by Damien Leclercq and Shannon Mason FAVOURITES- 28 August 2009 - Small scale wind energy has recently gained a lot of interest, particularly in the urban context, due to the general drive for sustainability and the appeal of the technology. But... 
Read More > >

By Michel Mobbs 25 March 2010 – You go to an island, spend some time alone, and you can see things a little more clearly. That’s how it turned out for me. The idea was to visit Cockatoo Island and do nothing; maybe read, eat and walk a bit.... 
Read More > >

by Michael Mobbs - 10 March 2010 – Ah! As I write this, it’s such a perfect day for a Burr. A beauty of sun, clear light and, here and there, drops of silence. But Burrs will be burrs, so buckle up. We have here a classic case of do-gooders who,... 
Read More > >

By George Quezada & Anthony Szatow 4 November 2010 -Favourites: In this third and final article of the three part series, George Quezada and Anthony Szatow look deeper at what is needed to transform the energy sector and bring forward innovations... 
Read More > >

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... 
Read More > >

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... 
Read More > >

By Michael Mobbs In Australia in 2010 there are no rules requiring houses or construction to be sustainable. There are, however, rules in most states and territories requiring houses (and in some jurisdictions units, too) to be designed to use less... 
Read More > >

By Bruce Rowse - FAVOURITES – 27 NOVEMBER 2009 -Who would have thought that a major company – let alone a trucking company – could cut its emissions intensity by almost 30 per cent in less than three years? Yet on Sunday logistics company... 
Read More > >

– 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... 
Read More > >

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... 
Read More > >

 
Read More →

By Blair Palese, chief executive officer, 350.org Australia “As a human being I am fully supportive of the [350 ppm] goal. What is happening, and what is likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be really ambitious and very determined at... 
Read More > >

By Tanya Fiedler 16 December 2009 – The 192 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 7- 18 December 2009. The intent of this 15th Conference of the Parties is to agree on a replacement to... 
Read More > >

By Michael Mobbs I was six when our family farm was flooded for six months. We couldn’t get to town, or anywhere else, for three months. Kids came on horseback, or on boats, through the flood waters to the temporary school set up in the old disused... 
Read More > >

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... 
Read More > >

FAVOURITES – 12 June 2009 – The 40 per cent greenhouse gas emissions emissions from buildings – a figure commonly quoted internationally – relates to both end use (operating energy consumption) and inferred embodied emissions (for... 
Read More > >

- The issue of potential damage to infrastructure is a late comer to climate concerns, and so too is the likely realignment of the coast itself argues, MWH’s Peter Fagan - Much has been said about the global concern for climate change and the very... 
Read More > >

- By Michael Mobbs  - Use this table to estimate how much compost mulch you will need for your food plants. The table will help you choose your composting options. For example, if you want to grow say, 10 citrus trees, you will need about 300 to 800... 
Read More > >

by Michael Day It’s spring. And no-one welcomes the lengthening days more avidly than our household. Cat sprawled in a sun patch, chickens in the veggie patch and kids clambering on the swing set. And the wife and I, shod in old jeans and oversized... 
Read More > >

Christopher Conolly FAVOURITES 23 October 2009 – NSW’s Planning Department has been under the gun with decisions on rezonings declared illegal. In the following article, Maddocks partner, Christopher Conolly, explains what went wrong, with... 
Read More > >

Christopher Conolly FAVOURITES 23 October 2009 – NSW’s Planning Department has been under the gun with decisions on rezonings declared illegal. In the following article, Maddocks partner, Christopher Conolly, explains what went wrong, with... 
Read More > >

LETTER – 2 December 2009 – I just read your article [Bullies win in timber industry and union war to brown-off Green Star rating system]. We have had very similar discussion here in North America. One point that is brought up is why [the Canada]... 
Read More > >

The opportunity for Australia to remove 150 million tonnes of “legacy” carbon dioxide a year from the atmosphere will be lost if the Government does not include agricultural and biological sequestration offsets in the emissions trading scheme, according... 
Read More > >

By Bruce Rowse Who would have thought that a major company – let alone a trucking company – could cut its emissions intensity by almost 30 per cent in less than three years? Yet on Sunday logistics company Linfox announced a 28 per cent reduction... 
Read More > >

By Romilly Madew Recently, I was honoured to attend the Telstra Business Women’s Awards state finals in NSW, and to win my category of White Pages Community and Government (NSW) after being nominated by a member of the Green Building Council of Australia. Winning... 
Read More > >

By Lisa Tarry 25 November 2009 – There is no agreed definition for the term “green-collar jobs”, unfortunately, and as a result it is difficult to estimate how many so-called green-collar jobs exist, or are likely to be created with various... 
Read More > >

We couldn’t agree more with your article titled, “Housing and building industry’s knee jerk reaction is same old same old”. We too are part of the building industry but our interests, and those of many other building industry associations,... 
Read More > >

By Michael Mobbs 23 November 2009 - A week ago I watched two lines of ants going up and down a tree. “Where are they going to?” I asked Frances Bodkin, or Auntie Fran as the local Aborigines call her. “They go up to an aphid’s... 
Read More > >

The Telstra Women’s Business Awards, NSW, in October, was pause for a little contemplation on the status of women in business, writes Lisa Tarry The buzz in the air that only a room full of driven, successful women can create was electrifying. The recent... 
Read More > >

by Michael Mobbs 5 October 2009 – Birds, back lanes, experts, professionals and politicians are in dramatic decline. Only one thing separates them and us from extinction. Gutsy media. To get a sense of what gutsy media is, and whether it may be... 
Read More > >