From Climate Spectator - 3 September 2010 - The missing link in Australia’s climate change debate – a strong and unified business voice in support of a carbon price – may have finally been found. The appointment of Lend Lease Australia CEO Rod Leaver as chairman of the National Business Leaders ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 2 September 2010 - Daniel Grollo is only a few minutes late for our interview. But then that’s to be expected. These days he sandwiches his time between his new home base in New York with his wife Kat and two children, and running Grocon, the huge private ...Read More > >

From The Guardian - 2 September 2010 - The world's most high-profile climate change sceptic is to declare that global warming is "undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today" and "a challenge humanity must confront", in an apparent U-turn that will give a huge boost to the ...Read More > >

1 September 2010 - The Green Building Council of Australia has released the final framework of its long awaited Green Star Communities rating tool. GBCA chief executive Romilly Madew said that the agreement will help establish the Green Star tool as a best practice benchmark for sustainable community projects after a ...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 > >

By Tina Perinotto September 2010 - Making the most astounding headlines today was Bob Katter, one of the three key Independents who are deciding the future of this country, with his statement on ABC radio that two of giants of climate change Nicholas Stern and Australia's Ross Garnaut were "lightweight" ...Read More > >

By Ken Maher Following is the AS Hook Memorial Address delivered by Australian Institute of Architects 2009  Gold Medalist, Ken Maher. FAVOURITES: 29 October 2009 - I believe designing in the future will need to be an organic process, an ecological process, where landscape and nature are integrated and interpreted. This will ...Read More > >

Our top stories for the month ending 31 August 2010. News From The Front Lend Lease Solar has very big ambitions CBD energy ratings: how your building compares People and Jobs Lend Lease’s solar tilt - another leap onto the bright side News from the front desk: Issue No 35 Sydney could soon have a Frank Gehry ...Read More > >

by Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES - 25 February 2010 - Christoph Ingenhoven, principal of German architectural firm Ingenhoven Architects, had the audience at Green Cities 2010 spellbound during an impressive presentation of his firm’s cutting edge sustainable architecture. He and his team have designed buildings for cities around the world, collectively winning ...Read More > >

    By Lynne Blundell The lowdown on 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.Read our  TFE SPECIAL INVESTIGATION. 20 July 2010  - Lighting is hot right now. Every week, it seems, there is ...Read More > >

25 August 2010 - The NSW Government’s Solar Bonus Scheme will undergo a performance review after it reached its first milestone capacity of 50 megawatts. NSW Minister for Energy Paul Lynch said that the important terms of the Scheme, such as its length and the tariff rate, were locked into legislation. “If ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 25 August 2010 - Corin Millais, Mirvac’s relatively new sustainability manager, comes with an impressive background. He was at the lead of intensive campaigns for renewable energy by Greenpeace. He took the European Wind Energy Association in Brussels from a three-person operation to a turnover of 7-8 million Euro ...Read More > >

    By Tina Perinotto 23 August 2010 - Business was so nervous on Monday after the deadlocked election result that some people even questioned whether to cancel functions scheduled for this week. The Property Council chief executive officer Peter Verwer  yesterday played down the negative impact of the election on business sentiment. ...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 > >

In the midst of a densely urban setting in downtown Pasadena, California, radical change is taking root. For over 20 years, the Dervaes family has transformed its home into an urban homestead and a model for sustainable agriculture and urban living. Calling this project, “Path to Freedom,” the Dervaes Family ...Read More > >

Is this the man who won the election tomorrow? By Tina Perinotto 20 August 2010 - It's way too late to convince anyone to vote for Labor because it has promised $1 billion in tax write offs to fund sustainable property outcomes plus a few other bits and pieces. And because the ...Read More > >

    By Lynne Blundell 20 July 2010 - A small Australian manufacturing team is bucking the trend with its linear fluorescent light fitting, using what many consider outdated technology to achieve what it says is a 70 per cent reduction in lighting energy use and more effective lighting. Some large property owners, ...Read More > >

From the ACF- 20 August 2010 - The Australian Conservation Foundation’s final assessment of the main parties’ environment policies gives the Greens a high distinction, Labor a bare pass and the Coalition a fail. ACF’s scorecard has the Coalition on 22 out of 100, Labor on 50 and the Greens ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 19 August 2010 -Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s “Low Carbon Community” policy has been  welcomed by the sustainable property  industry. The policy promises $80 million to support local councils and communities in energy efficiency measures such as co generation and upgrades to facilities to save energy. Public buildings account for more ...Read More > >

FAVOURITES -  20 May 2010 - Early this year leading Sydney planner and vocal advocate for planning reform in NSW Julie Bindon joined The Fifth Estate on a mini scouting expedition to Melbourne to see if the Victorians could shed any light on better planning systems. As part of this expedition ...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 > >

18 August 2010 - Landcom was a key contributor to the voluntary code for universal housing adopted last month by coalition of property, housing, social services and government agencies. The voluntary guidelines, which aim to influence all new house constructed by 2020, are expected to make good social and economic sense. See ...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 > >

By Tina Perinotto 15 July 2010 - According to GPT sustainability manager Bruce Precious there are perhaps only six people in Australia he would trust with serious upgrades to his company’s prized assets. Steve Hennessy is one of them. As head of operations for Steensen Varming, Hennessy is an insider’s choice: an ...Read More > >

By Boris Kelly 13 August 2010 - With only days left in the federal election campaign and with both major parties poncing around the point on climate change, 2000 people packed the Sydney Town Hall for the launch of a plan to achieve zero emissions in Australia by 2020 by re-powering ...Read More > >