The Smart Water Fund has announced that applications will open later this month for $1 million in funding to support innovative urban water projects. [ + ]

Aldi has become the first Australian national grocery retailer to initiate a free in-store recycling service across all stores for common household batteries, with the launch of the Aldi Activ Energy Battery Recycling Program. [ + ]

Athfield Architects has taken out the 2012 Supreme Concrete³ Sustainability Award for its extensive refurbishment of the new Christchurch Civic Building on Hereford Street. [ + ]

Compounds that affect respiratory health have been found in biodiesel exhausts. This might lead to restrictions on the use of this form of biofuel as an alternative to fossil fuel, according to researchers from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). [ + ]

The Green Building Council of Australia’s Chief Executive, Romilly Madew, has been named one of ‘100 Women of Influence’. [ + ]

New Zealand’s Sustainable Business Network (SBN) is urging everyone to vote for their favourite sustainability initiative to choose this year’s Vodafone People’s Choice Award winner in the NZI National Sustainable Business Network Awards. [ + ]

Debunking the myth that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is not a reality, the Global CCS Institute has estimated that carbon abatement from eight CCS projects already operating is greater than that achieved by all other energy-related climate efforts combined to date in Australia or the UK. [ + ]

Schneider Electric today launched PlantStruxure at its User Conference on the Gold Coast. The process automation technology allows industrial and infrastructure companies to transparently connect field, process and enterprise levels within their business. [ + ]

Solar power received a jolt of energy as a large-scale photovoltaic solar project was officially switched on. Verve Energy, GE Energy Financial Services and First Solar today opened the 10-MW Greenough River Solar Farm near Geraldton, WA. [ + ]

A low-cost LED lighting design which provides energy savings of up to 93% has won the 2012 Australian Clean Technologies (Cleantech) Competition. [ + ]

RMIT University has signed a multimillion-dollar partnership with World Wide Carbon Credits Australia to develop an algae-based biofuel at a commercial scale. [ + ]

The Australian Solar Council has congratulated the REC Agents Association (RAA) following the release of groundbreaking data on the cost of the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES). [ + ]

Catering, cleaning and facilities manager Spotless has been named as a finalist in the prestigious 2012 Banksia Environmental Foundation awards in the category of ‘Leading in Sustainability & Setting the Standard in Large Organisations’. [ + ]

The latest figures that show Australia’s growth rate has risen to 1.5% are “alarming”, according to Sustainable Population Australia (SPA). [ + ]

The Clean Energy Regulator issued carbon units for the first time under the carbon pricing mechanism on 27 September 2012, signalling the commencement of the Australian carbon market. Three applicants received free carbon units under the Jobs and Competitiveness Program which were issued via the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units (ANREU). [ + ]