By Tina Perinotto 16 May 2012 – The Association of Building Sustainability Assessors says the move to more efficient housing has taken another step backwards with the decision by the new conservative Queensland Government to scrap the Home Sustainability Declaration on energy efficiency. Read More  
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16 March 2012 – Willoughby City Council, Sydney is encouraging residents wanting to install a solar PV system to visit the ClimateClever Shop before financial incentives from the federal government decrease on 1 July. The online shop is supported by Willoughby City, Hunters Hill, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove, North Sydney and Mosman Councils. The federal government’s solar credits scheme offers a discount of up to $2,511 for the first 1.5 kilowatts of capacity installed for systems connected to the main electricity grid. According to the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, the financial incentive offered through the solar credits scheme will reduce by one third on 1 July 2012, and then by the same amount again by 1 July 2013. – reducing the discount to approximately $1,674 this year and to approximately $837 next year, a statement by Willoughby Council said. “It makes financial sense for Willoughby residents to act now in order to take advantage of the financial support... 
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By Tina Perinotto 16 May 2012 – If you are confused about the star ratings for buildings, a proposal on the table from the federal government might just sort it all out and bring the sustainability rating schemes into harmony, across types of ratings, between residential and commercial, and ramp the whole lot up to 10 stars for good measure. These ideas, part of a proposal released on Monday only days after the budget’s axing of the Tax Breaks for Green Buildings program, seem to have taken the industry by surprise. But the ideas are a draft only and members of the working party that helped devise the framework say theu are not as radical as they might at first appear The proposal, the National Building Energy Standard-Setting, Assessment and Rating Framework, is essentially a roadmap for the rebranded National Building Code, previously the Building Code of Australia. Key questions raised in the framework include, should the star ratings of tools that might figure in minimum... 
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16 May 2012 – From The Conversation by Peter Newman:“King coal still reigns” was the headline emblazoned across a full page article in The Weekend Australian on the 28-29 April 2012, by environment editor Graham Lloyd. The article’s subtitle was, “The world is in the grip of a fossil fuel boom that shows no sign of fading”. Nothing could be further from the truth. The latest data on global investment in new power production shows the dramatic decline in fossil fuel investment, and an astonishing increase in renewables investment. In 2004, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the International Energy Agency, investment in renewables was $52 billion, with $250 billion invested in fossil fuels. By 2008 the peak in fossil fuel investment had arrived: it dropped to $140 billion, while renewables overtook it with $155 billion in investment. By 2010 the amounts were $90 billion in fossil fuels and $211 billion in renewables, and by 2011 only 14 per cent or $40 billion of investment... 
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By Lyn Drummond 15 May 2012 – A refrigerant black market could be among the dramatic outcomes of a steep carbon equivalent levy due to be imposed by the federal government after 1 July, according to the Australian Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning and Heating. In concerns raised by the institute with the federal government chief executive officer Phil Wilkinson said the levy’s price impact across the main refrigerant gases would range between 300 and 500 per cent at the point of import. Read More  
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14 May 2012 – The NSW Government has announced a program to retrofit 150 of its buildings for energy efficiency with projected annual savings of $5.8 million. Among the properties to be included are:  The NSW Police Academy at Goulburn, Westmead Hospital, and fire, police and ambulance stations (14 of these in the Illawarra). The move, announced last week NSW Minister for the Environment Robyn Parker, preceded a similar investment, of $6.9 million, announced by on Monday the City of Sydney Read More  
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14 May 2012 – The City of Sydney has appointed Origin Energy to be lead contractor on a major overhaul of its 45 properties to make them more energy and water efficient, ahead of the rollout of the city’s trigeneration network, also by Origin. Read More  
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11 May 2012 – Following is the text of an open letter sent to  Greg Combet, Minister for Climate Change & Energy Efficiency, from Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council president Tom Roper, sent Wednesday, 9 May 2012. Dear Minister Combet, I write to you, both in sorrow and in anger, at the Government’s action in breaking its key election promise on Tax Breaks for Green Buildings. Many of our members have already contacted us, concerned at what this broken promise means for future government/industry relations. You will remember Read More  
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On sentiment, follow the leader (not) …and a birthday note from TFE 11 May 2012 –It’s tough but we’re really busy. We’ve heard that comment about Sydney, oh maybe 10 times now… BIS Shrapnel’s Frank Gelber, speaking at the Property Funds Association conference on the Gold Coast last week nailed this curious and amusing attitude of Sydneysiders: ” Sydney investors know Sydney will never recover ever again…” Read More  
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12 May 2012 – The annual Australian heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration and building services awards and hall of fame induction ceremony was held after ARBS in Melbourne on 9 May. The awards, presented by ARBS chairman Ian Hopkins, went to: Young achiever Daniel Tan Teng Yeow. Mr Tan Teng Yeow joined Fantech after graduating from university in 2006. His first major project was to assess the potential of impulse technology using JetVent products for the Australian market. Mr Tan Teng Yeow has written a design guide on the technology and .presented his findings to the Standards Committee for AS1668.2 with the intention of updating a supplementary guide for the Standard. Outstanding service and maintenance provider- Hi Flow Industries Hi Flow Industries was founded by Brett Saunders in 2005. At the time, it battled the stigma of being a small business, with a lack of an established client base. Now the company employs 50 full-time people, and has won several awards, including... 
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11 May 2012 –  Following are key points from Green leader Christine Milne’s response to the federal budget. In Tuesday’s budget, we saw from the government a fundamentally confused and internally conflicted picture. Having said that, what we just saw from the Leader of the Opposition’s reply to the budget was a picture of irritating static and no ideas for the future. On Tuesday night, we saw a government that wants to make Australia the country of the fair go by handing out cost-of-living payments while at the same time cutting benefits to single parents and saying it cannot afford to increase support to our poorest, most vulnerable people to help lift them out of the cycle of debt and unemployment. We see a government that wants Australians to be healthier, working with the Greens-at the Greens’ instigation-to get a serious downpayment towards a national universal dental care scheme. But, at the same time, the government could not find $340,000 to support... 
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11 May 2012 – The Property Funds Association conference at Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast last week provided a bird’s eye view of how hard the challenge is for owners of secondary properties to engage in energy retrofits. PFA president, Rob Olde asked where all the money had gone. Property would come back, but for many in the industry it was currently a waiting game, he said. Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 11 May 2012 – Tony Crabb, national head of research for Savills, taps into regular six weekly meetings with the Reserve Bank, and recently with demographer Bernard Salt and Paul Keating for some of his insights. A key feature of the economy right now, said Crabb, speaking at the Property Funds Association conference at Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast last week, is the trailing Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 10 May 2012 – Australian Greens Leader  Christine Milne has jumped to support the sustainable property industry declaring she will challenge the federal government on its axing of the $1 billion Tax Breaks for Green Buildings program. The sustainable and mainstream property industry and energy efficiency associations in unison have slammed the action Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 11 May 2012 – Low Carbon Australia Ltd chief executive Meg McDonald told the Property Funds Association annual conference at Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast last week that the multiple pressures facing owners of property right now made this an ideal time to consider sustainable retrofits that would help the bottom line. In a presentation that also included views from Eureka Funds Management Niall McCarthy and Harvest Property’s Chris Slack, McDonald Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 11 May 2012 – Frank Gelber of BIS Shrapnel told the Property Funds Association conference on the Gold Coast last week that other than mining, the country is “pretty well in recession.” Property was “bumping around the bottom and trying to come off the bottom, and the investment industry just isn’t out there.” The corollary was that this is precisely the time to invest. Read More  
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9 May 2012 –The Property Council of Australia, ClimateWorks and Seed Advisory has called on the Australian Energy Market Commission to streamline the grid connection process for embedded generators, and asked it to change the national electricity rules. The Property Council said that the electricity rules needed to be changed to: Provide an improved connection process for embedded generators that are ineligible for automatic access and a right of export. Allow electricity network companies to charge an optional fee-for-service to promote collaboration with their customers. Oblige electricity network companies to publish annual network reports identifying where capacity is limited. Provide an automatic right of connection to the grid and standard access terms. This would apply to generators that meet automatic access standards. Enable embedded generators a right to export electricity to the grid. “These improvements will replace electricity customers’ case-by-case negotiations... 
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9 May 2012 –Microsoft has declared it wants to go carbon neutral and it has selected Australia-based company CarbonSystems as its IT partner to achieve this in a program starting July 1. CarbonSystems environmental sustainability platform will be the vehicle for carbon emission tracking and management for Microsoft’s 600 facilities in 110 countries, with implementation to be fully functional later this year. Microsoft’s official blog, says it is working with CarbonSystems to implement an enterprise sustainability platform, which automatically captures and extracts environmental data from multiple sources, uncovering more opportunities to identify how to reduce its carbon footprint. The carbon neutral plan is consistent with the software giant’s other recent sustainability initiatives, which favour sophisticated, IT-fuelled projects conducted in a transparent and accountable fashion. See our previous story Microsoft adopts CarbonSystems’ software for environmental reporting See... 
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9 May 2012 – Rebuilding green was Queensland architect Mark Thomson’s vision for a Brisbane house destroyed by floods. He will be one of 11 sustainable architects passing on his ideas at a speed date event on 26 May. This free event, run by the Alternative Technology Association, is for those wanting to build or renovate their homes. “I sat down with the homeowners and we came up with a range of practical improvements,”he said. “For instance, upstairs and downstairs wiring was separated to allow part of the house to be operational should a flood threaten. The kitchen was designed to be deconstructed and removed with that in mind as well.” “The home is now much more resilient – able to cope better with what nature can throw at it. Any way you look at it, building back green just makes a lot of sense,” Mr Thomson said. Mr Thomson, who runs Eco Effective Solutions, helped complete an eco retrofit to a two-storey brick veneer home in the Brisbane suburb... 
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9 May 2012 - Queensland planning projects swept the field  at the 2012 Planning Institute of Australia Awards for Planning Excellence in Adelaide on 1 May winning eight of the 12 awards. Read More  
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By Alan Pears 10 April 2012 – One of the frustrations facing people working in the green building space is the lack of information on how our award winning buildings actually perform. We need to learn from what has worked well, and what hasn’t been so successful. The 60L Green Building in Carlton was completed in late 2002. The developer was a green philanthropic organisation Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 5 April 2012 – When Gunter Pauli fronts up to the audience it is like a sudden burst of (renewable) energy and excitement has gushed into the room. At a forum organised by Arup and AFR Boss at Arup’s Sydney office on Wednesday, Pauli, a Belgium-based economist, says our efforts need to be directed to a highly efficient, Read More  
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4 May 2012 – The Greens have confirmed that Peter Whish-Wilson, an economist, finance lecturer and winemaker who previously worked for Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch will replace former leader Bob Brown in the Senate. See our story 16 April 2012 Peter Whish-Wilson, from Merrill Lynch to Greens Senator Mr Whish-Wilson, 44,  a vocal opponent of the proposed Gunns pulp mill in the state’s north, said he was humbled by the appointment. “I’m also very conscious of the responsibility that will go with this position, both to Greens voters and all Tasmanians, in fact all Australians,” he said in an ABC News report. “I would just like to say that I think it is a very significant move for the Greens to put a senator in the north of Tasmania, to put an office there. Read More  
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On cheap rent, and green promises 4 May 2012 – Let’s be frank: the job of turning around sentiment on green retrofits among owners in the non-premium property sector right now is on a par with changing the prospects of the Labor Party in a hurry. It’s tough out there and any additional expenditure is a big ask. Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 4 May 2012  –If you think the  political world is stacked against sustainability right now, go to a book launch by a former Liberal Leader John Hewson, a strong climate change supporter. Listen to the author, young climate campaigner Anna Rose, who her publisher Louise Adler of Melbourne University Press  tips could well be a future Prime Minister of this country. Read More  
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3 May 2012  – South Korea has passed legislation for a national emissions trading scheme, bringing to 34 countries around the world including Australia that, that will use emissions trading as the primary vehicle to drive carbon pollution reduction. “We are far from leading the world, as some have claimed,” Read More  
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2 May, 2012 – Author and cook Stephanie Alexander joined staff from The GPT group at the company’s kitchen garden volunteer day at Stanmore Public School today (Wednesday). The more than 30 volunteers brought to life the school’s kitchen garden program where students grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh food. The GPT Group has a long-term partnership with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation.  In addition to providing assistance at Stanmore Public School and financial support for SAKGF, the company has transformed a selection of its retail centres with living indoor and outdoor kitchen gardens, including Sydney’s Norton Plaza in the inner west Work on the day included building  20 new garden beds, digging irrigation trenches, laying pipes, cutting timber, drilling, moving tonnes of soil to fill beds, shovelling mushroom compost, planting hundreds of seedlings and planting a selection of fruit trees.  
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By Lynne Blundell 2 May 2012 – As poet William Yeats once said “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” If this is true our education institutions are laying the foundations for profound change when it comes to the embracing of sustainability by future generations. See our new ebook University Guide to sustainability education courses. Click on image Not only is the number of courses rising rapidly, but the concept of sustainability is increasingly embedded across all faculties from law to economics, from sociology to architecture. Read More  
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3 May 2012 – Case study: WT Sustainability wanted to raise the bar when it aimed for a minimum six star NABERS energy rating under the CitySwitch program when it planned its new offices at 181 Miller Street, North Sydney. Director of WTS Stephen Hennessy said: “”WTS is in the business of delivering energy and sustainability advice to a range of clients, obviously we need to practice what we preach, Read More  
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1 May 2012 – City of Sydney has added beekeeping to its composting initiatives to encourage greater backyard sustainability. At the Asylum Seekers Centre community garden in Surry Hills, stingless native bees have proven to be a hit. A City of Sydney environmental grant has helped establish a garden with fruit, veggies, bush tucker and edible weeds, along with a worm farm, compost bins and a regular permaculture group. Volunteer Jess Perini said: “Asylum seekers are always a bit wary when you say you’ve got bees, but bees cross all language boundaries and once they see the little shoebox hive and know the bees are stingless, they’re hooked. Read More  
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