FAVOURITES: 4 March 2010 – Susan Roaf  is a UK academic who designed and lives in the well known Oxford Ecohouse. Her passion is help blend the architecture and engineering professions to achieve buildings that operate on a tenth of energy for comparable buildings; a single payment package might help. In any case, she says it’s game over for  “eco-crimes” in the name of fashion or style. Susan Roaf, a professor at the School of the Built Environment at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, is passionate about the need for new disciplines to support the design and development of low carbon buildings. Roaf designed and lives in the Oxford Ecohouse, the first UK building with a photovoltaic roof. Her skills and research into low carbon buildings are sought internationally, and in this workshop she will help building design, procurement, construction and service professionals understand how their industry is changing, and how they need to evolve to meet its 21st century demands. Traditional... 
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- By Greg Budworth - HOUSING – 3 March 2010 – Superannuation funds in Singapore, Canada, Europe and North America are partly channelled into building the economy of the future. Australian super funds could do the same. And they could start with one of the most critical elements  in the national infrastructure, housing, argues Greg Budworth, chief executive officer of Compass Housing Services Co Ltd. [See also an article by Marcus Spiller posted in TFE] The level of homelessness in Australia is quantifiable evidence of “market failure”’ (Boyes, 2004) – an economics term used to define the failure of the free-market system to produce an efficient outcome. Government’s intervene to adjust market failures if it is in the public interest and have a range of intervention options but are not considering all the options. Only through more private sector investment in Australian housing will we make a dent in the huge and rowing root cause of the problem – lack of housing... 
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By Tina Perinotto REPORT – 2 March 2010 – Less than 200 corporation operating in Australia account for a whopping 30 per cent of total greenhouse emissions and 44 per cent of all energy related emissions. And of those, only 20 companies are responsible for half all emissions measured through the group Yet only the first tranche of energy savings identified by these companies equate to 1.4 million households not using any energy at all for a year. These are some of the startling findings contained in a report released today by the Federal Department of Resources Energy and Tourism, First Opportunities, a look at results from 2006-2008  for the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Program In response to the report chief executive officer of the Energy Efficiency Council, Rob Murray-Leach, said:  “Energy efficiency in industry is the sleeping giant of climate change. “For years we’ve neglected one of the biggest and most cost-effective sources of immediate emission cuts. This... 
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By Michael Mobbs 25 February 2010 – Councils are the biggest obstacle preventing us from living sustainably. They design, build and maintain the roads; they control most development. But they are creatures spawned by state and federal governments and dance to their tunes. Getting rid of councils would not automatically open the door to sustainable development because the remaining governments would fill the void, and they would probably be an even greater barrier. But what is to be done? The changes we have to make to our cities are so great, and the time Earth has for us to achieve them is so short, that I can’t see councils making the change in time. It takes half a decade to bring in new planning rules, for example. True, local government Acts require councils to implement sustainable policies but no legislation ever rises above the level of its administration, and councils don’t push sustainability. (I’m talking about the whole of local government, which is largely unaffected... 
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By Michael Mobbs - 8 February 2010 – The waste and pollution from 26,000 gas and coal drills holes is polluting the rivers in the Murray Darling system. Miners are drilling 26,000 exploratory holes to assess how much coal and gas there is to mine in over 25,000 hectares of farming land in these catchments. Photos taken of drill holes prove the pollution. In Australian cities, sales in the billions of dollars are rapturously announced of these mines. A $69 billion dollar coal sale, for example, was announced last week by Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer (although doubt has since been cast about the validity of this deal). About 200 litres of water is used to dig a tonne of coal. To dig the 30 million tonnes of coal expected to be mined each year will take about  60 million litres of water a year for the next 20 years.  (1) In his press release Mr Palmer says: “The best years of this state are yet to come.” (2)  That will be a relief for the rivers and the farmers who will... 
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– By Brian Moore - FAVOURITES – 27 July 2009 – Sustainability is at the forefront of every significant commercial development. Building owners understand only too well that there is no point building projects for the future using yesterday’s technology and a sustainable building represents the future more than any other quality. ECOnomy and ECOlogy go hand in glove, quite simply the highest rental returns for commercial properties are being achieved by the most sustainable building stock and the new wave of 6 star buildings such as 1 Bligh Street Sydney being constructed by Grocon Constructors for the Dexus Property Group is a classic example. Most architects would acknowledge that sustainability should be embedded in the design philosophy of a building and not a featured “add-on” to an otherwise outmoded concept of design, sustainability is quite simply good design, but the architect must truly embrace the concept, take charge and take responsibility. Right... 
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COP-15 – the conference is over, and so is a lot of good will. Here are some of the reactions: Australian Conservation Foundation, executive director Don Henry: “Strong national laws to cut greenhouse pollution and grow clean energy jobs are more important than ever after the Copenhagen climate talks ended in a weak result, the Australian Conservation Foundation said today. “Even with a weak outcome in Copenhagen it is clear many major economies represented here are moving to dramatically cut emissions and shift to a low carbon future. “A comprehensive climate treaty that requires Australia to reduce emissions is a matter of when, not if.  The smart thing to do is to prepare Australia’s economy now. “Australia needs a comprehensive set of national climate laws, otherwise there is a very real risk we will be left behind. “The former government’s Shergold Report found it was better for the economy to put a price on carbon ahead of global action.  This recommendation... 
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by Jeff Angel 17 December 2009 -Price rises for electricity are attracting headlines at the moment for all the wrong reasons.Erroneous reports of hugely inflated power bills as a result of the Emission Trading Scheme overlook one important point: the energy industry wants to boost its infrastructure so we all use more electricity instead of implementing efficiency and thrift measures – even though the power stations are one of our biggest greenhouse polluters. What we have is a bankrupt electricity supply system and a regulatory framework that is out of synch with modern needs. Read More  
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From Senator Christine Milne – 15 December 2009 – As we head into the final frantic days of Copenhagen, all the work has boiled down to draft negotiating texts for the two streams of negotiations – the Kyoto stream and the non-Kyoto stream (known as KP and LCA, or long-term cooperative action). The two streams were separated at the Montreal meeting, after the Kyoto Protocol came into force, as a way of keeping non-Kyoto countries in the tent, but, if there is to be agreement here, the streams must now be brought together in a way which will satisfy the competing interests of all the countries and negotiating blocs involved. A thumbnail sketch would show the world divided into three general blocs with broadly aligned positions: Rich countries, including Australia, who effectively want to end the Kyoto Protocol – they will not sign a binding agreement here unless China and other large developing nations take on binding targets, an attitude seen by those latter... 
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COP 15 – 15 December 2009 – Giles Parkinson, writing in Business Spectator today said Climate Change Minister Penny Wong “pretty much told the audience what they wanted to hear, saying that the switch to clean energy might not have been as fast as people wanted, but it would be unstoppable. Said that Martin Parkinson, secretary of the department of Climate Change, “tried to puncture hopes of a ‘white certificates’ market for building energy efficiency,” which he said would be like having two bites of the cherry. ‘I am not a fan.’ (See what Ché Wall, managing director of WSP Lincolne Scott and Global Head of Sustainability for Lend Lease, Maria Atkinson say on this in TFE) Parkinson also covered the terrestrial carbon debate: “Peter Cosier, from the Wentworth Group of Scientists, is getting pretty frustrated by the extreme positions around terrestrial carbon being adopted by the Liberals on one hand and the harder-line green groups on the other. As discussed... 
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By Andrew Pettifer FAVOURITES – 20 June 2009 - Fans of Dr Seuss who have looked past the Cat in the Hat may be familiar with the story of the inept Sneetches and the competitive instincts aroused between those with “stars upon thars”  and those whose bellies are not so endowed. I wonder whether the great and the good of the green building movement in Australia have been inspired by this story when developing the ubiquitous range of rating systems now in play. Not for them the American Olympian scale – silver, gold (and platinum even), nor the quintessentially British “good”, “very good” and “excellent” (I rather prefer “exceedingly good” but Poms will know that this accolade has been requisitioned by Mr Kipling in praise of his cakes). No, in Australia stars are the thing. No-one can doubt the extraordinary strides that the Green Building Council of Australia has made in moving the green building agenda forward apace and their Green Stars have undoubtedly aroused... 
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BRIEF: 1 December 2009 - Clean Up Australia Chairman and Founder Ian Kiernan yesterday (10 December 2009) joined Auburn and Parramatta City Councils on Sydney’s west for the launch of Streamline, a new sustainability initiative targeting the business community. The collaboration between the two councils has already engaged 45 business that have signed up to reduce water and energy use and minimise waste production in one of Sydney’s biggest industrial hubs. The program, assisted with funding from the NSW Environment Trust, will help businesses in the Camellia and Silverwater areas of the Duck River Catchment achieve financial, social and environmental sustainability. As part of the program the Institute for Sustainable Futures has been commissioned to develop a waste exchange program, so that networks can be set up to recycle waste between businesses. Other activities will include a business mentoring program, a sustainable transport program supported by Bicycle NSW, and capital works... 
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By Lynne Blundell 30 November 2009 – There has been a battle going on. It is a battle between sections of the forestry industry and the Green Building Council of Australia and so far it has taken place behind closed doors. But it is gathering pace and the big guns have been called in – politicians at the highest level, both state and federal. They have been called upon by the timber industry to pull the GBCA into line – and they have heeded the call. Today the GBCA announced it will make concessions to the Australian forestry industry by revising the way it accredits timber used in commercial buildings. But this appears to be little more than a standoff. This is much more than a battle between two organisations – it reveals the historical divide between a core group of the Australian forestry industry and those at the forefront of the push for higher standards of sustainability. It also reveals the far reaching links between government and the resources sector. And... 
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By Tina Perinotto So 42 to 41: The vote that this morning that ensconced Tony Abbott as leader of the Opposition against Malcolm Turnbull and completed the rent that will drive Australia into two camps, divided along climate lines. How deep and divisive this will be on a social and political level remains to be seen. But that’s not all. This morning’s decision to change leaders, to Abbott who these days is fundamentally opposed to the emissions trading scheme, will also cast a horrible pall on the property and business community which will no longer know what to expect in terms of preparing for climate change. Especially with a potential double dissolution. At the launch of NABERS’ new rating tool for shopping centres this morning at the Botanic Gardens Restaurant in Sydney, the feeling was that a general election would mean that new legislation, such as mandatory disclosure, would be put on hold. Only last month at the Australian Property Institute and Australian Direct Property... 
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By Professor Ralph Horne, Director of the Centre for Design at RMIT - FAVOURITES – 21 June 2009 – The bushfires in Victoria are tangible evidence of the sort of extreme weather events climate scientists have been predicting and they underline the need for significant action now to cut our greenhouse emissions. Meanwhile, the economic downturn provides a golden opportunity to stimulate the economy intelligently – in other words, invest in the green technologies of the future rather than simply repeat the resource over-consumption mistakes of the past. We have an immediate opportunity to make environmentally sustainable housing for the future – including through the rebuilding effort in fire ravaged areas. Here I will concentrate on the thermal efficiency of housing, although there is also a strong case for cutting household energy and water use, through better appliances, household practices, consideration of embodied energy, and so on. The question is, should we be talking... 
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13 October 2009 – Environment Minister, Peter Garrett yesterday outlined the shape of the mandatory disclosure rules for commercial buildings. From July next year, building owners will be required to provide up-to-date energy efficiency information when they sell or lease office space covering more than 2000 square metres. Speaking at the inaugural Energy Efficiency Council National Conference the minister said: “This means all parties – the building owner and potential buyers or tenants – will have access to consistent, credible and meaningful information about a building’s energy efficiency and make informed decisions when they buy or rent office space. “Greener offices are not only more comfortable to work in, they can also boost productivity, bring down sick leave, support green building industry jobs and have the potential to deliver savings of 20-40 per cent on energy bills. “Energy efficiency is a fast, cheap way of making inroads into Australia’s... 
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Producing a single, accurate digital map of proposed urban developments requires collaboration on an unprecedented scale by Davina Jackson The Commonwealth Government is considering a proposal for two new national research co-ordination organisations to support a future industry of professionals applying automatic digital technologies to create and manage smart cities. Emerging tools include GIS (geographic information system) mapping, GPS satellite monitoring, satellite video imaging, 3D laser and radar scanning, photogrammetry, remote sensing, free agent modelling, cellular automata, mobile telephony and tracking, auto-pilot systems (reminiscent of navigating the Star Trek Enterprise), serious gaming, evolutionary (SimCity) modelling, virtual prototyping and algorithmically generated building models. Many of these next-generation 3D spatial information technologies were originally developed in the aerospatial sector and are now flowing through to built environment professions via the... 
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Brief – 5 November 2009 - Local government councillors say there could be enough forward buying power for electricity from local government areas to fund a thermal solar plant. A unanimous resolution passed at the Local Government Association of NSW Annual Conference at Tamworth in regional NSW, 24-28 October, promised to  investigate the option. The resolution was to: establish a working group to investigate the opportunity of the construction and operation of a solar thermal power plant in regional NSW for the supply of electricity to NSW Local Government councils, consisting of interested councillor and professional officers from member councils along with technical support from relevant consultants. seek support from the relevant NSW State Government and Federal Government departments and agencies to participate in the working group report back to the member councils by 30 June 2010 on the findings of the investigation along with an action plan to proceed the development... 
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By Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES: 5 November 2009 – The Southport Broadwater Parklands project may well be a blueprint for adaptive planning solutions to combat sea level rise and storm surge on our coastlines. It involved some creative methods, including raising ground levels in some places by two metres. With its spectacular Nerang River frontage and proximity to the Southport CBD, Southport Broadwater Parklands has long been a popular community gathering place on the Gold Coast. It is the location for many Gold Coast major public events. The Gold Coast City Council applied for funding through the Queensland 150th Legacy Infrastructure program (Q150 LIP) for master planning works and the first stage of construction. Following the allocation of funding from the Queensland Government, matched by the Council, EDAW (AECOM) was commissioned to develop the master plan for the Parklands, through to the delivery of the first stage of construction. Stage One is now complete and includes a... 
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- By Michael Mobbs - FAVOURITES – 1 October 2009 - No city can be sustainable until it is a “city of villages”. Only in a village can we walk to work, or buy and carry home our food. Only in a village can new businesses be easily born and thrive – in a garage, or a kitchen, or a café – nurtured by low rent. It’s the birth rate of businesses that drives our economy (1). When that birth rate falls so too does creativity, diversity, robustness, self-reliance and productivity. Read More  
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The full title of the report on the crisis that awaits our coastal zones is Managing our coastal zone in a changing climate: the time to act is now. It has received huge media coverage. Click here to see the whole report.  
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BRIEF – 26 October 2009 - One in every two Australians want to switch to solar hot water in the next two years, according to a survey by Newspoll commissioned by solar hot water supplier Solarhart. Newspoll surveyed  1062 home owners aged 18 to 64 to find that 55 per cent intended to take the plunge, up from the 8 per cent of householders that currently have solar hot water. Environmental scientist and commentator, Tim Flannery,  said the results were exciting. “Australians are among the highest greenhouse polluters on a per capita basis in the developed world, caused largely by the burning of fossil fuels for energy,” Professor Flannery said. “Electric water heaters are a major contributor to the problem, accounting for roughly a quarter of household energy consumption.  By comparison, using a solar water heater saves about 3 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year,” he added. Solahart’s National Manager, Stephen Cranch said the company expected the uptake... 
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There are critical issues to be faced by the meeting of the Environment Protection and Heritage Council in Perth on 5 November – not least the collapse of the valuable recycling industry and the scandal of our export of toxic rubber tyres to Asia, says Ruth Hessey. The stigma around the waste humans generate where ever they venture, from the kitchen to outer space, is fast dropping away as our society creates so much of it we can no longer pretend it magically disappears in a hygienic white flash. Not only must we face it, we have to do something about it. Urban landfills are turning into mountains of contaminated mush emitting greenhouse gases and leaching toxins into the soil and water tables. Container loads of reject waste are filling the world’s shipping lanes as harbour authorities reject permission to dump, and even those who are getting away with using the ocean as an illicit dumping ground are coming up against increased international surveillance. We are running out of... 
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By Tina Perinotto A company that has pioneered low cost solar desalination systems for industry and the home is about to start production of the units by November and already has around 5000 units on order. Peter Johnstone, the inventor of the Carosell desalination system and owner of F Cubed Pty Ltd which will commercialise the units,  said his company has signed a lease over 5000 square metres of factory space at Melbourne’s Somerton Logistics Centre through CB Richard Ellis senior negotiator, Matthew Sampson. Mr Johnstone said the units were capable of producing 12-15 litres of distilled water for the home every day for a fixed one-off cost of $300. In commercial quantities the cost would be around $2 per 1000 litres. He said the South Australian government was considering a plant to supply all of the water for a remote town of around 3300 people. Even in major urban facilities such as Sydney’s desalination plant, FCubed’s product could be installed for a similar price but have... 
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by Tina Perinotto UPDATED 19 October 2009 – Green group GetUp has raised $162,000 since last Monday (12 October 2009) to fund a television advertisement to counter the huge public relations campaign by the coal industry in federal marginal electorates. The GetUp ad, featured here, will be used to parody claims by the coal industry that its product can be made “clean”.“Once people see it, every time they see the coal lobby’s ad they’ll think of our parody,” GetUp, a gorup with more than 330,000 members, says in its email being circulated to raise funds. “That means you could make every marketing dollar the coal lobby spends work against them.” The coal lobby used Neil Lawrence, the man credited with the highly effective “Kevin07” campaign used to brought Kevin Rudd to federal office, to design the ad. Key targets for the coal lobby’s media campaign are the central Queensland, Labor-held seats of Flynn, Capricornia and Dawson, and the Hunter Valley,... 
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INSTALLATION – 8 October 2009 – “Today 2/6/09 it was reported that the oceans are becoming more acidic. This is yet another in a series of markers on the road to irreversible damage of our environment. “When the oceans reach a certain point in this cycle all life within the water dies leading to death on such a large scale that the decaying bio-mass will create a future store of liquid oil equal to the stores we have burnt. The cycle is thus completed and we as humans may not survive. “So do we raise the bar? “Do we build a bar? “Do we measure the bar?” These are the questions asked by  Richard Goodwin – public art, Russell Lowe – digital gaming/architecture and Adrian McGregor – landscape architecture, in their design of a public art installation to mark the start of the “7 metre Bar” in Underwood Street, Circular Quay Sydney for the start of the Art and About Exhibition last week. “At an elevation of seven metres the bar marks... 
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By Tina Perinotto - 7 October 2009 – Australian ingenuity is now officially on a global roll.  Not only is the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd leading the world out of recession – apparently – and the Reserve Bank chief Glenn Stevens patting him on the back with an interest rate rise, but Australia is now showing the world how to re-engineer our existing buildings. According to Lend Lease, WSP Lincolne Scott and Advanced Environmental, the Efficient Building Scheme which the trio devised and have been spruiking around the world is not at all a bad idea. In fact the think tank, RAND Corporation, supported by the US Real Estate Roundtable, and the US Building Owners and Managers Association, commended the scheme to US policy makers. The RAND Corporation study, Improving the Energy Performance of Buildings: Learning from the European Union and Australia, said that the EBS had several important and useful features including: “White-certificate programs that mix sectors can be... 
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By Tina Perinotto Green groups today launched yet another desperate salvage attempt on the flawed and increasingly leaky carbon pollution reduction scheme in the hope that it can provide some actual climate benefits. The Total Environment Centre, CHOICE, WWF Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Alternative Technology Association, the Moreland Energy Foundation and Environment Victoria want the CPRS to at least recognise the emissions savings made by households, businesses and state and local government voluntarily instead of the gains handed to the big polluters on a plate. The Greens’ Christine Milne egged them on. But as the Coalition battles for greater concessions for anyone who is a major polluter and as the Federal Government enjoys its political torture of Malcolm Turbull with the relish of a six year old sadist skewering a fly, the prospects for any meaningful action are dimming. “When Labor and Liberals put all their efforts into debating process... 
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by Lynne Blundell The federal government this week announced the next step in its plan to overhaul Australia’s energy grid, which it says will reduce home energy bills, reduce carbon pollution and help tackle climate change. But, while green groups have welcomed the government’s national energy efficiency initiatives, they are pushing for a greater focus on household energy efficiency through retrofitting. According to the government, the $100 million Smart Grid, Smart City initiative will see government and energy and communications sectors working in partnership to rollout Australia’s first commercial-scale smart grid. Smart grids help energy suppliers to better manage peak loads, reduce the risk of black-outs during peak-use periods, improve the reliability of electricity supply, and more effectively incorporate renewable and distributed energies such as wind, solar and cogeneration. The government hopes smart meters, pricing and tariff programs, intelligent appliances and... 
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By Lynne Blundell Christine Milne has no time for prevarication and resistance to change. And she takes exception to what she sees as the federal government’s abundance of both. She is not alone. Those who voted for the Rudd government in 2007 had great hopes for its green promises. Two years down the track those promises are looking decidedly grey and tattered around the edges. Senator Milne certainly thinks so and she is pushing for urgent action, as she told The Fifth Estate in an interview this week. As Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens, Christine Milne is one of Australia’s strongest advocates for decisive political action on climate change. Her approach is pragmatic and her message is clear – act decisively now through public policy or pay the price in the very near future. Just look at the built environment, a sector that generates 17.7 per cent of all the country’s emissions, says Milne. The federal government has missed a huge opportunity to focus... 
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