Group items tagged

Check out this PDF from the UK's Agency of Design, entitled Designing with Energy. It provides real learning tools and perspectives that I suspect students would find engaging. It asks, and addresses, questions about our energy lives that we don't even know to ask, like do you know how much energy went into making the chair you're sitting on? The authors of this publication look to improvements in design and manufacturing to reduce the amount of energy embedded in our stuff.

The Educator Toolkit for Using Technology to Connect Students & the Environment includes activities and resources at all grade levels from the US National Environment Education Week. - See more at: http://eeweek.org/#sthash.78U9pAw6.dpuf

This is the pdf version of the website. When you reduce your use of energy, you cut your energy bills. It's a guaranteed way to improve the profitability, resilience and value of your business. Despite this, many business owners don't know how to reduce their energy costs. When they do they're often too busy to do anything about it. That lack of knowledge and time is the reason why I've written 'Energy Cut'. It's a simple 20 step guide to cutting the energy bills of your business. Its aim is to save you money and improve your bottom line. You don't have to be an expert in energy efficiency to understand this website, book or other project materials. You also don't have to implement every step - the program is designed to be carried out at a pace that fits in with your busy schedule. - See more at: http://energycut.com.au/about/#sthash.Of0hY6ak.dpuf

""Sustainability: A Comprehensive Foundation" is a free, open-source textbook available for viewing online or as a download for use on e-readers or printing. First and second-year college students are introduced to this expanding new field, comprehensively exploring the essential concepts from every branch of knowledge - including engineering and the applied arts, natural and social sciences, and the humanities. As sustainability is a multi-disciplinary area of study, the text is the product of multiple authors drawn from the diverse faculty of the University of Illinois: each chapter is written by a recognized expert in the field. Designed for the new generation of e-readers, the book can also be viewed in a browser, saved as a pdf, or printed."

"The World Meteorological Organization just released its Global Climate Report (pdf), which wastes no time in announcing a stark truth. The report's first sentence: "The first decade of the 21st century was the warmest decade recorded since modern measurements began around 1850." Nine out of ten years between 2001 and 2010 were among the ten warmest in recorded history, according to the report, and the warmest year to date was 2010. For those worried about glacier melting, the heat spike wasn't isolated to land. The decade was warmest for both land and ocean surface temperatures. In case anyone still doubts the existence of global warming, take a gander at this chart:"

The world experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes during the 2001-2010 decade, which was the warmest since the start of modern measurements in 1850 and continued an extended period of pronounced global warming. More national temperature records were reported broken than in any previous decade, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Some power companies are calling for the Renewable Energy Target (RET) to be reduced, while other groups want it abolished entirely. They claim that this will significantly lower electricity bills, which have risen steeply in the last five years. Would reducing the RET do much to lower your bill?

These are the slide from the report launch

"Floating offshore wind turbines could more than meet the electricity demands of the European Union, according to a new report (PDF) from the European Wind Energy Association, first reported by Business Green. In fact, offshore wind turbines could potentially supply over four times the electricity needs of the EU."

"A new report released today into Australians' attitudes to mobile phone usage and recycling shows that there are now 23 million old mobiles in Australia ready to be recycled - one for every person - and this number is expected to increase. 'Mobile Australia: A report into how we use and recycle our mobiles' developed by not-for-profit recycler, MobileMuster, is the first time a report of this nature has been publicly released, showing that Australians are more aware than ever of mobile phone recycling but are holding onto their old mobiles for range of reasons [1]." http://www.mobilemuster.com.au/media/39176/mobilemuster_annualreport_2013_lr.pdf

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's visit to Japan, China and South Korea this week offers the opportunity for the Government to witness the changing circumstances in regional climate leadership and the accelerating Asian action on carbon and clean energy. These have seen Asia become the epicentre of clean energy investment and seen Asian nations the biggest movers in a range of indicators such as last year's TCI/GE G20 Low-Carbon Competitiveness Index.

Climate Change: An Australian Guide to the Science and Potential Impacts

"An advanced waste-to-energy plant in Finland converts municipal waste into heat and electricity - efficiently and in an environmentally friendly way."

The table below is a record of Australian climate change policies. Key international developments are also included to provide global context.

Stranded Down Under? Environment-related factors changing China's demand for coal and what this means for Australian coal assets

The Boomerang Alliance, made up of 28 of Australia`s leading community and environment groups, is campaigning for a 10 cent refund on bottles and cans to reduce the litter and double recycling rates across Australia; tyre recycling and an end to illegal tyre dumps; and more e-waste/battery recycling. This infographic looks at some of the issues related to container deposit schemes.