enLighten and the City of Sydney have replaced 850 fluorescent lights with light emitting diodes (LEDs) at the Goulburn Street car park in Central Sydney. The LED lighting upgrade is forecast to: reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 220 tonnes per year; save 206 mWh of electricity per year - the equivalent energy used by 28 typical Sydney households annually; and save the City of Sydney approximately $26,000 in energy costs per year.

The construction of Infigen Energy’s Woodlawn wind farm has commenced at Veolia’s Woodlawn Eco-precinct located at Tarago, some 250 km south of Sydney. Covering 6000 hectares, the precinct also houses the Woodlawn bioreactor. The 48.3 MW Woodlawn wind farm, currently under construction, will be owned and operated by Infigen. It will consist of 23 wind turbines and is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2011.

Blacktown City Council (BCC), in conjunction with VDM Consulting, has successfully audited, designed and managed the upgrade of the energy and water efficiency of 40 of the largest council-owned energy- and water-consuming sites throughout the region, from showgrounds and leisure centres through to transport facilities and sports grounds.

Situated on Mt Tamborine in the Scenic Rim Region, Gallery Walk is one of the premier arts and craft centres of south-east Queensland. The collection of galleries and craft shops attracts hundreds of visitors each and every week.

Located an hour north of Brisbane, in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, Maleny Cheese is a family-owned business that first opened its doors in 2004. With its fine range of cheese products and on-site cafe, it is a popular spot with tourists and locals alike.

Virotec Global Solutions is conducting one of its largest environmental remediation projects to date: the demolition, sorting, treatment, stabilisation and disposal of mercury-contaminated waste at a large recently closed industrial site owned by Tas Paper in Australia.

3M recently commissioned The Energy Efficient Lighting Company (EELCO) to replace the standard power-hungry high bay lights used throughout its Pemulwuy medical goods distribution centre.

Christchurch Art Gallery has been reducing its energy costs and becoming more energy efficent, following the introduction of a steam humidifier and landfill gas, electricity and chilled water pipelines from the civic offices. From early 2011, chilled water and electrical power will be transported from the tri-generator on the roof of the civic building on Hereford Street directly to the art gallery.

Sustainability is steadily gaining in importance for consumers. They want ethically and ecologically impeccable products, packaged in a resource-conserving manner that nevertheless ensures their perfect condition when purchased. This is a major challenge to packaging producers, as the industry wants to save on materials without compromising the stability of the packaging in any way.

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Australian buildings are becoming so much more energy efficient; the NABERS program has opened up a discussion on extending its traditional five-star rating scale.

Global carbon dioxide emissions contributing to atmospheric warming show no sign of abating and may reach record levels in 2010, according to the Global Carbon Project (GCP), supported by CSIRO’s Marine and Atmospheric Research Division.

Productivity, competitiveness and sustainability have been identified by the Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) as the most significant actions for manufacturers to adopt in Australia.

State-of-the-art modelling and research tools to help Australia better manage its groundwater and catchments have been made available to a national groundwater research centre.

The world is one step closer to being freed from a reliance on fossil fuel-based fertiliser with the announcement of a $10 million project underway at Murdoch University.