Perth faces a drought of action over water use Stewart Dallas, Greywater & Wastewater Industry Group Perth’s water managers have declared that the city will be a leading “waterwise” city by 2030 but there is a lot of work to do to reach that goal, given that Perth has the second-highest per capita water consumption of any Australian capital city.
Why we must pull financial levers to build for a changing climate Suzanne Toumbourou, Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council Climate change is expensive business. The recent bushfires are estimated to have cost Australia $100 billion – so far. The big hailstorm that struck NSW and the ACT in January cost around $1.36 billion.
ACT’s disclosure scheme reveals appalling residential housing quality Willow Aliento | 12 April 2018 Almost half residential rental properties in the ACT disclosing energy efficiency ratings are getting zero stars on the NatHERS scale, according to data gathered by tenant advocacy organisation Better Renting.
Australia’s still building 4 in every 5 new houses to no more than the minimum energy standard Trivess Moore, RMIT University; Michael Ambrose, CSIRO, and Stephen Berry, University of South Australia | 25 June 2019 New housing in Australia must meet minimum energy performance requirements.
New meets old: Cob houses enter the twenty-first century David Thorpe | 15 October 2019 A marriage of new and old wall materials using earth and plant fibre has won the first prize in the category “Connecting Green, Blue and Grey” at the European Commission’s RegioStars Awards in Brussels, as part of the European Week of Regions and Cities.
Wodonga builder proves 10 star homes not so hard if you’re a quality builder to start with Willow Aliento | 28 November 2019 If you want to control the energy efficiency of your building, start by eliminating air leakage, says an award-winning home builder who has been experimenting and innovating for more than a generation.
California’s wildfires and what Australia can learn Poppy Johnston | 23 January 2020 In 2018, the US state of California saw its worst-ever bushfire season on record. The Fifth Estate spoke to US architect and sustainable design guru David Hertz about what the region learnt about designing and managing infrastructure in the face of ever-increasing fire risk.
No smoke, no ash: here’s how one house survived the fires Paul Whitington | 6 February 2020 “When we first entered the house after our return from Canberra, four days after the fire, the air inside was cool and smoke-free in contrast to the outside air.”
