed anecdotally – that green buildings are worth investing in. RICS chief economist Simon... 
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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. Read More  
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