By Peter Szental - 23 July 2009 – Rio Tinto’s claim that nuclear is one of the best hopes for Australia’s future energy supply (source: Rio Tinto’s Energy White Paper Submission, 11 June 09) makes me question whether this implies that Rio Tinto and other ‘big polluters’ know coal will soon become unviable. According to Rio Tinto’s submission, the coal and uranium mining giant notes that existing low-cost coal fired power stations will have to be replaced earlier than previously expected. Rio Tinto also claims that carbon capture and storage has significant limitations in delivering the large-scale emissions reductions that the Government is pinning its hopes on. This leads me to ask why Rio Tinto and other big polluters are demanding billions of dollars in compensation from the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme when the days of dirty coal generation are numbered? In my opinion, this puts the compensation claims from dirty coal generators in a new light. I believe that... 
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10 July 2009 -  BRIEF – Michael Pawlyn, founder of British architectural practice Exploration, took on climate sceptic Bjorn Lomborg at the British Council for Offices 2009 conference in Edinburgh held on 20-22 May. Speaking after Lomborg, who did not agree to his session being videod, Pawlyn tackled Lomborg’s arguments head on in a three part video posted on You Tube. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 For instance Pawlyn shows the figures used by Loborg and his Copenhagen Consensus made up of economists, were out of date. Instead of the US$2 cost of damage per tonne of carbon assigned by by Lomb to the damage caused by a tonne of carbon, the Stern Report quotes a cost of around US$80. And instead of the assumed $20 to clean up a tonne of carbon, a report by leading global consultants McKinsey showed that the biggest quickest savings in carbon would create savings rather than cost. Significantly Pawlyn points to the important role that architects are now able to play in helping to shape the... 
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by Michael Mobbs Government rebates for solar panels are only offered to unit or house owners. It is not presently possible for developers of new residential units to get rebates. So they do not put them on units. Yet, it is much cheaper for the developer to install solar panels at the time of construction, and more likely they will be in fact installed, than to put off this work and see if the body corporate can agree on buying and installing them.  After governments, body corporates in units are the slowest, most conservative, un-greenest creatures on Earth, harder to turn around than the Queen Mary. If you’re a developer and wish to make your project green then one option is to invest some money in an account and lock it up so the interest from it is dedicated to buying green power for the units to pay the common property electricity bills for lifts, lighting and such. At the moment, if a developer were to put $100,000 into an interest bearing deposit the interest would buy more Green... 
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16 July 2009 – If you are wondering about the power of the coal miners and the other giant polluters in running the emissions trading scheme debate, this article from Crikey’s Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane, earlier this month is worth putting on the record… Amid the email-related shenanigans of the weekend before last, one of the more extraordinary articles in the entire climate change debate appeared in The Weekend Australian. It was, in essence, an attack on, and warning to, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Climate Justice Program by News Ltd business writer Matthew Stevens, on behalf of some of the country’s biggest polluters. The ACF and the ACJP had got up the noses of Boral, BlueScope Steel, Caltex, Rio Tinto, Woodside and Xstrata by noting the remarkable disparity between the apocalyptic rhetoric coming from those companies about the impact of the Government’s “no-polluter-left-behind” emissions trading scheme, and... 
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by Patrick Fogarty… 19 May 2009 - Few people understand the impact that the computing world has on our carbon footprint. This is despite the fact that data centres, the work horses that support the internet and the growth in remote computing, are massive power users. The good news is that there are ways we can dramatically improve the energy efficiency of data centres. Innovation in data centre engineering is helping us to find ways to significantly reduce the amount of energy needed to run them. These developments can dramatically reduce the cost base and carbon footprint of a business. The invisible problem The impact data centres have on the environment is one that many people underestimate. Take a medium-size data centre that is typical of what is being built at the moment (such as a 2000 square metre, 4 mega watt facility). Such a data centre would have an annual energy consumption of about the same as 3000 houses. A 5 KW rack, typical of racks in new high density computing,... 
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By Rob Murray-Leach, chief executive officer, Energy Efficiency Council. The Energy Efficiency Council believes the Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) National Strategy on Energy Efficiency is an important step forward, and calls for more action on industrial and commercial energy efficiency. [see TFE  post on this] The National Strategy shows that Australian governments are waking up to the massive potential of energy efficiency. To meet the Commonwealth’s target to put Australia at the forefront of OECD energy efficiency improvement we’ll need to build on the Strategy with serious programs to retrofit commercial buildings and drive industrial energy efficiency. There is no doubt that the largest and cheapest opportunities for energy efficiency are in commercial buildings and industry. There are huge savings available in manufacturing and mining, with Australia’s top 215 energy users spending over $25 billion on energy per year, around 65 per cent of all business energy... 
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by Romilly Madew  - 3 July 2009 – In recent weeks, we’ve seen some criticism of the Australian Government’s $14.7 billion school infrastructure spending. On 11 June, The Australian claimed Infrastructure Australia board member, Peter Newman, had suggested that school infrastructure projects were being pushed out too quickly, with new buildings and infrastructure based on standardised templates at the cost of sustainability and innovation. Mr Newman later told The Fifth Estate that the newspaper misrepresented him. Professor Newman said that he blamed the states for evading their climate change responsibilities and for having no ready sustainable framework prepared for their schools development program. Although the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has been concerned that the pressure on the states to approve “shovel ready” projects would lead them to ignore their own legislation, sustainability guidelines and environmental standards, we have been excited... 
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by Michael Mobbs June 3 – Should we expect an Australian politician in government today to go forth into our world, “heavily disguised as a human being”, and force the four banks to cut their usurious interest rates at least to levels recommended by the Reserve Bank? (1) What’s this question got to do with The Fifth Estate, and developing so our cities sustain our culture? These things tell me we’re not sustaining our culture, and we won’t have sustainable development, except in its current marginal dimensions, until we buy most of our food from farmers and we stop banks oppressing us: * Australian banks closely study food prices and climate change to support their businesses; for example, in its 2007 study the ANZ concluded climate change, biofuels, and other factors will lead to a permanent rise in food prices with high spikes during shortages (2) * Most development is unsustainable – in Australia sustainable projects are the exception and are usually trophy... 
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By Ché Wall… 24 May - Two very important events occurred 150 years ago. The first oil well in the US was drilled at Titusville in Pennsylvania and, on the other side of the Atlantic, John Tyndall demonstrated the physical basis of the greenhouse effect. The rest, as they say, is history. This very topical observation was made by Al Gore during his keynote at the Word Business Summit on Climate Change of the Copenhagen Climate Council, which kicked off today. The event, attended by 700 delegates from around the world, is cited as being the last chance for business to inform the negotiation and international treaty at the December UNFCCC COP 15 meeting. To be hosted at the same venue, the COP 15 meeting will give us a new global agreement for climate change that will take over from the Kyoto protocol. For those whose businesses are provided with opportunity or risk from climate change this is clearly a big deal. I am in attendance because my business has become increasing engaged in... 
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by Georgina Legoe… “ Sustainable property in Dubai?” I hear you say, ”…not possible…Dubai is the symbol of real estate excess.” This is a common and somewhat correct view held by Australians on this Middle East hub. It comes up in every conversation I have had since my return from Dubai in January this year. I would like to share with you my experience assisting with sustainability in Dubai over the last two years. The UAE Context A quick overview: The United Arab Emirates UAE is a federation of seven Emirates. Abu Dhabi is the capital and Dubai is the growth town being developed as a tourist, property, and finance hub. Spending two years in Dubai all began at the end of 2006, when I was asked by Chris O’Donnell, chief executive officer of Nakheel, and former CEO of Investa Property Group, to assist with Nakheel’s sustainability journey. Nakheel, Dubai’s master developer, is charged with delivering the “Vision of Dubai”, with 15 projects in Dubai and interests... 
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by Dariel De Sousa and Barnaby Chessell ... 18 June – The effects of climate change on our physical environment are varied and many.  One consequence of climate change of particular relevance for the planning system is sea level rise. Climate change contributes to sea level rise in two main ways: •    the melting of ice stored in glaciers and the polar ice sheets increases the amount of water in the ocean; and •    as the oceans warm, water expands, thereby raising the sea level. As our climate changes, and sea levels continue to rise, there will be an increasing incidence of coastal flooding and erosion. A recent case before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal highlighted the importance of addressing the effects of climate change, including sea level rise, in planning decisions.  Gippsland Coastal Board v South Gippsland concerned applications for permits for residential dwellings on rural allotments, outside the township of Toora in a farming zone. The... 
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by Nicola Woodward - 21 April 2009 – Accelerated Depreciation is a core platform of the property industry as a way to green buildings – but there are major flaws in this approach and better ways to achieve the desired outcomes…. “Green depreciation” is a term that has recently been coined for providing accelerated tax depreciation for property related capital expenditure that provides a green payback. Tax depreciation is a tax deferral mechanism that already provides capital allowance deductions for refurbishment works as well as write offs for any plant or building items that are demolished or disposed of as part of the project. The rationale for the introduction of green depreciation has been this: there is an environmental need for existing buildings to be brought into the “green” fold but there is a cost premium in refurbishing an existing building to green standards over traditional design. There is an existing framework for providing tax deferrals for capital... 
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by Michael Mobbs… 18 June – Are you marching in step with the wrong crowd?  If you’re besotted with Kyoto dreaming, probably. What do you make of these facts? At Observatory Hill, Sydney, a weather station beside Sydney’s Harbour Bridge, the ambient or background temperature rose 1.5 degrees in the last 100 years. Of that 0.5 degrees of that was due to climate change, and 1 degree was due to black roads, dark roofs and lack of tree cover In the years 1965 to 2001 – 36 years – the number of very hot (above 35c) days per year in Sydney’s coastal areas rose by 22 per cent, but in western Sydney (where most new housing is being built) they rose by 250 per cent – from 5 to 15 days The design of roads, roofs, and trees in the landscape is increasing the temperatures of cities, subdivisions, houses, offices faster than climate change The higher the city temperatures the more aircon used and the more coal-fired power burnt None of Australia’s red tape... 
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By Michael Mandl - I recently attended the Local Government Climate Change Leadership Summit in Copenhagen over the week 29 May to 9 June. Following are some of my observations. What is clear is that in this region, the Nordic Countries are getting on with sustainability; not wasting time and energy debating it. The progress is readily observable -  banks of windmills are slowly turning in a quiet symbol of the change, and they are everywhere. As a result these countries are finding that sustainability is more than just a science, more than a technical means of living on Earth. It has become for some a social binder, encompassing all the tenets of the initial concept of sustainability. In sustainable towns such as Malmo there is a sense of pride in community that may have been missing before. This brownfield former industrial ship building town has seen resurgence through the adoption of pilot communities in former industrial areas. Here energy is provided by solar, wind, geothermal and... 
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18 June – BRIEF: Changes to the guidelines contained in the new s 60 of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997  in NSW, have provided some breathing space to property owners. The maximum penalty for failing to report a contaminated site to DECC is $165,000 with a further penalty of $77,000 for each day the offence continues. An alert issued by Clayton Utz partner Peter Brigss and special counsel Claire Smith said that the guidelines would now come into force on 1 December instead of 1 July, after industry  representation to the Department of Environment and Climate Change. “Following a recent meeting with DECC we understand that the guidelines will be released on or prior to 1 July 2009 and they will not be gazetted until 1 December 2009,” the alert said. “The effect will be that the new reporting regime will take effect in December; and other changes to the CLM Act will come into force on 1 July 2009. “The basic concept of the guidelines will remain unchanged from the... 
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I would like to clarify my comments in The Australian front page article “Adviser slams school cash” on June 11th. I did not at any stage “slam” the Federal Government education program. I think it’s an extraordinary opportunity to fix up our schools as is the chance to fix up our transport infrastructure by Infrastructure Australia. My beef is that we should not be missing the historic opportunity to green our schools whilst making them more effective educationally. The guideline to do this was set by the Federal Government but when it reaches the actual schools its all a bit too hard. This is mainly because the states have not made this a priority in the past so they were not ready. This is a comment on the wasted decade when we did not take climate change seriously and we should be now trying all we can to make up for that lost time. Peter Newman Professor of Sustainability Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute 3 Pakenham Street, Fremantle,... 
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By Simon Carter 4 June 2009 – Critical to our achievements in the green building movement to date has been our breaking down of the overwhelming task at hand into bite size pieces digestible by everyone. We have created numerous models, methods and tools, and now many thousands of people are taking action to help green our built environment. Yet people are still grappling with what sustainability really means. Many see the macro trends around sustainability playing out in the world and are recognising that this is a defining moment in history. But they are struggling to work out their role in it. Many more are also wrestling with exactly what it is that they want to sustain with sustainability – in terms of quality of life. This is an enquiry that comes back to personal and collective values and indeed, one’s purpose. Maybe it is time to start putting all of the pieces back together and get a sense of the whole that we are dealing with. When the green building movement was initiated... 
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by Romilly Madew… At the opening of the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit 2009 in Seoul last week, Mayor of Toronto and C40 Chair, David Miller, told the audience that we were witnessing the “dawn of the new industrial revolution – a green dawn.” The C40 is a group of the world’s largest cities already taking action on climate change. It holds its biennial summit to share best practices, build networks, identify collaborative projects and chart future actions to help tackle climate change. The Clinton Climate Initiative became the delivery partner of the C40 in 2006. The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) attended the four-day Summit, which featured former President Bill Clinton addressing representatives from 70 global cities, who came together to outline a radical vision for green cities. Cities provide both challenges and opportunities in the context of climate change. The UN forecasts that today’s urban population of 3.2 billion will rise to nearly 5 billion... 
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By Maria Atkinson… Dear Prime Minister, I am writing to alert you to serious flaws in Federal Government data on emissions from buildings and to request urgent action to establish accurate data, to ensure Australia’s carbon pollution reduction responses are soundly based. My specific concern is that inaccurate data from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural & Resource Economics (ABARE) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which in turn is based on inaccurate methodology adopted by the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO), has been used as the basis of calculations which suggest buildings are responsible for 23 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the United Nations and many other international authorities put buildings’ contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions in the order of 40 per cent or higher. The data in question appears to date back to an erroneous assumption adopted in the 2002 report by George Wilkenfeld to the AGO: Australia’s... 
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By Art Centre Client-in-Waiting… “Hi…you don’t know me ..my name is (withheld) ..so…let’s say I’m working for an independent school in Queensland, and let’s say they want me to oversee the design and construction of a new arts centre…and let’s say I think that the arts centre should focus on “sustainable practice” and be a new benchmark in both design and program,  and let’s say everybody just looks at me blankly like I’ve just started talking gibberish. Let’s say I think the building itself should be entirely (well, as much as possible), carbon neutral and completely self sustaining…and let’s say I’ve been trawling through the www for weeks (weeks) trying to find ANYBODY in Australia that can give me ANY advice whatsoever??? I really want to be able to put a good argument to the board of directors (who have money) that this will make sense…and I can find no clear information whatsoever…just really simple clear stuff like: Benchmark... 
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-  with best regards to Paul Keating By Peter Droege… The audience in the near-full auditorium expected turmoil, demonstrations and heckling after calls from the “modernist” camp to boycott the event. The Prince had written to Sheikh Hamad bin Jaber Jasim al-Thani, urging the Quatari Prime Minister and member of its royal family to seek withdrawal of investment support for the controversial Richard Rogers designs for a scheme at Chelsea Barracks, without success. But except for a single, somewhat reluctant call for “end the monarchy now” at the end of the speech (prompting another audience retort of “certainly not”), and some placard-waving in support of Charles’ position on the project at the entrance of 66 Portland Street, no protest surfaced. Prince Charles gave a fine speech at the175th anniversary this month. It came across as differentiated, elegant, poetic and funny. The 45 minute address managed to connect his placelessness critique of 1984 (remember his... 
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By Michael Mobbs… What if the fuss over making rules to stop climate change was a waste of time? What if the rules would not make a difference, simply because they address the wrong pollution? Let’s put to one side the self-aggrandisement we exhibit in this debate – that we humans know how to control Earth’s climate, even though we have never done it before.  (I think the only person who knows how to make it rain is the Wizard of Id whose king directs him to go to the beach without an umbrella when he wants to make rain.) And let’s also ignore the fact that the rules being discussed will not take away the pollution we’ve already put into the atmosphere which, if the proponents of the new rules are to be believed, is what’s causing Earth’s climate to spiral out of control. Those wishing to set strategies or to take practical actions to achieve sustainable use of energy, water and land need data about all the energy and water used. Without accurate data it’s unlikely... 
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by Romilly Madew… Just in the last few weeks, the Green Building Council of Australia’s fitout of its Sydney office – the GreenHouse – was short-listed for a National Interior Design Award. We’re particularly excited about this award nomination, which demonstrates that even small, low cost and fast fitouts can achieve high environmental standards. One of only three short-listed fitouts in the Sustainable Design category, the GreenHouse will be competing against The Gauge and SA Water. The 800 square metre space has been developed as a sustainability showcase and to support GBCA’s rapidly expanding team and dynamic culture. The fitout took less than five months to complete, and was delivered within a tight budget. Bligh Voller Neild (BVN) designed the fitout, Lincolne Scott provided engineering services and Schiavello delivered building works. A range of sustainable initiatives was included in the fitout. Most notably, a grey water treatment system was installed for... 
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By Rita Avdiev…Property people are living in a state of uncertainty and fear. If they are still employed, they may face pay freezes, pay cuts and redundancies soon. If they have already lost their jobs they face fierce competition for any job available. As detailed in the latest Avdiev Remuneration Report, the end of generous pay increases has come, with predictions of no rises for senior property securities executives and property consultants – architects, town planners, project managers and quantity surveyors. Even with the new green consciousness in the property industry, consultants with sustainability credentials and experience are not immune from redundancy or pay freezes. Despite proposed government infrastructure expenditure on health, education and community services, many architects and designers working for commercial design firms, whose big corporate clients were keen on green design in good times but have put their development plans on hold, have lost their jobs... 
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by Sidonie Carpenter – President, Green Roofs Australia. Its with great interest that I read your article on Green Roofs are a Cool Idea, parts one and two, published in The Fifth Estate. It is great to see and hear of so much conversation regarding green roofs finally happening in Australia. It’s definitely a very exciting area with huge potential and I believe an area worth considering in regard to the Australian built environment. I am a little concerned with some of the facts that you state – in particular the depth of the extensive roof profile being 2–7 centimetres. Extensive roof profiles are typically 10–30 cm with the possibility of any green roof in Australia surviving on less than 20 cm being very slim Yes there are some roof profiles in Europe and Nth America that are very thin – this would not be viable in Australia with our temperature and water issues. The roof on Parliament house is over 100 cm thick – yes, simple because its only supporting turf but the soil... 
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by Harry Partridge… Pursuing the goals of sustainability, and pursuing them rigorously and with good intent seems often to fall short. The goals themselves are usually plural, multi-purposed and often conflicting. An example from the built environment is the debate between creating housing with a thermal sink of heavy masonry construction, and housing of lightweight construction. In simple terms, “cave” versus “tent” living. Some of Harry Seidler’s houses showcase the former and Glen Murcutt’s classic rural retreats describe the latter. Which is correct for a particular climate? And, of course, the various emission and carbon trading schemes provide multiple positions for entrenched political and corporate posturing. But before considering those contradictions, there is one glaring fact, one extremely large elephant in the room, which is fundamental to any discussion on global sustainability. And that is Third-World extreme poverty. Is there a uniting driver for the divergent... 
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By Romilly Madew… Commercial and residential buildings account for 23 per cent of Australia’s annual emissions – making the built environment sector vital in any carbon pollution reduction scheme. The Australian Government’s proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) won’t have an impact on Australia’s built environment, and so won’t achieve reductions in the very sector where emissions are both significant and most easily achieved. This means a range of other measures to achieve those reductions are required. The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that buildings offer the single largest source of greenhouse gas abatement – more than the industry, transport and energy sectors combined. The IPCC’s research is backed up by McKinsey and Company’s Pathways to a Low-Carbon Economy, which has demonstrated that this abatement comes at negative cost to GDP – that is, abatement in the built environment... 
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by Peter Szental The Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) draft National Strategy on Energy Efficiency makes important steps, but leaves the building sector out in the cold and Australia’s greatest energy efficiency opportunities untapped. Investing in energy efficiency is more than a double-dividend. Energy efficiency creates green jobs, improves Australia’s economic competitiveness, cuts greenhouse pollution and saves money. Australia is currently one of the worst performers in energy efficiency in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). That puts our economy at tremendous risk. The largest and cheapest opportunities for energy efficiency are in existing commercial buildings and industry, but COAG seems to be ignoring these opportunities. Existing commercial buildings account for 98 per cent of office space each year, and are a gold mine of potential energy savings. The strategy will fail to unlock these savings. A report by the Australian Sustainable... 
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By Gavin Gilchrist Think about this. Just over 50 years ago when President Eisenhower and the US Congress realised they had a serious technological and political challenge – matching the Soviet Union in the space race – did they respond by imposing a new tax on non-space travel in the hope that “market forces” would somehow respond by delivering more space travel? No way. They created a new national agency, one that was well-funded, prestigious, and attractive to the best and the brightest US scientists, managers and engineers. And they gave it a clear goal: beat the USSR in space. So they created NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Australia in 2009 doesn’t need a NASA. But it desperately needs a NESA. A National Energy Savings Agency. Here’s why. The cheapest, fastest way to cut Australia’s greenhouse emissions is by saving energy through the accelerated adoption of energy-effective processes and practices. Like better lighting control in offices,... 
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by Ché Wall In the discussion of ways to drive energy efficient buildings and thereby cut greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector, some people in the property industry have been critical of anything that would provide a penalty as a complement to incentives, arguing that penalties – any penalties – are unfair. But why should the property industry not be held accountable for its carbon footprint? And perhaps more pertinently, why won’t the Federal Government eventually hold the property industry accountable? Given this is surely inevitable, perhaps the critics should stop and think of some of the options open to the Government. In Europe where there is the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, various countries – including Italy, France, and the UK, – have “white certificate” or ”energy efficiency tradable certificate” schemes in place. Under these schemes, qualifying projects are awarded certificates verifying a certain reduction in energy consumption... 
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