Water sector working with industry
23 July, 2014Degrémont, a subsidiary of water and waste management company Suez Environnement, has just signed a contract with Delta Electricity to operate and maintain the water reclamation plant at Vales Point Power Station in New South Wales. Sustainability Matters talks to Stuart Gowans, General Manager - Business Development at Degrémont, to find out more about the company's expansion into the industrial sector in Australia.
Developing urban efficiency through collaboration
14 July, 2014 by Joe Craparotta Vice President - Energy Business*City dwellers make up more than 50% of the world's population. Current urbanisation trends show that in the next 40 years, 70% of all people on the planet will be living in cities.
LEDs set to improve sustainability of Australia's street lighting
02 June, 2014 by Bryan Douglas, CEO, Lighting Council AustraliaBecause of their longevity, controllability and above all efficiency, LEDs are now an attractive substitute for conventional mercury vapour, high-pressure sodium, metal halide and linear and compact fluorescent technologies used in minor roads and other public spaces. A further major environmental advantage is that LEDs do not contain the toxic substance mercury.
Lighting technology - opening the new frontier
14 May, 2014 by Erik Zimmerman, Littil Pty LtdThroughout history, the advent of new technologies and discoveries has exerted a huge and ever more rapid impact on the way we live. Equally significant has been advances in lighting due to the development of high-efficiency light emitting diodes (LEDs), lasers and new light-conducting materials, which can miniaturise the form and transmission of light.
Auckland War Memorial Museum's sustainability journey
02 April, 2014Auckland War Memorial Museum is one of New Zealand's premier tourist attractions, with over 850,000 visitors each year. Established in 1852, the facility consists of a war memorial, heritage library, a vast collection of Maori and Pacific artifacts and an encyclopedic collection, totalling approximately 3.5 million pieces. It also attracts regular international exhibitions and provides educational services to over 60,000 school children annually.
ANU unveils the ACT's greenest building
13 March, 2014 by Lauren DavisThe Frank Fenner Building, located at The Australian National University (ANU), has become the first building in the ACT to achieve both 6 Star Green Star Office Design and As Built v3 ratings from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).
Improving building performance
12 March, 2014At Total Facilities 2014, sustainability engineer and accredited NABERS and CBD assessor David Odd spoke about the approach to achieve and maintain NABERS ratings in existing buildings using modern risk assessment techniques including dynamic thermal modelling, BMS, energy alarming and the shift from planned preventive maintenance to condition-based maintenance.
Why is electricity consumption in Australia falling?
14 January, 2014For more than a century, the quantity of electricity consumed in Australia was more than the year before. That all changed in 2010, as explained by Hugh Saddler, Principal Consultant, Energy Strategies, pitt&sherry, in The Australia Institute report 'Power down: Why is electricity consumption decreasing?'
Improving energy efficiency for facilities management under a new climate change policy
02 December, 2013 by Ed Hanna*, Director Energy Action Sustainability SolutionsAustralian businesses are still expressing their commitment to reducing their carbon footprint, even though Energy Action has observed that there is perhaps a nuanced shift in the motivations that are leading companies to invest in energy efficiency and sustainability management.
Diamond facility for health and medical research
02 December, 2013Construction is almost complete on new innovative diamond-shaped 25,000 m2 purpose-built facility for the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). The impressive 'intelligent' facility, on Adelaide's North Terrace adjacent to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, has been designed to foster researchers' creativity and productivity.
Improving energy efficiency in facilities management
01 December, 2013 by John Boothroyd, Asia Pacific Energy and Sustainability Leader, Honeywell Building SolutionsMuch like any other industry, facility managers are facing increasing operational cost pressures and, as a result, are looking to energy efficiency improvements as a method to tackle this. But no longer are simple energy-monitoring solutions sufficient in achieving significant cuts in consumption. In today’s environment, integrated and cloud-based solutions are the next step in improving operations and delivering real value for businesses.
NZI Centre's market-leading NABERSNZ rating
28 November, 2013Auckland's NZI Centre has been awarded a 5-star base building Certified Rating for energy use under NABERSNZ, the office building energy rating scheme. The scheme provides ratings between one and six stars, with the NZI Centre's rating putting it in the 'market-leading' category.
Fujitsu Data Centre achieves NABERS rating
31 October, 2013Fujitsu has announced its Noble Park Data Centre in Melbourne has achieved a NABERS Energy for data centres rating, making it the first in Australia to be certified using the NABERS data centres tools.
Cogeneration in food and beverage manufacturing
17 October, 2013It seems only a few months ago that major industrials were concerned about electricity price rises and saw gas as an easy option. With the emergence of competition for new gas supplies from large export projects, expectations are for a seller's market and we now see predictions of significant gas price rises over the next few years. In this article, pitt&sherry Principal Consultant Dr Steve Edwards discusses cogeneration as an alternative form of energy generation in food and beverage manufacturing.
6 Green Stars for BHP Billiton fit-out
16 October, 2013BHP Billiton was presented with a 6 Star Green Star Interiors rating for its Perth fit-out at Brookfield Place, which represents world leadership in green building outcomes.
