An Australian-based developer of new wind-powered desalination plants is set to play a role in addressing the country’s severe water shortage.

The construction of Sydney’s Desalination Plant has been a logistically complex undertaking for project manager the Water Delivery Alliance (WDA) in the management of waste. Being an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) approved company for the management and permanent disposal of waste streams such as on this project, Worth Recycling was appointed to work on two main sites of the project.

WSN Environmental Solutions and joint venture partner LMS Generation have reached a major milestone, generating over 50,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy from waste at the Eastern Creek waste-to-energy complex in its first year of operation.

Gold Coast-based renewable energy company Quantum BioEnergy has been busy for the past nine months installing its first 1.26 MW of power generation from wet waste streams. What makes the Quantum situation unusual is that the company is commissioning its first installations at two sites simultaneously.

Cadbury Australia and Fairtrade Labelling Australia & New Zealand have announced plans for Cadbury Dairy Milk to achieve Fairtrade certification by Easter 2010. This means cocoa farmers and communities can look forward to a better and brighter future as Fairtrade cocoa sales increase in Ghana and new Fairtrade opportunities open up for cocoa growers in other parts of the world.

Melbourne Water will soon be using the sewage at its Western Treatment Plant in Werribee to produce nearly all of the plant’s power needs.

A Nestlé Foods factory in Pakenham, Victoria, has just completed a water-saving project that is reported to save five million litres of water a year. Rainwater captured from the rooftops of three factory buildings is used to supplement mains water for the factory’s cooling towers. 

The NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, Carmel Tebbutt, along with the Member for Menai, Alison Megarrity, have officially opened The Ridge Golf Course on the site of the old Lucas Heights landfill.

The Energy Pipelines Cooperative Research Centre is one of 10 new centres to be allocated funding in the latest round of the government’s Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) program. The Australian Pipeline Industry Association (APIA) has welcomed the announcement, by the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research saying that it is encouraged that pipeline infrastructure is seen as a critical part of the nation’s battle to reduce carbon emissions.

Black & Veatch has announced that the first phase of the Sembcorp Changi NEWater Plant (SCNP) in Singapore was completed on schedule. The plant uses the main advanced water treatment process steps of micro-filtration (MF), reverse osmosis (RO) and ultraviolet radiation to produce NEWater, high-grade reclaimed water. When completed in 2010, the plant will supply 15% of Singapore’s current water needs.

In the wake of the federal government’s 50,000 green jobs announcement, Conergy, a global leader in the manufacture and distribution of renewable energy systems, is reminding Australians that there are real green jobs in the solar industry crying out for the promised support of our elected politicians.

Inverter technology being introduced to Australasia by industrial drives manufacturer Bonfiglioli has been selected for use at one of the world's biggest photovoltaic energy installations.

Over the past eight months, Bathurst Regional Council has been conducting a trial of a new technology that promises to offer significant improvements in energy consumption and the production of biosolids from sewage treatment.

The increasing popularity of bio-retention basins in water-sensitive urban design has created a new role for the MassBloc earth retention system.

BHP Billiton, as one of Western Australia's big water users, has a target of 10% potable water saving documented into its environmental policy and sustainable growth strategies. The new administration and maintenance facility at Port Hedland's Finucane Island is part of BHP Billiton's Western Australian Rapid Growths Project (RGP4).