Australian energy consultancy company EnergyAdvice has been welcomed into the Energy Experts Alliance - a global energy management collaboration between energy advisory companies assisting the world’s biggest businesses to manage their global energy use and costs. [ + ]

More than 54% of property industry respondents rate cost and other efficiencies as the most important sustainable feature of a building, compared with just 25% who felt achieving NABERS and Green Star ratings to be the most important sustainable feature, according to a survey by leading engineers, project managers and technical consultants Aurecon. [ + ]

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, has announced that the Hon Mike Rann has been appointed to the Board of Low Carbon Australia. The government is also pleased to announce it will appoint Anthea Harris as the Chief Executive Officer of the new Climate Change Authority. [ + ]

The Sustainable Electricity Association of New Zealand (SEANZ) has welcomed the government’s Budget announcement that $4.6 billion would be spent upgrading the national electricity grid over the next 10 years. [ + ]

Consumers could save on power bills thanks to an energy-saving solution devised by two savvy students at the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies. [ + ]

Australia’s largest schools recycling program, MobileMuster’s 2012 Schools Recycling Challenge, has kicked off again for the fifth year running. This free schools program, offered by the telecommunications industry, is designed to educate and engage students in learning about product stewardship and the importance of keeping old mobiles and their accessories out of landfill. [ + ]

UniQuest will promote more than 20 cleantech innovations at two major international water industry events over the coming weeks. The company’s commercialisation manager, Dr Paul Barrett, is presenting at the annual Bluetech Forum in San Francisco this week, then returning to Brisbane for the International Water Association’s Leading-Edge Conference on wastewater from 3-7 June. [ + ]

Sydney Water has selected Elster as one of its suppliers to deliver V100 volumetric water meters and Helix water meters over the next three years, commencing 1 July 2012. These meters will help Sydney Water to manage its water resources more efficiently by providing accurate measurement of water usage and control over water leakage and wastage. [ + ]

Earlier this year, hundreds gathered online and at the University of Michigan for a three-day conference on the shaping of public opinion around climate change. ‘Increasing Public Understanding of Climate Risks and Choices: What We Can Learn from Social Science Research and Practice’ brought together people from all different backgrounds to share their perspectives from experience and research. [ + ]

Carbon Neutral, an Australian environmental not-for-profit, will receive $441,000 in funding for a conservation project from the federal government’s Biodiversity Fund. [ + ]

Fuji Xerox Australia has announced that its Sustainability Manager, Amanda Keogh, has been appointed as the Head of Sustainability for Fuji Xerox’s International Business Group, which manages 12 Fuji Xerox operating companies in the Asia-Pacific region outside Japan. [ + ]

Energy management specialist Schneider Electric and industrial process instrumentation manufacturer Krohne have announced a partnership to provide customers with a complete solution including Schneider Electric’s PlantStruxure process automation architecture and Krohne’s instrumentation offer. [ + ]

Installing solar power systems into Tongan high schools, allowing computers to be used in classrooms, is an initiative about to be launched by the University of Canterbury’s Russell Taylor. [ + ]

Researchers at The University of Western Australia have contributed the first global analysis of carbon stored in seagrasses, which shows they can hold as much carbon as the world’s temperate and tropical forests. [ + ]

There is a whole range of organisations, through to individual Australians, who are determined to make Australia a more environmentally sustainable country. The Banksia Awards encourage these people to step up and make themselves known to the rest of the country. [ + ]