More than 90 nations around the world will unite this week for World Green Building Week. [ + ]

With more than half the cost of rising electricity bills due to network and distribution costs through poles and wires, more Australians are looking to solar energy and an alternative to grid connection. [ + ]

Interface, Australia’s largest manufacturer of commercial modular carpet, has won the NSW Government 2012 Green Globe Award for Excellence in Sustainability. The awards were announced last week by the NSW Minister for the Environment, Robyn Parker, at NSW Parliament House. [ + ]

The Stop the Trawler alliance has welcomed the federal government’s laws to prohibit super trawlers in Australia until science and consultation can demonstrate they will not damage our marine life and fisheries. [ + ]

Scientists have, for the first time, identified a number of WA sites capable of producing large quantities of commercial biofuel from microalgae. [ + ]

A Chinese official has praised the global value of carbon reduction research at The University of Western Australia’s Future Farm, where scientists have found that a common Australian native plant can greatly reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emission. [ + ]

A project exploring the viability of capturing and re-using urine from urban toilets as an agricultural fertiliser has won UTS’s Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) its second major award within a week. [ + ]

The Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) has called on the Australian Government to provide leadership in building the sustainability skills that will ensure a safe, productive and sustainable future. [ + ]

The Hon Patrick Conlon MP, South Australian Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, and Minister for Housing and Urban Development, unveiled Australia’s first Infrastructure Sustainability rating scheme, known as the IS scheme, at its South Australian launch at Parliament House in Adelaide yesterday. [ + ]

A new report from carbon analytics firm RepuTex indicates that last week’s announcement of plans to link Australian and European carbon pricing schemes is set to save liable Australian companies $2.5bn over five years. [ + ]

Kiwis can now see the green credentials of a mobile phone before they buy it, thanks to New Zealand’s first sustainability ranking scheme for mobile phones. The scheme was launched today by Vodafone. [ + ]

Local Government Super (LGS) has been recognised for its leadership on climate change issues and commitment to sustainability in the delivery of green energy across its portfolio, winning both the 2012 Climate Change Leadership Award and the Energy Award in the NSW Government’s 2012 Green Globe Awards. [ + ]

CSIRO has rejected the claim made in a television commercial aired on 2 September that ‘CSIRO [and government studies] have shown that groundwater is safe with coal seam gas’. [ + ]

A student residential development at Monash University is the first multiunit residential project in Australia to achieve a Green Star rating for sustainable construction. [ + ]

Australia’s leading experts in water research and management will gather at the University of Canberra today for the second day of a two-day workshop to address the challenges of sustaining Australia’s vital freshwater ecosystems. [ + ]