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"The 'Pathways to Deep Decarbonisation in 2050: How Australia can prosper in a low carbon world' report, released 23 September 2014, presents an illustrative deep decarbonisation pathway for Australia - just one of many possible pathways - developed using a combination of well-established modelling tools to identify feasible and least-cost options.  This work finds that Australia can achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and live within its recommended carbon budget, using technologies that exist today, while maintaining economic prosperity. Major technological transitions are needed in some industries and many activities, but no fundamental change to Australia's economy is required. The technologies required for decarbonisation are currently available or under development. The analysis shows that deep decarbonisation requires neither substantial lifestyle changes nor large changes in Australia's economic structure."

"In the US, utilities are now seeking to protect their business models by pushing hard against net metering and seeking to influence the pace and manner of deployment of other technologies and new energy market concept that don't fit the decades old model. In Australia, much the same has been happening. RenewEconomy reported on the concerns of utilities in this article last month. Feed-in-tariffs have been wound back, as they were supposed to have been as technology costs fell, but now the pendulum is swinging the other way, and utilities - with the apparent complicity of state-based pricing regulators - are now trying to extract as much revenue from solar customers as they can."

"Many times in human history governments have tried to write policies based around future technologies and missed identifying the transformational keys. In the 1970s, for example, few if any horizon-scanning policies on communications predicted the internet or mobile phones. Yet scientists are increasingly unified in the need to develop new technologies to address the critical problems now facing us in fields such as energy and climate change."

There are emerging radical technologies that have the potential to change the way we live. This video on Zero Emission Cities is third summary of a series of conversations had at the NETS Annual Foresighting Event on Three Technologies that Will Change the Way We Live. The video is made by RiAUS.

"CSIRO has invented a new three in one solar air conditioning system that provides hot water, cooling and heating. It works by using heat from the sun and employs both desiccant and evaporative cooling technologies. See how the technology can work in the home."

"RATEPAYERS are finally set to get some relief from soaring power bills with the rollout of LED street lighting. The state-owned electricity distributor Ausgrid - which owns and maintains 250,000 streetlights on behalf of 41 councils - has been trialling power-saving LED technology in Australian conditions over the past 18 months. Now councils across Sydney, the Central Coast and Hunter will become the first in Australia to be part of a grid-wide rollout of the energy-saving technology."

"The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in South Korea has been working on extending the range and convenience of operating electric buses. Two new buses are now being trialled in the city of Gumi that use technology in the road to wirelessly charge their batteries."

"Solar is not like other energy sources. Photovoltaic cells are a transformative technology, Alexis Madrigal, The Atlantic's senior technology editor, argues in the short video above. The faster the price of solar energy falls, the more viable it becomes as a source of clean power -- and the sooner we'll see it on roofs across America. Animated by Lindsey Testolin, this clip is part of a six-part video series in The User's Guide to Energy special report. "

"For more than a decade, the question of how global warming is affecting the scariest storms on the planet - hurricanes - has been shot through with uncertainty. The chief reason is technological: In many parts of the world, storm strengths are estimated solely based on satellite images. Technologies and techniques for doing this have improved over time, meaning that there is always a problem with claiming that today's storms are stronger than yesterday's. After all, they might just be better observed."

"The Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies Program at MIT conducts research into technologies to capture, utilize, and store CO2 from large stationary sources. Initiated in 1989, our program is internationally recognized as a leader in this field. A major component of the program is the Carbon Sequestration Initiative, an industrial consortium launched in July 2000."

"Remember carbon capture and storage? Five years ago, the idea of grabbing the carbon dioxide from coal and gas power plants and burying it deep underground was considered an essential technology for curbing the world's greenhouse-gas emissions. A diagram of how various sorts of carbon capture might work. (Congressional Budget Office) But carbon capture hasn't fared well in the years since. Since 2008, world governments committed at least $25 billion to fund large-scale demonstration projects, the Financial Times reports. And we have remarkably little to show for it so far."

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

"It will come as no surprise to hear that only a tiny fraction - less than 1 percent - of cars driving along American roads are fully electric. What might be more surprising is the fact that this wasn't always the case. In 1900, 34 percent of cars in New York, Boston and Chicago were powered by electric motors. Nearly half had steam engines. What happened? Why do we end up embracing one technology while another, better one struggles or fails?"

"In 2008, the City of Yarra set a target to be carbon neutral by 2020. Not just council headquarters - the entire inner-city municipality. But how does a whole district go carbon neutral? It can't rely on government subsidies, or an unforeseen technological breakthrough, says Alex Fearnside, chief executive of Yarra Energy Foundation, the organisation established in 2010 to make it happen."

"Alcoa (NYSE: AA) announced today that its $21 million Alcoa Wheel and Transportation Products casthouse expansion at its Barberton, Ohio plant is expected to cut in half the total amount of energy used to recycle aluminum for forged wheels, reducing greenhouse gases and increasing the overall efficiency and sustainability of the company's manufacturing process. The recycling facility, the first of its kind in North America, uses advanced technology to produce wheels from re-melted and scrap aluminum. Construction of the 50,000-square-foot facility began in July 2011. It is now up and running at full capacity and has created more than 30 full-time jobs."

"In the 1990s, new technology was the catalyst for business innovation. Today, sustainability is seen as a new way to innovate and gain or maintain competitive advantage. Some companies such as Patagonia and Toyota figured out a while back that sustainability and innovation go hand in hand. In the last few years, more and more companies are doing the same. As a result, we have been seeing sustainability move from realm of the facilities management, compliance and marketing departments to the C suite."

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

"Gadgets get discarded at ever faster rates and account for millions of tons of consumer electronic waste every year. To feed production, more and more resources are claimed and we are beginning to suffer from the immense burden on the natural and social environment. What is the purpose of driving the technological advancement? Does it help us create something that will last? Where are we going so fast? We don't know. Or do we?"

This infographic from the US National Environmental Education Foundation looks at reasons for teaching and engaging today's students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths in the context of the environment.

"The Opposition has clearly stated its intention to remove the Clean Energy Finance Corporation if it takes government at the next election. Will the Coalition introduce another mechanism to take its place? How will an Abbott Government make sure Australia brings to market the diverse range of renewable technologies we need to transform our energy sector?"