By Michael Paton 16 May 2012 – Fengshui, literally wind and water, is generally understood in the property sector in Australia to be a Chinese superstition used for the selection of sites for residences and businesses in terms of their auspiciousness. Read More  
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By Monique Alfris 17 May 2012 – This year is the UN’s International Year of Sustainable Energy for All). The focus is on providing energy access to the 2.7 billion people worldwide who still rely on traditional biomass for cooking and heating, and the 1.4 billion who have no access to electricity. Read More  
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By Matt Mushalik 15 May 2012 – Are recent news reports of impending gas shortages in NSW genuine or a way to soften up opposition to coal seam gas development, asks Matt Mushalik, a specialist observer of energy trends. Australia, wanting to project itself as the energy super power faces domestic gas shortages in its premier state, NSW. This is what the public is made aware of in articles in The Sydney Morning Herald titled “Gas supply to dwindle in the next 2 years” and “AGL warns of shortage as Gladstone sucks up supply”. Is this just a strategy to soften up the opposition to coal seam gas development or is there really something more serious behind this news? We read: Read More  
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By Kriston Symons, AECOM 2 May 2012 – Townsville, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne all now have emerging examples of low carbon district energy systems, argues Kriston Symons ahead of his presentation on this subject at next week’s ARBS Read More  
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By Greg Paine 3 May 2012 – OK, OK, it’s a week old now, but why can’t I get that program on the ABC that had Nick Minchin and Anna Rose head-to-head trying to change each other’s mind on global warming, and the associated Q&A program with a host of others with strong and not so strong opinions?  You can still catch the program here and the Q&A here Read More  
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By Anne White 24 April 2012 – Since I started working in NSW I have become interested in how we are achieving market led urban consolidation in the inner city areas. Whilst all our state plans aspire to urban consolidation to accommodate our growing population, I question whether in some areas we are truly achieving this. In particular I am referring to apartment block developments where the units can cover the whole of a single level and often the size of a large house. Apartments that I have termed McUnits. I have carried out some initial research into this topic – but I believe that the growing trend of McUnits is a new phenomenon. I believe that this phenomenon needs to be further investigated, and monitored, as Sydney is required to accommodate a larger population. I will start by introducing the term McUnit, and how this research topic developed. Then, using Sydney as the focus I will provide case studies and examples of McUnits. I will be specifically focusing on the inner... 
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By Jonathan Prendergast 11 April 2012 – In 1973 Denmark’s dependence on imported energy hit an energy shortage crisis and among the responses was a driving ban on Sundays. Read More  
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By Monique Alfris 30 April 2012 – Clever finance models are starting to break down the barriers to bringing low cost renewable fuel to people in developing countries, writes Monique Alfris. dA key reason 2.7 billion people worldwide rely on traditional biomass for cooking and heating and 1.4 billion have no access to electricity is capital constraints. Many of the simple energy-access solutions offered (solar lanterns and fuel-efficient wood stoves) claim substantial money savings – but also require large up-front investments. And people simply cannot afford them. This up-front financial barrier is a key focus of the UN this year, during the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All The UN has been working to promote some of the clever alternative models which have been tried around the world. Australian entrepreneur Hugh Whalan of Energy in Common is a prime example. Energy in Common provides loans for solar lanterns to poor people in Ghana. Energy in Common sources funding... 
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By Imogen Schoots 25 April 2012 – Bruce Mitchell started life as an electrician and did not expect to become a property developer.  Australia’s first enviro industrial estate completed in 2010 saw him win 17 awards and his expertise is now widely sought. Declaring himself a self made man Mitchell is keen to share his experiences and the knowledge he gained by completing the 42,000 square metre industrial estate in Queensland’s Yatala Industrial Precinct at Stapylton, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. It’s not hard to see why it is called an enviro industrial estate. Just over 14 per cent is set aside to nature, much of the storm water is treated on site via several wetlands and stored in five underground concrete tanks. Rain water provides sufficient potable water for the onsite workers. It is collected from roofs, filtered, then stored in tanks located around the site. The on-site sewage treatment and water collection mean that tenants don’t pay any water or sewage... 
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By Jane Jose 10 April 2012 – This year could be a turning point for Canberra.  Just a year away from the national capital’s big party to celebrate 100 years as a planned city, the ACT Government is launching a renewed planning strategy with an integrated transport plan. The work is prompted by the community and government’s strong push to improve the city’s carbon footprint, while sustainably housing 80,000 more people. An estimated 55,000 additional homes are needed by the year 2030. The two new strategic plans for transport and land use are intended to work together to improve liveability, housing choice, environmental   sustainability and to make it easier for people to get around the city. Canberra is predicted to grow from its 2011 estimate of 365,000 to 457,300 by 2030 and the total population of the six local government areas that make up the Canberra region is projected to increase by 148,700 by 2030. The renewed planning strategy says:  “This population projection... 
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12 April 2012 – What makes a city a thriving hub of jobs and competitive advantage? SGS Economics and Planning held a forum in Sydney in late March that suggested agglomeration was the key. But if so, this raises important questions, the  speakers said. For instance, should the city centres be prioritised over the suburbs? Is density for agglomeration compatible with liveability?  Which transport connections should be the priority?  Is Infrastructure NSW the answer to the integrated transport and land use planning challenge? Read More  
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By Patrick Fensham 12 April 2012  – This article, focused on the opportunities in Sydney for jobs and more housing, is an edited version of a recent presentation by Patrick Fensham at a cities forum by SGS Economics and Planning, where he is a director. Geography and topography and existing development Read More  
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By Philip Graus 16 April 2012 – Contrary to what many may think, more consultation can promote more development, not less. There is however one caveat – by consultation we mean active participation, not lip service. Providing the community with choices. There is a growing body of Australian research that has identified international benchmarks and best practice in thinking about cities. Studies of international cities have shown that those that enjoy broad community support for their city’s policies both consult and develop consistent plans over time. The Grattan Institute’s 2010 report, “Cities: Who Decides” carried out research on eight cities considered to be successful and found: • Broad levels of meaningful public participation in the planning process at the strategic level • The development of thoroughly researched alternative scenarios that are canvassed publicly. • A strong regional approach (not state and local governments with powerless regional groupings) •... 
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By Steven Burgess 3 April 2012  – Street design is an age old art-form, arguably a science.  Literally thousands of years old, we have seen street design transform and change many times over.  Streets are different from roads – they aren’t even just little roads – but a different land use all together. Read More  
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By Lyn Drummond 5 April  2012 – Energy expert Alan Pears says the current inquiry into the feed-in tariffs in Victoria runs the danger of looking only at pricing issues within the existing framework and ignoring the huge benefits that a “free and fair market” might allow. Another factor is the potential benefits of ridding the system of the monopoly power of network operators and providing better more fair treatment of investors in distributed generation, he says. Read More  
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By EB Phillips, CSG Strategy Group, Barrington-Gloucester-Stroud Preservation Alliance Inc. 4 April 2012 – Letter: The letter by Maria Atkinson (24 May 2009) on Building Emissions has just come to my notice. See Letter: Dear Prime Minister – what are the real numbers for building emissions? We here in the Gloucester Basin (NSW) are fighting the impact of a 16 year old open cut mine that has developed into two separate mines about 20 kilometres apart. This is an approved CSG Project by AGL for the establishment of up to 330-400 wells throughout the Gloucester Basin area and now a new open cut coal mine within 1.5 km of Gloucester residential township, cheek by jowl with semi rural housing estates a short distance out of the town. The carbon dioxide emissions from all these activities has never been measured or certainly not revealed. It is my understanding that in the extraction of methane gas from the CSG process there is a considerable volume of CO2 allowed to vent freely into... 
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By Ed Cotter 30 March 2012 ­ – Back in September 2011, BioRegional and the Centre for Design at RMIT University, hosted a two-day workshop that looked at how the principles that underpinned the BedZED EcoVillage could be brought to Melbourne. Read More  
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By Gary Wertheimer 29 March 2012- Letter: A man goes to the doctor and says, “Doc I don’t feel so good”. The doctor answers, “What are your symptoms”? The man responds wearily, “Well, my consumption is up and I seem to be experiencing temperature fluctuations”. The doctor decides to check the man’s history and after perusing his records exclaims, something is amiss here… You don’t seem to be running within normal operating protocols. The man looks puzzled and say’s to the doctor,” I don’t understand, how can that be”. The doctor says, oh it is nothing to be too alarmed about; in fact it is quite normal. There is an urgent need for greater scrutiny of energy efficiency implementation practises at the construction phase. Simply confirming that the contract documentation is Code compliant and perhaps attaining a number of letters from sub-contractors does not necessarily dictate that a building is in fact complaint. Consider the following: The client is not necessarily... 
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By Michael Mobbs 30 March 2012 – Streets heat up our cities by 6-8 degrees. They are the single biggest cause of peak energy demand.  A hot street makes for a hot building which makes airconditioning “necessary” and increases electricity use. Cool our streets and we cut our energy use both day and night. The first long term Australian data on the high temperatures being caused in our cities comes from two heat monitoring stations in Chippendale. Read More  
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By Rebecca Leshinsky and Judy Rex, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne 20 March 2012 – Dr Leshinsky and Dr Rex identify the tools needed to help apartment owners future-proof their buildings and budgets against rising energy costs. Over the past 25 years, Australia’s capital cities have experienced urban consolidation with a marked increase Read More  
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By Michael Mobbs 20  March 2012  – Here’s a handy tool for calculating pollution from your building project and solutions for avoiding it and compensating for it. It’s free, a gift from Burr and The Fifth Estate. Read More  
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By Alan Pears 12 March 2012 – Letter: As part of making NSW No 1 in green building, does the NSW Environment Minister  intend to revise BASIX so that its building envelope requirements match the national standard of six stars? It’s now clear that the assumption of BASIX – that a “reasonable” building envelope would be OK as long as the lighting and equipment were efficient – is falling short. To manage peak summer demand you need both a good building envelope and efficient equipment. On the other hand, the BASIX approach of requiring separate performance standards for summer and winter could help the national code work better. For example, Victorian homes are optimised for winter performance under six-star, so they are often hot boxes in summer because of lack of management of glazing. And on the issue of   Pixel [which recently was awarded the top US LEED green building rating] is the building actually fully occupied yet? Does it have any real performance data?... 
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By Shaila Divakaria and Stephen Driscoll 20 February 2012 –This joint paper was presented to the Solar 2011 conference in December 2011 on the experience of building Landcom’s eco-living range of display homes at The Ponds in north-west Sydney. Read More  
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By John Brodie 8 February 2012 –In the world of climate change and inefficient buildings everyone is clamoring for more efficient airconditioning systems and improved lighting to reduce energy loads and carbon. Airconditioning uses a large proportion of energy in buildings.The rule of thumb in trying to drop air temperature down from something quite hot – say 38 degrees Celsius external temperature to a default comfort level of around 22 degrees – is that airconditioning uses around 40 per cent of the energy in a building. If we stand back and take an objective look at building design and what inhabitant thermal comfort is really about we may be able to significantly reduce that airconditioning energy use by adjusting our notions of comfort. We would need to consider natural ventilation as either the main option for ventilative cooling and providing fresh air or at least have it working in conjunction with airconditioning. In an airconditioned building with comfort levels controlled... 
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By Monique Alfris 7 February 2012 – We’ve heard it all before. The developing world, they are so poor. They live in the dark. They have no other options. But is this really true? I’ve been travelling across some of the poorest countries in the  Asia-Pacific with Good Return and everywhere I go I see people with poor-quality light. People using wood fires. And this isn’t unusual – almost 40 per cent of the world’s population rely on some form of biomass for cooking and heating and 20 per cent have no access to electricity. And yet another 15 per cent only have access to unreliable electricity networks. But many of the people I’ve seen are also riding motor bikes, using top-quality shampoo and laundry detergent, and are talking on mobile phones. The International Telecommunications Union stated that by the end of 2011, five billion people worldwide had mobile phones – and the coverage rate in the developing world was 79 per cent. Which means there are people using kerosene... 
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By Michael Mobbs 29 February 2012 – Second of a two part look at the problems and solutions to government neglect of the one quarter of our cities that’s taken up by roads and parks See Part I Bathurst Burr: Our parks need new governance I sometimes hear the noises of the neighbours’ kids getting in or out of the family car.  Read More  
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By Michael Mobbs 1 February 2012 –This is a map which will change Australia’s future in the next 10 years. (1) The map shows the area of land covered by the coal, petrol, oil and minerals mining leases given or being given over the Queensland catchments of the Murray Darling rivers. It foretells the finale of the rivers’ story. Over 60 per cent of the catchments are to be mined. Read More  
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By Dick Clarke 31 January 2012  – This week’s news contains two seemingly unrelated stories – urban planning and fish stock management – which together actually point to where things go wrong. But that also means we know where to change things so they go right. That’d be nice. The NSW Government is abandoning a leadership role in planning for Sydney’s growth (why do we assume Sydney is under some divine commandment to grow? – it’s just what keeps happening in the absence of any plan to the contrary). Premier O’Farrell and Planning Minister Hazzard have determined that developers should be able to plan the city’s ever-westward expansion, without regard to infrastructure, transport, or nearby employment, and bypass local planning and zoning processes. So what is currently potentially or actual productive farmland may become 10,000 houses, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Or, from the other perspective, land that you may have an... 
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By Nycole Wood LETTER: 30 January 2012  – Firstly, thank-you for The Fifth Estate, I always enjoy reading it. Interesting article on Stockland’s report about energy efficiency. I’m all for promoting the savings opportunities from high thermal performance and high efficiency appliances, and all Alan Pears’ evidence should be much more widely promoted to new home buyers. But this article begs the question – shouldn’t Stockland be asked to explain how $6000 for free energy bills is really helping the situation? According to their figures you would only need to spend between $490 and $886 per year (plus fixed costs) on energy in your new Stockland home. But hang on, that’s only if you choose all the high efficiency options – and why would you if you get three years of free energy bills? Nycole Wood is ESD engineer,  Moreland City Council, Melbourne. These are her personal opinions  
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By Michael Mobbs 20 January 2012 When Somalia’s political system collapsed the country had no government. The government collapsed after a 2006 US-backed Ethiopian invasion. There was no one to issue fishing licences, to control national or international fishing. Read More  
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