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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The challenge for business now is to transcend compliance obligations and move towards truly sustainable operations, taking a holistic approach to environmental, social and economic values. This has become a key competitive issue and is increasingly likely to become a differentiator between those who succeed and those who do not.

As the remediation industry matures and becomes more conscious of the impact of remediation activities on the environment, the question now arises whether these technologies are sustainable remediation approaches to be considered in the future.

Australians have continued to make their mark on the international water scene as part of Singapore International Water Week, sharing local experience with nations struggling with extreme water challenges. And one message is that ‘big infrastructure’ is not always the solution.