Green projects will be fast tracked as part of NSW’s bid to attract green investment and create green jobs in NSW. At the NSW Jobs Summit in March, NSW Premier Nathan Rees, announced a a list of measures: Renewable energy precincts A key part of the plan is the creation of new Renewable Energy Precincts […]

Sustainable property insiders say that NSW has stolen the march on its rivals with a forward thinking GreenSkills Taskforce to challenge the shortfall in the greening property industry. The move follows the NSW Jobs and Green Skills Summit, held in March and has a budget of $5 million to encourage businesses to green up their […]

Pittwater Council has placed its draft Learning for Sustainability Plan on public exhibition. The draft plan outlines a number of actions to improve sustainability in the local area. Pittwater mayor David James said that the plan would help guide Council and residents in making informed decisions about leading a more sustainable lifestyle. He said the […]

By Liz Morgan First of a two part article on green roofs … FAVOURITES – 21 April 2009 – “The city is a granite garden, composed of many smaller gardens, set in a garden world….The city is part of nature.” Award-winning American landscape architect, Anne Whishton Spirn From a bird’s eye view, Australian cities do […]

Sustainable property gets a helping hand. Check what’s on offer: 2009/10 Estuary and Coastal Management Grant Programs The main objectives of the programs are to improve coastal and estuarine health through the development and implementation of management plans. Go to the NSW environment department website for more details and application forms. The Water for Life […]

Frasers Property was this week forced to deny media reports that its massively ambitious plans for a sustainable makeover of the huge former Carlton & United brewery site at Broadway in Sydney were on hold indefinitely because of funding difficulties. Cancellation or indefinite shelving of the Frasers Broadway site as it is now called, would […]

At the national level a lion’s share of government resources and energy is being spent on designing an ideal carbon trading system that may or may not do anything to stop dangerous climate change.

At the ground level, where the climate impact will be felt, insurers and local councils don’t bother with esoteric talk of climate policy.

By Charmian Barton Recent changes to NSW contaminated land law could mean businesses who own, lease or manage contaminated land in NSW will be liable for contamination where previously they were not. The Contaminated Land Management Amendment Act 2008 (NSW), which came into effect on 10 December 2008, has given the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) broader […]

The demise of a planned eco-city in China highlights it is not just global economic woes, but more often political machinations, that threaten such projects in China, according to a report in The Economist. Dongtan, a project located on an alluvial island near Shanghai, was designed by British design firm Arup to house 500,000 people […]

Grants for small businesses Round 4 of the Climate Ready grants closes on 25 June 2009. Climate Ready provides grants from $50,000 to $5 million to support projects that address the effects of climate change. Companies can apply for funding for any or all aspects of the development of an innovative product, process or service […]

by Graham Hunt If you want to reduce your ecological footprint by installing items in your home such as rainwater tanks and solar cells but not sure if you can afford it, it’s worth checking if you are eligible for the many government rebates and assistance packages. The Federal and state government all have some […]

By Peter Droege The confusion around building a “carbon economy” around emissions trading has served to disguise for too long that countries, regions and cities need crash programs to replace their entire energy supply systems, and exchange coal and oil for renewable power. The longer this is postponed, the more difficult the ultimate effort will […]

The demand for sustainability managers may have contracted in the property development sector but new government policies aimed at addressing climate change are boosting job growth in government departments, the mining sector and renewable energy.

By Simon Carter We are businesses and people who live by incremental change. But we now enter a time of transformation in which we are being forced to examine the full systems that inhibit us existing sustainably, rather than just addressing the symptoms of our unsustainability. It is clearly a time of reinvention. Our global […]

Financial analysts may well be the dinosaurs of a sustainable world. They are holding back the global drive for more sustainable practices by failing to factor in sustainability issues when valuing companies. As a result, there is a serious mispricing of companies and the buildings they occupy. For this to change, companies must find a […]

Look at this map just once. Published New Scientist in early March tells the story what happens if temperatures warm by 4 degrees or more.

By Elena Bondareva Shortly after Green Cities 09 (a major Asia Pacific green building conference run jointly by the Green Building Council of Australia and the Property Council of Australia), I was having a drink with a couple of colleagues and they mentioned that they felt  that the green building movement is not strategic. Interestingly […]

Michael Mobbs watering his sustainable garden in his sustainable house By Michael Mobbs Why have one policy about something simple when you can have 140 or more and make it really complicated? How many policies does it take to control the parking of car share cars in NSW? One for each council, or over 140 […]

By Perentie – an occasional column on big issues Despite their image, even service stations can go greener OK service stations are the epitome of the oil industry – dirty, polluting and an eyesore. But even they have the potential to embrace sustainability. While the most obvious potential is to start dispensing alternative fuels such […]

Friday 17 April – Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, yesterday backed mandatory disclosure as a key tool in greening the property industry at a function to award Stockland a 6 star Green Star rating for the refurbishment of its headquarters in Sydney.

The Green Cities Conference, held in Brisbane from March 1-4, gave sustainability gurus, property professionals and politicians a chance to air their views on sustainable property and peddle their wares. We pick out the highlights:

“Reports of the death of green are greatly exaggerated,” said the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA’s) Chairman, Tony Arnel, at Green Cities 09, held in Brisbane recently. The message from all international keynote speakers and political leaders was the same: the slowing of global economic growth is a golden opportunity to shift the world’s […]

The Federal Government’s proposed mandatory disclosure of building energy efficiency is worrying building owners. Many want a less complex scheme that reflects the role of tenants in energy usage. Under the proposed scheme building owners will need to provide a Building Energy Efficiency Certificate (BEEC) and Energy Efficiency Assessment Reports (EEAR) when a building is sold […]

China’s remarkable economic resurgence in the last few decades has seen it become the world’s manufacturer. With the enormous outpouring of exported goods has come a rapidly-expanding middle class with a good deal of affluence that would have been unimaginable 30 years ago.

The love affair with cars alone tells the story.

But with growing prosperity has come increased concerns on sustainability.
Until now at least, China’s ecological footprint has been far less than that of developed nations but the sobering thought is that it is the older, undeveloped China that it is keeping it in this position.

Of the 31 provinces in China, Guangdong Province in the southeast has been the one that has benefited most with its seaports and special economic zones and is now the most prosperous province in China.
By Chris Miller

The property sector doesn’t much like government plans to force householders to disclose their properties’ environmental performance before they are leased or sold. Under the proposed national mandatory disclosure scheme the Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG) is pushing for energy use, water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions to all be revealed at market time. Part […]

One of the world’s iconic office towers, New York’s Empire State Building, is going seriously green, cutting energy consumption by up to 38 per cent and saving around $US4million in energy bills in a major refurbishment. Owner of the building, The Empire State Building Company, is spending around $US20million on environmental initiatives as part of […]

By its second year of operation, the Szencorp Building’s water usage was 94 per cent below the industry average and it had achieved 71 per cent energy savings on pre-refurbishment levels. By Peter Szental The Szencorp Building at 40 Albert Road, South Melbourne, claims it is the country’s highest sustainability achiever with top ranking in […]