CQU Plant Sciences PhD researcher Ben Kele has won a Queensland Regional Achievers Award for his development of an on-site wastewater treatment and re-use system – the patented Kele Effluent and Wastewater Treatment System (KEWT). [ + ]

The federal government and the four major car manufacturers have made recent announcements to actively support and encourage a biofuels industry in Australia. [ + ]

An independent survey shows that state and territory councils continue to take strong action to reduce greenhouse gases within their communities. [ + ]

The interest in planting leucaena has skyrocketed in Queensland over the past decade as graziers realise its value. It provides a way to intensify their production systems in a sustainable way. Interest is so high that the University of Queensland is offering courses in Leucaena. [ + ]

Environmental consultancy, Molino Stewart, has put together a resource for the community and industry that will help get more environmental projects off the ground. [ + ]

Central Queensland University's coral obervers are tipping a possible mass bleaching of the Keppel region for the first time since 2002. [ + ]

National ICT Australia (NICTA) has announced the first of its Priority Challenge Strategic Projects, the Water Information Network (WIN) Project. According to NICTA, this project is aimed at providing the information infrastructure to support smart use of the water resource on the scale of an entire water catchment. [ + ]

A variety of technological advances being developed by CSIRO can dramatically reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, according to CSIRO's chief of energy technology, Dr David Brockway. [ + ]

Archicentre, the building advisory service of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, has called on the Federal Government to set up a solar powered air conditioning task force on the eve of the International Greenhouse Conference being held in Sydney. [ + ]

Scientists at the University of Manchester have invented a device which remotely monitors bad odours and methane gases at waste landfill and water treatment sites. [ + ]

Industrial chemist, Thomas Midgley Junior from Ohio, US was responsible for the double-whammy of putting lead into petrol and inventing chlorofluorocarbons, otherwise known as CFCs, and in doing so probably caused more environmental damage than any other single human being. [ + ]

One of the NSW government's water and energy savings initiatives is for certain categories of high water and energy users (as well as state agencies and local councils) to be required to prepare Savings Action Plans setting out measures to save water and energy. This approach is designed to improve water and energy efficiency in New South Wales and encourage cost-effective investments. [ + ]

The Steel Can Recycling Council is enjoying not only a commendable steel can recycling rate of 56%, but thanks to a raft of research undertaken during 2004/05, it is much better informed about consumer behaviour and brandowner involvement in recycling education. [ + ]

Having started in September 2005, almost 1800 Burnside households are participating in a large scale organics waste collection trial, with the aim being to understand the community's use and acceptance of new technology and determine the system's potential to reduce household organic waste going to landfill. [ + ]

The standard classification test and techniques used to dispose of solid waste are inadequate for Australian conditions, a researcher from the University of New South Wales has claimed. [ + ]