By Thomas Friedman 21 July 2010 - From The New York Times - The hour is late, but there is still a sliver of time to pass a serious energy bill out of this Congress. To do so, though, would require President Obama to rustle up votes with a passion that ...Read More > >

By Andrew Starc 21 July 2010 - Victoria's shopping centres and other commercial buildings may soon be the first in the country to sport large solar arrays, after the Victorian government today announced plans for the nation's first feed-in tariff for large-scale solar energy and an increase in electricity ...Read More > >

Brief - 21 July 2010 - Harvey Norman has reached an agreement with Ceramic Fuel Cells to stock their BlueGen gas-to-elecricity generators (view our story on fuel cells here). The generators will initially be sold through Harvey Norman’s commercial division to government bodies and commercial clients, with a view to later ...Read More > >

21 July 2010 – Australia’s growing population and the effects of climate change are expected to drive an exponential increase in water consumption according to a new report released by the Water Services Association of Australia. By 2026, major Australian cities will face a 39 per cent increase in water demand ...Read More > >

21 July 2010 – As the federal government considers its next steps on pollution and climate change, the Climate Institute has released its policy priorities, detailing a list of action points for both government and businesses to help reduce pollution and energy consumption. Summary: 2010 Pollution and Climate Policy Priorities 1. Limiting ...Read More > >

21 July 2010 - As the federal election campaigning gets into full swing, the Green Building Council of Australia today released its green building agenda for 2010-2013. It sets out five priorities and encourages all political parties to commit to green buildings, communities and cities as part of their policies for ...Read More > >

by Lynne Blundell July 14, 2010 - Landcom hopes to inspire builders to be more adventurous about building sustainable houses in it latest development project – three sustainable display homes to be built in northwest Sydney. At the same time the project will use the latest information about lifecycle assessment in ...Read More > >

21 July 2010 - City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore will today report on how the ambitious 2030 plan for Sydney has progressed at a seminar for stakeholders at Sydney Town Hall. As part of the grand scheme, the council also yesterday called for tenders to develop a master plan ...Read More > >

By Andrew Starc 20 July 2010 - Four teams have been shortlisted by Architectural Review Australia to continue through to stage two of Proposition 2065, an ideas competition asking entrants to design a mixed-use development for a site in St Leonards, Sydney. Carterwilliamson Architects in association with Studio Zanardo, Hayball in association ...Read More > >

Reports - 20 July 2010 - With the initial phasing in of mandatory disclosure laws commencing in October, Global real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle has issued a report detailing all the major implications of the new laws to help commercial property owners and lessees with the transition: Mandatory Disclosure ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 15 July 2010 - In news just in group communications manager corporate affairs for Szencorp Mark Lister has let us know that Szencorp founder and managing director Peter Szental has passed away. Mr Lister's message read: "Many of you may have already heard, but yesterday we received the ...Read More > >

Change, change... and then some By Tina Perinotto 15 July 2010 - What did we say last issue? It’s all about big sudden changes right now. It started in politics; now that shifty feeling is spilling over into the sustainability business world. Hold onto your hats. Ructions these past few weeks have been ...Read More > >

By Andrew Starc 14 July 2010 - In only four years the world’s business and civil leaders have undergone a “fundamental shift”  in attitude to sustainability, according to a new report from Accenture. Nearly all the surveyed chief executive officers – 93 per cent –said sustainability was important to their company’s future. The ...Read More > >

14 July, 2010 - According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the number of people with a disability more than doubled to nearly 4 million in the two decades to 2003. But embedding design features into a house, such as reinforced bathroom walls, smart positioning of power points and wider corridors ...Read More > >

by Lynne Blundell 14 July 2010 - This week the federal government is expected to announce a national energy efficiency scheme following months of consultation with industry and numerous submissions from stakeholders. But will the scheme bring the drive that is needed to change the way we think about and use ...Read More > >

14 July, 2010 - Australia could save more than $5 billion a year through cost-effective energy efficiency and use 40 per cent less energy if our economic output for each unit of energy was the same as that for the leading OECD countries, according to a new paper released by ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 7 July, 2010 - Leading catalyst for the sustainable property movement Ché Wall has stepped down as managing director of WSP Lincolne Scott after 17 years with the company. Replacing him will be Andrew Mather who has been managing director of the group for the Africa, Asia and Australia ...Read More > >

Artists impression of an Icebergs site in New York City Brief – 13 July, 2010 – Woods Bagot New York has initiated a  “super-green” building system that reimagines and revitalises stalled construction sites as 100 per cent recyclable, high performance inflatable temporary “Icebergs” that can be used for a variety of ...Read More > >

BRIEF - 12 July 2010 - In Seoul, Korea, local authorities inspired by the whimsical reminiscences of a univerisity professor,  ripped down a freeway and restored a river. See this inspiring documentary narrated by Brad Pitt before it expires in the next nine days. The result? Traffic disappeared and people flocked ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 9 July 2010 - There was a strong note of optimism at Wednesday night’s launch at Admiralty House in Sydney of the stunning imagery that will represent Australian architects at the Venice Biennale later this year. Although only glimpsed through a few select offerings it was clear that the ...Read More > >

By Andrew Starc 9 July 2010 - Meiny Prins, chief executive officer of Dutch sustainability company Priva BV, has been in Australia recently taking note of Australia’s burgeoning green building initiatives. “In the Netherlands, the building industry is the key to reducing carbon emissions. “I have been in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne and ...Read More > >

By Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES: 11 March 2010 -India is determined to reduce carbon emissions and to supply renewable power to its enormous population. But with the massive hydro power generation dam projects under way in the sensitive Himalayan foothills, the cost is high. Lynne Blundell recently travelled to the region ...Read More > >

From Business Spectator - by Giles Parkinson - 8 July 2010 - The federal government appears to be throwing open its doors to lobbyists and special interest groups in a last minute attempt to cobble together a credible climate change policy to take to a snap election, and to prevent ...Read More > >

By Andrew Starc 7 July, 2010 - Frasers Property Australia has received approval for its Central Park development on Broadway in Sydney’s southern CBD, with construction of the project’s two residential towers to begin before the end of 2010. Managing director of Fraser Property Australia Dr Stanley Quek said that the company ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 5 July 2010 - Frasers Property has copped a $1500 fine from the City of Sydney for stormwater runnoff at its huge Broadway site on the edge of the CBD during heavy rains in June. The site and runnoff problems, which Frasers said were the result of unusally heavy ...Read More > >

Connect the dots -anything can happen By Tina Perinotto 1 July 2010 - We live in volatile times. Change is not only more frequent but also more oblique. What seemed absurd or radical or weird only last year – or last week – can suddenly become mainstream. For the aware and alert, it’s ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 1 July 2010 - UPDATED 27 JULY 2010 - Public transport use around Australian cities has jumped and, at the same time, car use is down. According to Curtin University professor Peter Newman, new research from the United States shows this is not a localised trend – car use ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 1 July 2010 - Here’s a small but powerful pointer to keep in mind if you have any doubt about the way risk management is going in the capital markets: 12 per cent of all institutional and private investment dividends in the UK come from a single company ...Read More > >

By John Goddard 29 June 2010 - As the Green Wave swept through the property industry, new practices and standards saw increased energy and water efficiency in buildings, leading to lower environmental impacts and healthier workplaces. However, as an industry we tend to overlook one area, which by definition produces a ...Read More > >

Attending day one of the 2010 Climate Adaptation Futures Conference, the Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water, Senator Penny Wong delivered the following welcoming speech to conference attendees. INTRODUCTION It is a pleasure to be here at the opening of this Climate Change Adaptation Futures Conference. A conference that comes ...Read More > >