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... 
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Favourites: 28 September 2010 -In this second article of a series of three, Anthony Szatow and George Quezada explore what new business models capable of realising value from distributed energy may look like. The final article will examine the conditions... 
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By Michael Baker Rethinking the Australian Town Centre -  Part III – 13 October, 2010 – In ancient times, Hindus referred to the ocean as the “dark water.” It was here that gods rested, and to disturb them would draw upon the seafarer... 
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By Michael Mobbs 13 October 2010 - It’s interesting, the changing weather.  Not just the facts of it – the unusual events that are remarkable for their heat, their rain, their departure from the averages. But how we respond to it. I’ve had... 
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By Nicola Woodward FAVOURITES: ANALYSIS – 26 July 2010 – It isn’t every Monday you wake up to the fact that a Sunday press release by the incumbent Government in the run up to a general election contains a promising policy. Yesterday... 
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By Caroline Noller LETTER: 19 October 2010 – Thanks for the recent news from the front desk “challenges are complex and multiplying” regarding the merit of increasing residential Star Ratings. It is a conversation the property sector could... 
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By Monique Alfris 13 October 2010 – So often at the early stage of projects, we (as property ESD consultants) get caught up in it all. We want to solve sustainability in one fell (building) swoop. We want the trifecta of replicability across industry,... 
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By Robin Mellon, executive director, advocacy and international, Green Building Council of Australia 29 September 2010 - The Green Building Council of Australia is often asked whether new technologies and systems have the most potential to help with... 
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By Michael Mobbs 28 September 2010 – A student studying property has asked me, “Do you think “Green” Design and Development in residential properties is supported and progressive in Australia?” There is some support by governments. But... 
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By Gary Wertheimer FAVOURITES – May 5 2010 – The Building Code of Australia 2010 has been in effect from 1 May. Section J, dealing with energy efficiency, has been updated but few people understand what is involved. The way buildings are... 
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By Michael Mobbs 17 September 2010 - Let’s see if we can join up some dots. The first dot is: Dust It’s heaven, but I don’t know it then.  Not ‘til much later. I’m in the back seat, window down, the cold wind of evening cooling me down. The... 
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7 September 2010 - In part one of a three part series, Anthony Szatow of the CSIRO presents the results of the three year Intelligent Grid Project, an investigation into how distributed energy can reduce both carbon emissions and energy costs. The Australian... 
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- By Russell Martin - 10 August 2009 – The need to integrate all of our available water sources is the only means by which cities and towns can provide security of supply to meet the demands of predicted population increases within the next 10 to... 
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2 September 2010 – Human city-makers know less than ants when it comes to cooling and warming our cities. When it knows (we don’t know how) the coming summer will be hot the meat ant gathers white and pale pebbles and carries them to cover the... 
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By Michael Mobbs 28 August 2010 – Another day. More dreams of what might be, more steps on the footpath of the here and now, the broken-off branches from last night’s windy-as-hell storm all over the place, the noise of it in my ears still... 
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by Danielle McCartney 10 August 2009 – At the moment, half the world’s population lives in towns and cities. By 2030 it is estimated that the urban population will reach five billion, which is 60 per cent of the world’s population. Australia... 
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By Michael Baker 4 August 2010 – There’s an old joke that speaks to the reliability of information received through our own senses compared with that received from what we think are trusted secondary sources. A man named Andy comes home and... 
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By Michael Mobbs 9 July 2010 Last Sunday I overheard this comment while coming out of the movie, Inception: “ . . . a constant stream of over-wrought nonsense . . .” * And my thoughts turned to gardening. Here are10  things we can do today in... 
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By Michael Mobbs 27 July 2010 – Early mornings now in the valley where I live are crisp, a cool gift that smacks me in the face when I walk out my front door. And such a little song in my heart the other morning as I went in search for my rhythm... 
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…By Brian Moore… 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... 
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21 July 2010 - With the approach of greenhouse gas and energy reporting deadlines, senior environmental consultant at NDEVER Matt Drum has compiled a document detailing the requirements for corporations liable under the National Greenhouse and Energy... 
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By Michael Mobbs 1 July 2010 – Chippendale, a small Sydney inner suburb, is using Earth’s energy and water unsustainably and increasing its pollution of Sydney harbour and local air. The trends for increasing pollution and resource use show... 
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By Michael Mobbs 18 June 2010 – Is the Frasers Property Group to become Sydney’s BP? Frasers is excavating six hectares of a huge project at Broadway on the fringe of the CBD — more than 1600 units; more than 2000 car parking spaces; a shopping... 
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By Michael Mobbs This Burr has some soft tips, prickly spikes, an oddity here and there, and some speechless wonder. Enjoy. Count the spikes:  500 million farmers can’t be wrong La Via Campesina,  an international peasant’s movement is visiting... 
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By Michael Mobbs 21 May 2010 – In his searing, timeless essay, “A hanging”, George Orwell describes an execution he witnessed when he was a policeman in Burma. I read it when I was about nine, during a year when I devoured a book a day and... 
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About 3.7 million new jobs will be created across Australia by 2030 if the government acts now to shift from a pollution dependent economy to a cleaner economy, a new report from the Australian Council of Trade Unions says. Creating Jobs – Cutting... 
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By Michael Mobbs 5 May 2010 - All of Australia’s dirty coal-fired power could be replaced with clean power by 2014. And although coal-fired power stations provide about 60 percent, or some 29 gigawatts, of Australia’s mains power (1), (2) this could... 
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By Michael Mobbs 22 April 2010 – This aerial photograph shows land on the outskirts of Mullumbimby in northern NSW, where horses graze on grassland that is surrounded by bush on two sides and a caravan park on another. In 2006 the NSW Planning... 
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By Lynne Blundell 31 March 2010 – public discussion paper on the federal government’s proposed framework for setting energy efficiency standards for buildings has been released for public consultation. The discussion paper presents the National... 
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By Michael Kiely, Carbon Farmers of Australia Cities in Danger 3 July 2009 – FAVOURITES: No city in the world has been built to withstand extreme weather events predicted by Climate Change scientists. But there will be more of them and they will... 
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