The construction of Sydney Water’s new desalination plant at Kurnell, south-east of Sydney, is in full swing and is said to be on track to become operational this summer. The automation and control of this innovative project is based on Profibus technology. Endress+Hauser was selected to be one of three key members of the main automation alliance to engineer and supply all general instrumentation to the plant.

Delegates at the EcoForum Conference & Exhibition in Sydney this February will hear about what is possibly the first indirect-to-potable stormwater harvesting project in Australia when presenter Chris Devitt from the drought-stricken city of Orange, New South Wales, describes how his council found a long-term, sustainable solution to a steady decline in water storage levels that had reached as low as 26.7% in August 2008.

A commercial plastic milk bottle wash and recycling facility serving communities across the whole of the South Island of New Zealand was officially opened last November. The plant was commissioned in August and is now processing 600 kg of milk bottles per hour or 100,000 bottles per day.

There is more than $3 billion in federal and state government 'green' grants and subsidies available and most companies do not know they are available or how to access them, according to sustainability consultancy Equilibrium OMG.

Australia’s electronic waste is a growing problem, with only a small fraction of it being recycled and the rest ending up in landfill. A new announcement from the EPHC is set to change all that, however, as Andrew Collins reports.

How can lighting designers use intelligent controls to improve building energy management? Philips Dynalite Energy Management Segment Manager, Brett Annesley, explains how an environmentally sustainable development (ESD) strategy can deliver energy efficiency outcomes, while addressing indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and changing occupancy requirements.

Some of the latest and most innovative ideas in sustainable and cost-effective desalination practices were raised and discussed at the inaugural National Desalination Research Roadmapping Workshop, held in Perth on 29 and 30 October.

A young engineering student may have found a brilliant way to fulfil every scientist’s ‘unattainable’ dream of renewable energy.

Properly matching an air compressor to the application is the first step towards improving energy efficiency. Rather like a tennis racquet, each compressor variant has a 'sweet-spot' - defining the duty zone at which the compressor operates with the highest efficiency. Represented graphically, the sweet-spot is a distinct zone within a given range of operating hours per year, and percentage loads.

It came as no surprise last week that the Labor government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) was defeated for the second time in the Senate. Under the new coalition rule of Tony Abbott, only two liberal senators crossed the floor and voted with their opposition for the ETS legislation - they were Senators Sue Boyce and Judith Troeth. At 33 votes for to 41 against, their votes were not enough to pass the bill.

Once extracted from the ground, mined ore is subjected to a complex series of steps before it can be converted into its purest state ready for use. The continual improvement of these process steps is critical to ongoing profitability of mine operations.

Many Australian companies are unaware that they have highly carbon-intensive supply chains and could be exposed to a future cost of carbon.

A new report from independent market analyst Datamonitor identifies that sustainable packaging is a growing consumer issue that has the potential to benefit numerous stakeholders. At present, consumer interest in packaging is relatively low in general; however, a high proportion of consumers are interested in the sustainability aspect of packaging.

Peak oil and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions mean that Australia will have no choice but to rely on alternative fuels in the future. Research suggests there are a number of alternatives that can bridge the gap, but a substantial investment in infrastructure is required before they are commercially available.

Industry is being challenged to reduce carbon emissions and its reliance on non-renewable fuel sources. Spurring this on has been volatile oil prices as well as the likely introduction of schemes such as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). In this article, Juergen Peterseim* and Prof Dr-Ing Udo Hellwig** from ERK Eckrohrkessel GmbH describe technologies that are available and can make use of biomass as an alternative fuel source for industry.