22 December 2010 – The Federal Government on Tuesday scrapped the Green Start program and instead extended until the end of February the Green Loans Scheme it was intended to replace. The program was to provide energy assessments to assist households to become sustainable through information and advice.

By Lynne Blundell 530 Collins Street Melbourne 6 May 2010 – When GPT’s building at 530 Collins Street was coming up to 20 years old, the property group decided it was time for an upgrade with energy performance a key focus. Originally completed in 1989, it is a landmark building with approximately 68,335 square metres […]

21 December 2010 – The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities has released its sustainable population issues paper for comment. The paper, A Sustainable Population Strategy for Australia, includes reports from the three  sustainable population advisory panels appointed in July 2010 to establish an open national dialogue on a sustainable population strategy. The […]

21 December 2010 – Social entrepreneurial company Barefoot Power has added yet another award to their growing list after being named Australia’s Coolest Company for their innovative LED products by digital business magazine AnthillOnline.com last week. Anthill Magazine editor-in-chief James Tuckerman said the Cool Company Awards judges were wowed by how Barefoot Power’s simple concept […]

24 November 2010 – Gavin Gilchrist’s Big Switch Projects has increased staff levels this year after a moderate uptick in demand for energy audits following the introduction of  the mandatory disclosure regime. The requirements are that offices of 2000 square metres or more disclose their NABERS energy rating on sale or lease. According to Mr […]

20 December 2010 – Good Environmental Choice Australia has released a new standard for fully finished furniture. The new GECA-28 Furniture and Fittings 2010 standard is available at the GECA website. Release dates for revised panel boards and floor coverings standards are expected in January 2011.

20 December 2010 – Australia is consistently referred to as one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment. However, green buildings come at a price and when is the Australian acceptance of “green” going to pay off? In the first installment of this two part series, Jones Lang LaSalle’s director of sustainability Australia […]

By Tina Perinotto 18 December 2010 – Pritzker Prize winning architect Frank Gehry was in Sydney this week to officially introduce his contribution to Sydney’s skyline with a new business school at the University of Technology Sydney. Sustainable elements he said would include “all the usual ones that everybody has on their list” but there […]

17 December 2010 – Closing date for submissions to the Green Building Council of Australia’s new rating tool Green Star – Performance will be 25 February 2011. The new rating tool is designed to assess the operational performance of existing buildings, covering all nine Green Star environmental impact categories in addition to the existing energy […]

17 December 2010 – Construction of a 450-mirror solar facility showing that electricity can be economically generated by sun power started at the CSIRO National Solar Energy Centre in Newcastle is underway. The tower, Australia’s largest, will demonstrate that after the cost of carbon is taken into account, electricity can be generated by sun-power at […]

17 December 2010 – The Warren Centre’s Innovation Hero Awards to recognise Australia’s most creative and inspirational engineers have been announced. Dr Simon Poole and Dr Steven Frisken – Finisar Australia – design, development and manufacture of optical communications and instrumentation equipment Professor Gernot Heiser – Open Kernel Labs – a leading computer operating systems […]

By Mary Azzi 16 December 2010 A lobby group of real estate agents established to promote sustainable residential property has launched a new website aimed at educating and linking people – including agents and buyers – on the benefits of sustainable housing. Sustainable Housing and Australian Real Estate was established earlier this year, after founder […]

Here are 12 things in the sustainability space which inspired me this year: China becoming No 1 in the world for wind power capacity and dominating in PV production and solar hot water installation California’s Proposition 23 vote where the new (technology) industry out lobbied the old (fossil fuel) industry and Californian’s voted to go […]

22 December 2010 – A number of companies with Australian connections have won awards in the UK’s prestigious Building Magazine Sustainability awards held in conjunction with the UK Green Building Council. Winners include Cundall which was named sustainable consultant of the year as runner up in sustainable designer of the year,  Arup Associates which won […]

21 December 2010 – ASPECT Studios’ Pirrama Park project was the major winner at this year’s Australian Institute of Architects NSW awards. Other winning projects included The Village at Balgowlah, the Clarence River Way masterplan, the Sydney Park North West precinct and the Chinatown Public Domain Plan. Jury chair Gay Williamson said the work featured […]

From Edie – 16 December 2010 – The Greater London Authority has announced a drive to make food provision at the organisation sustainable. They are pledging that by 2012, or when catering contracts are next up for renewal, sustainability requirements will be included in all contracts. The Sustainable Food Procurement Commitment will require food to […]

15 December 2010 – The Grattan Institute has firmly backed a market based mechanism with a floor price as the most efficient way to reduce pollution, in a new report released today. “Government consistently underestimated commercial innovation when money was at stake,” the Institute said. “They consistently got it wrong when predicting which technologies would […]

15 December 2010 – Social enterprise Barefoot Power won one of only two Consensus GreenTech Awards last week for its solar-powered LED lamps designed for pro-poor communities in developing countries. GreenTech judges said: “This Award is for Barefoot Power’s business innovation and business success in the most challenging market – where the need is greatest […]

15 December 2010 – Social enterprise Barefoot Power won one of only two Consensus GreenTech Awards last week for its solar-powered LED lamps designed for pro-poor communities in developing countries. GreenTech judges said: “This Award is for Barefoot Power’s business innovation and business success in the most challenging market – where the need is greatest […]

FAVOURITES – 18 October 2010 – AIRAH conference – There was no shortage of cutting edge technology discussed at AIRAH’s Achieving the green dream conference- tomorrow’s technology today. An impressive array of technologies and their practical applications were presented by speakers over two days. There was solar cooling, blackwater and greywater reuse, change phase materials that increased buildings’ […]

15 December 2010 – Property Developer Stockland has won the inaugural national award for office energy efficiency after reducing carbon emissions by 800 tonnes a year and saving $90,000 in energy bills through the CitySwitch program. Stockland was awarded the national prize ahead of runners-up Energetics in Melbourne and Cameron Chisholm Nicol in Perth, which […]

14 December 2010 – The Greens  said the better than expected result from the Cancun climate talks “significantly raises the stakes for climate politics in Australia” and places pressure on more transparent accounting for carbon forest stores which she said currently concealed the true state of play. Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said […]

Brief: 14 December 2010 – Climate Change Minister Greg Combet will be in Newcastle, NSW,  tomorrow to  launch a series of maps to help local governments in coastal communities to prepare for the future impacts of sea level rise due to climate change. There will be demonstrations of two computer-based tools and experts on hand […]

13 December 2010 – [Updated] Cancun is over. Was Cop 16 a success? Here are the views of a few leading players and observers: Federal Climate Change Minister Greg Combet Mr Combet said the main points of the outcome at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun were: For the first time an anchoring […]

25 November 2010 – Ken Maher, chairman of architects Hassell, must be feeling fairly good these days. Here he sits at the top of Australia’s biggest architectural practice by far, with more than 900 employees, which has just scooped what could well be the first of several major awards for the ANZ Centre in Melbourne […]

12 December 2010 – A raft of built environment organisations, professionals, academics and corporations has signed an open letter to call for bi-partisan support for urban policy, in the hope that political rivalries will not kill off the first signs of emerging national urban agenda in decades. The coalition of signatories is also concerned at […]

Suddenly there is a scramble for education and training in sustainability for just about anyone associated with the built environment, from accountants to electricians to real estate agents and valuers.  When the valuers asked for help to construct a new course not one professional declined. In terms of the getting of knowledge in the emerging low […]

By Marcus Spiller 10 December 2010 – One of our assignments as town planning students at Melbourne University in the 70s challenged us to devise a strategy to put “urban policy on the front pages of the newspapers.” It was the time of the first Oil Price Shock; an energy conservation imperative gripped the developed […]