On the back of its growing water business, Hyder Consulting has appointed two new Associate Business Directors for its water team - Colin Carr and Damien Abbott. [ + ]

Last week, the Clean Energy Council honoured three outstanding contributions to Australia’s clean energy industry at a gala dinner in Sydney. The Clean Energy Council Industry Awards, now in their second year, were awarded in three categories for Business Community Engagement, Innovation and Media. [ + ]

Following a tender process, the City of Sydney has selected Solgen Energy to undertake a $6 million project to fit solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to more than 30 sites over the next two years to generate 12.5% of the electricity needs of all city properties. [ + ]

Australia’s east coast urban planners and state governments need to hold their nerve on using major seawater desalination plants for effective drought‐proofing and not give in to short-term politics and vocal minorities. That’s the opinion of National Centre of Excellence in Desalination CEO Neil Palmer. [ + ]

New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is opening two funding rounds this month to promote sustainable resource use in the primary industries. MPI’s Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF) provides co-funding for small to medium-scale innovation projects. [ + ]

TrustPower has appointed Siemens as its turnkey supplier to construct South Australia’s largest wind farm at Snowtown, using gearless drive wind turbine technology for the first time in Australia. [ + ]

The City of Melbourne and Sustainable Melbourne Fund have released a series of fact sheets on multimillion-dollar building retrofits funded through environmental upgrade finance. The fact sheets highlight targeted energy and emissions savings and other key project details. [ + ]

A paper by Stanford geophysicists Professor Mark Zoback and Professor Steven Gorelick has claimed that carbon capture and storage (CCS) has a high probability of triggering earthquakes where large volumes of carbon dioxide are injected into the brittle rocks commonly found in continental interiors. [ + ]

An engineer from UNSW has been honoured at the United Nations University in Tokyo for her research into trapping and harvesting sunlight in thin-film silicon solar cells. [ + ]

NABERS is seeking industry submissions on its proposal for how cogeneration and trigeneration systems are dealt with in the NABERS Energy rating, as outlined in a position paper released last week. [ + ]

The inaugural Australian Sustainability Conference & Exhibition (ASCE) is to be held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre from 8 to 9 November 2012. [ + ]

LED (light-emitting diodes) street lighting can generate energy savings as high as 85%, an independent, global trial of the technology has found. The program also indicates that citizens of pilot cities prefer LED lighting, citing the social and environmental benefits. [ + ]

Investments in solar power overtook those in wind power for the first time in 2011, and the latest deals suggest this is only the start, says a new report by energy industry experts GlobalData. [ + ]

New Zealand’s Sustainable Practice 360 program helps organisations make the transition to greener operations and has a new intake of businesses planned for October this year. The program will be delivered through Otago Polytechnic’s Centre for Sustainable Practice. [ + ]

A bank, a confectioner, a glass manufacturer, a waste management operation and a zoo are among 34 leading businesses and organisations saving $6.3 million annually through a NSW Government sustainability program. [ + ]