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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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By Alan Pears
15 December 2011 – What is “conservative” when it comes to energy policy?
As energy expert Ian Dunlop pointed out at a recent Climate Alliance conference, humans are investing billions of dollars in exploration for more fossil fuels,...
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26 May 2011 – FAVOURITES: Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy of Curtin University’s Sustainability Policy Institute in Perth, Western Australia, say a new phenomenon is under way – “peak car use”.*
Peak car use suggests that we are witnessing...
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By Ben O’Callaghan and Richard Hyde
20 December 2011–This is an edited version of their paper, presented at the World Sustainable Building Conference 2011 in Helsinki.
20 December 2011 – Significant effort, capital and time are being invested by...
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By Brendan Dow, managing director Ceramic Fuel Cells
15 December 2011: Letter – Ceramic Fuel Cells – a Melbourne-based manufacturer of highly-efficient generators for homes and buildings – has argued in a submission to the Australian Energy...
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22 November 2011 –There is a new pool of funding and improved project economics for efficiency thanks to the Clean Energy Futures Package, the Energy Efficiency Council conference heard this week. Following is a special report, Read More >...
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By Michael Mobbs
29 November 2011 – Question: I want to lobby for a food garden along with my neighbours but the council staff don’t want it. How can I persuade the council to approve a food garden in our park if the staff oppose it?
Answer: Let...
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By Alicia Brown
1 November 2011 – I recently came across the article Melbourne’s new sky park, 33 storeys up posted 22 June 2011. The article discusses a proposed development at 17-23 Wills Street comprising hotel, restaurant and residential components.
I...
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By Robin Mellon
24 November 2011 “In 1960 we saw a change of paradigm – towards more automobile-centred cities,” Danish architect and urban designer Jan Gehl told the audience at the State of Green – Denmark Forum earlier this week.
“In...
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By Paul de Podolinsky
16 November 2011 – Architects need to search harder and wider for innovative solutions to get the best return on investment for their refurbishments and retrofits. Read More > >
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By Elena Bondareva
22 November 2011 –What can the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol do for our sector? Read More > >
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By Michael Mobbs
15 November 2011 – I’ve been asked this question by an architect:
“I’ve been drinking my rainwater for years so know a little about filtering it but when it comes to specifying the filtration for clients of their own rainwater,...
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By Lindsay Bevege
14 November 2011 – Thriving communities will always be about the “‘ability to renew”: they are resilient, thus able to adapt creatively to changes and shocks, such as climate change, population growth, social upheaval, economic...
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By Dick Clarke
9 November 2011 – Australia used to be one big farm. Before the days when our wealth grew like sheaves of wheat, and we were rich from riding the sheep’s back, the country grew enough to create a varied diet of vegetables, and sweet...
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By Peter Droege
7 November 2011– From his forthcoming book chapter
Droege, P. (2011). Beyond Sustainability: Architecture in the Renewable City. In Crysler, C. Greig, Stephen Cairns and Hilde Heynen. Eds. Sage
Handbook of Architectural Theory....
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By Michael Mobbs
7 November 2011 – Bali’s rice farms may be Earth’s most sustainable food system.
The 260,000 farms have renewed their soil and water and maintained production for a thousand years. The farmers have built and maintain a highly...
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By Rebecca Pearce
22 July 2010 – FAVOURITES : Tackling the fundamental problem of carbon emissions from older style buildings is one of the key issues for the property industry. However, one Australian fund manager has proved that existing...
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By Suzette Jackson, HASSELL
2 November 2011 – The aim of the World Sustainable Building Conferences is to share leading knowledge, and find new solutions which enhance sustainable ways of living and working within built environments,...
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By Michael Mobbs
26 October 2011 – “We have a brief window to save the rice farms of Ubud”, said Stephen Lansing to me and my fellow listeners, assembled under the high set roof of Indus Restaurant in Ubud, Bali.
We’d come to listen to Mr Lansing...
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By Richard Palmer, WSP Green By Design
26 October 2011 – The Green Building Council South Africa convention starts today in Cape Town (pictured). Time for a look into the possibilities and the challenges.
A commonly heard muttering across the continent...
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25 October 2011 – Jones Lang LaSalle has released a Mandatory Disclosure Update Paper to help prepare building owners and tenants for the Commercial Building Disclosure Program, also known as Mandatory Disclosure, which comes into effect from 1 November...
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By Elena Bondareva, Thinc Beyond
20 October 2011 – The Green Building Council of South Africa will hold its annual convention this month – 26 to 28 October in Capetown. Following is an article based on a presentation that Elena Bondareva will...
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By Romilly Madew, Green Building Council of Australia
20 October 2011 – After two weeks in Canada in late September and early October 2011, during which time a small delegation from Australia saw countless green buildings, Read More > >
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By Lishi Li, final year student, Master of Architecture, UTS
11 October 2011 – A staggering 77 per cent of Sydney households have one or more empty bedrooms within their dwellings (ABS,2007-2008). It is unacceptable that this much empty space exists...
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By Luke Nixon, CB Richard Ellis
6 October 2011 – A new report produces more evidence that rated NABERS buildings outperform non rated ones. Early signs indicate that green development in Sydney’s CBD is gaining momentum to help redress an apparent...
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By Alan Pears
28 September 2011 – The carbon price is really a relatively small factor in the perfect storm facing the conventional energy sector. Photo voltaic solar now undermines the case for network investment and removes a disproportionately large...
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By Joanne Taylor
29 September 2011 – People are still afraid of density. On the surface, density has developed a picture of itself; it has become synonymous with the characterless concrete high-rise apartments which are fitted with repetitive...
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