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Engineering/Technology

By Lynne Blundell 8 February 2012 – Geothermal systems are the latest technology to be embraced by wealthy residential clients who wish to be green leaders, according to architect Luigi Rosselli, with one of the firm’s Sydney clients... 
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19 December 2011 – Umow Lai has won the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating excellence in sustainability award for its work on Melbourne’s Pixel building.  Read More > >  
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By Lynne Blundell 8 November 2011 –Sustainable design featured prominently in the Gold Coast Urban Design Awards this year, with two major projects that incorporate sustainable elements, Metricon Stadium and Broadwater Parklands, receiving top awards. The... 
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By Rebecca Pearce 22 July 2010 – FAVOURITES : Tackling the fundamental problem of carbon emissions from older style buildings is one of the key issues for the property industry. However, one Australian fund manager has proved that existing... 
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By Tina Perinotto 2 November 2011 – According to Queensland based AECOM managing director for water and infrastructure services Andrew Macleod there is a “desperate” need for skilled people across the entire engineering sector. Some of this... 
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By Tina Perinotto 26 October 2011 – A new wind turbine whose manufacturers claim is “almost silent” has been launched at Geelong in Victoria and is attracting significant attention, amid a recent backlash against wind power generation in... 
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By Lynne Blundell 19 October 2011 – GPT’s 111 Eagle Street building in Brisbane was given an innovative façade treatment for its glass lift shaft to overcome issues of heat ¬– the first time the method has been used for lifts. Scheduled for... 
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By Scott Willey 22 November 2010 –  Favourites: The Building Code of Australia has controlled the energy efficiency of glazing in office buildings since 2006. It is the tightening of the control in the 2010 provisions of Section J that could toll... 
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By Ashak Nathwani 20 September 2011 – Here’s one for the books: “The single-minded pursuit of GreenStar and NABERS sustainability ratings for buildings is leading directly to compromises on indoor environmental quality and productivity.”... 
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7 September 2011 – Cate Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton were the star attractions on Friday last week when arts groups resident at Sydney’s The Wharf launched a new rainwater harvesting and reticulation system that will provide 100 per cent... 
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By Lynne Blundell 17 March 2011 –One of the biggest challenges facing designers and construction companies today is the selection of building materials for minimum environmental impact. In his keynote address at Green Cities, Michael Green, principal... 
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By Lynne Blundell Lighting is far more complex than meets the eye. Greater efficiency might come with dangerous levels of mercury, or metals that need to be disposed of. July 2010  – FAVOURITES: Lighting is hot right now. Every week, Read More... 
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By Caroline Noller Caroline Noller has delved into the secrets of six of our world’s most important materials – those that contribute most of our carbon emissions. Here is part two of her investigations: See Part I here Aluminium 25 March... 
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6 May 2011 – Bluescope Steel last night won the Insurance Council of Australia Resilience Award Competition with an innovative home design, by Caroline Pidcock of Pidcock Architects, aimed at preparing Australian communities for extreme weather conditions... 
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By Lynne Blundell A second case study from the Australian Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning and Heating, conference, held in September in Melbourne, on the theme of  just how critical good facilities management is for achieving energy efficiency... 
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6 April 2011 – US Green building and water conservation consultant Jerry Yudelson claims he knows the best way to deal with urban water crises which are a growing concern in the US. A graphic reference tool of critical new opportunities in water conservation,... 
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By Lyn Drummond 29 March – Sustainability knowledge particularly in research and development is far more important for senior people in the building services industry than five years ago according to an Australian recruitment company. Simon Black,... 
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In energy efficiency land they’re really busy By Tina Perinotto 31 March  2011 – Busy? That isn’t the word for it, says Paul Bannister,  highly regarded building engineer,  managing director of energy efficiency experts Exergy and a key... 
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20 April 2011 – Tristram Carfrae, leader global building design for the international engineering and design company, Arup, recently returned to London after 20 years in Australia. He leaves behind an impressive body of work both in this country... 
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23 March – From The New York Times: When Macarena Chiriboga came to Bali in 2009, she had just finished a master’s degree in architecture in the US doing her thesis on the use of bamboo as a building material. The trip was meant to be a vacation.... 
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24 March 2011 – Case Study: According to mySmart CTI, a Sydney-based company that provides energy efficiency solutions, refurbishment of an art deco heritage building at 99 Macquarie Street in Sydney showed that it was possible to provide the building... 
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By Caroline Noller Caroline Noller has delved into the secrets of six of our world’s most important materials  and found elements of genius, commercial know-how, colourful characters and the nasty truth about their embodied carbon. This... 
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  17 March 2011 –The first green-plumbing trade school in Victoria has been opened in Melbourne by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet and the federal member for Deakin, Mike Symon. The federally-funded Swinburne TAFE... 
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By Craig Roussac 10 March 2011 – Electricity use in Sydney office buildings can more than double in extreme heat, but responsive management can keep a lid on greenhouse emission, research by conducted by the Green Buildings Alive project has found Growing... 
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11 March 2011 – Updated 7 April 2011 – The bar for sustainable construction has just been raised. Australia now has the first scientifically reliable and independently validated database for life cycle assessment of building products and its developers... 
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The federal government has promised a tax break program for green buildings worth up to to $1billion. How the program will work in practice may change following a call for public submissions, now closed. Following are details of original proposals for... 
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By Lynne Blundell 21 January 2011 – The forestry industry and union have been stirring up controversy on the way Green Star ratings account for timber sustainability certifications. Now we look at the underlying sustainability of timber and how... 
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By Tina Perinotto 17 February 2011 – According to chief executive of Grosvenor Australia Rob Kerr the five star Green Star and five star NABERS Energy ambitions for Eclipse, the company’s joint venture office tower with Leighton Properties... 
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by Lynne Blundell 15 February 2011 – A visit to Hong Kong and China inevitably leads to thoughts of urban planning and the realities of high density living. Lynne Blundell returned from such a trip and has looked at research that challenges the current... 
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By Andrew Aitken,  Green Building Council of Australia 9 February 2011 – The Green Building Council of Australia is inviting industry to have its say on the development of a new Green Star assessment methodology to rate the operational performance... 
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