In early September 2012, Solarmatrix personnel went on a 6400 km round trip journey through Western Australia to install a 38 kW standalone solar power system in the Kandiwal Aboriginal Community, deep in the heart of the Kimberley. [ + ]

Environmental consultants Enviropacific were engaged when Nyrstar needed to safely remove two redundant acid storage tanks at its Tasmanian plant. [ + ]

Recent occurrences in Australia of severe droughts, heatwave conditions and floods highlight the vulnerability of future cities (and towns) to the chronic and acute effects of climatic extremes. [ + ]

Simons Green Energy has been awarded the contract to supply and install a 230 kWe natural gas fired trigeneration plant at Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria. The plant will form part of the $100 million Advanced Manufacturing Design Centre (AMDC) at Swinburne’s Hawthorn Campus that is currently under construction. [ + ]

A consortium of researchers led by Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) at the University of Warwick in the UK is to embark on a £3 million research program called ‘Cleaning Land for Wealth’ (CL4W) that will use a common class of flower to restore poisoned soils while at the same time producing perfectly sized and shaped nanosized platinum and arsenic nanoparticles for use in catalytic convertors, cancer treatments and a range of other applications. [ + ]

Australia should prepare now for dry times ahead by ‘banking’ its water underground when rainfall is plentiful, according to an important new scientific study. [ + ]

Worth Recycling is a major contractor organisation involved in projects within a range of industries, including mining, marine and the industrial sectors. A ute-mounted Aussie Hydrotek diesel-powered portable steam cleaner is an essential part of Worth Recycling’s high-pressure cleaning program. [ + ]

A team of researchers, led by Dr Mainak Majumder and Phillip Sheath from Monash University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Dr Matthew Hill from CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, have developed a highly porous metal-organic framework (MOF) that, almost uniquely, is stable and able to filter substances in water. [ + ]

Simple actions by consumers and food retailers can dramatically cut the 1.3 billion tonnes of food lost or wasted each year and help shape a sustainable future, according to a new global campaign to cut food waste launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners. [ + ]

South Africa’s electricity network requires considerable reform over the coming decades if the country is to successfully diversify its generation mix to sources other than coal to meet the increasing demand for power. [ + ]

A million electric cars on Germany’s roads by 2020. This is the ambitious target set by the Federal Government in its bid to continue the battle against CO2 emissions. It believes that e-mobility is a significant key technology to create a sustainable transport system for the future, especially where the power is produced from renewable energy sources. [ + ]

When Western Australia’s Water Corporation needed to refurbish a three-decade-old water treatment facility, getting an exact match to the existing nozzles was the preferred option. The problem was that the old design was no longer manufactured. [ + ]

Following six years of development, Victorian chemical manufacturer Circa Group Pty Ltd has created a technology called Furacell that recycles cellulose waste using a self-contained (closed-loop), energy-efficient process that produces a chemical called Levoglucosenone (LGN), as well as water and phosphate-bearing charcoal with commercial potential as a carbon dioxide sequestering soil conditioner. [ + ]

Marks & Spencer sustainable lamb trial suggests New Zealand genetics could improve UK sheep industry efficiency. [ + ]

A water recycling facility located in Yarra Park, adjacent to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), has won the Infrastructure Project Innovation Award at the Australian Water Association Awards (Victorian Branch). [ + ]