Paronella Park, Queensland, will soon achieve energy sustainability thanks to a much-needed upgrade to its original hydro-electric system. The old system had worn out decades ago but the refurbishment of the disused unit had been a challenge that the owners, Mark and Judy Evans, could not overcome despite many attempts over many years.

After setting a target in January 2007 to reduce potable water consumption by 80% on the Melbourne Market Authority (MMA) site, CEO Peter McLennan has led the organisation on a dynamic water-saving quest that has achieved this goal. This in turn 'flows' to a water cost reduction from around $13,000 per month to less than $3000 per month even after factoring in the 20% increase in Melbourne Water Company water levies in July 2008.

Australia's tree change and sea change movement has seen the resident populations of traditional holiday towns swell in recent years. This growth puts a strain on essential services like electricity to keep up with demand. Factor in the environmentally sensitive nature of these locations and the need to come up with sustainable, low carbon emission households and a developer's task can get extremely complex.

In April 2009, KSB Aktiengesellschaft, Germany, booked an order for four large water pumps to be supplied to a new pumping station in Western Australia.

Fairfield City Council in western Sydney has proved its commitment to water-sensitive urban design by installing a Rocla ecoHarvest stormwater harvesting system in the centre of the CBD.

The NSW government has moved 1400 jobs to Parramatta with the official opening of Sydney Water’s headquarters in May. The building at One Smith Street, Parramatta (built and owned by Brookfield Multiplex), was designed to achieve a 5-star green rating.

Maser Communications has finalised an agreement with one of NSW's largest power stations to supply Dialight Industrial LED fixtures for all future general area and task lighting applications.

Enough sewage to fill 16 Olympic-sized swimming pools is processed each day by Yarra Valley Water treatment plants dotted around Melbourne. And because reliability is everything when it comes to sewage, it seems strange at first that many of the 17 Hurll Nu-Way Aerzen blowers at the front line of treatment are at least 10 years old, with some nearing 30 years of service.

The supermarket sector is embracing the green building movement and has progressed from bolt-on options to integrated design approaches that result in low-energy solutions that improve occupational amenity, and reduce capital expenditure and operating costs.

Ensuring that a cold storage or refrigerated production facility is operating at its optimum efficiency means not only will a company reduce its carbon footprint but it can also save money due to a reduction in energy usage.

ActionEco is a web forum established by Fluke Corporation which is designed to give managers a place to learn low-cost, energy-saving techniques and share their own ideas and experiences. Available on www.ActionEco.org, it is designed to help organisations find ways to reduce their carbon footprint while cutting energy costs and increasing operational efficiency.

Each time the residents of Brisbane and its surrounding suburbs put their bins out for collection they are helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through Thiess Services’ Swanbank Waste Management Facility (SWMF) — turning everyday waste into usable green energy.

Sydney construction and sustainability consultancy VIM Sustainability is the Australian distributor for the Road Energy System (RES), an innovative heating/cooling system using roads as a heat source.

A combined effort from a number of suppliers has resulted in the successful operation of a water reclamation scheme at Echuca, on the Murray River, north of Bendigo.

Fibre-optic technology is making it possible to monitor pipeline its entire length with thousands of monitoring points providing a near real-time picture of what’s actually happening.