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"It's been a long, hot summer for most of us and with the run of high temperatures set to continue, air conditioners will keep getting a good workout. But many of us are wasting money through lazy energy consumption and bad habits. Australians have taken to air conditioning in a big way with an estimated 9.2 million units working to keep the summer heat away. Air conditioning is particularly energy hungry with many people wasting money on unnecessarily high electricity bills because they are ignoring a few simple ways to reduce their cooling costs."

"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."

"One of the most common misunderstandings amongst climate change "skeptics" is the difference between short-term noise and long-term signal.  This animation shows how the same temperature data (green) that is used to determine the long-term global surface air warming trend of 0.16°C per decade (red) can be used inappropriately to "cherrypick" short time periods that show a cooling trend simply because the endpoints are carefully chosen and the trend is dominated by short-term noise in the data (blue steps).  Isn't it strange how five periods of cooling can add up to a clear warming trend over the last 4 decades?  Several factors can have a large impact on short-term temperatures, such as oceanic cycles like the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) or the 11-year solar cycle.  These short-term cycles don't have long-term effects on the Earth's temperature, unlike the continuing upward trend caused by global warming from human greenhouse gas emissions."

"The cooling of eastern Pacific Ocean waters has been counteracting the warming effect of greenhouse gases. Our research, released today in Nature, shows this natural variability in ocean cycles is responsible for the "hiatus" in global warming over the last ten years or so."

We already know that our traditional thermoelectric power sources, namely coal, are having a negative impact on our planet's climate. But, as it turns out, the reverse is also true - research has found that worldwide warming is reducing the amount of cooling water that can be used in coal and nuclear plants, and this is already causing problems for electrical grids in the US and Europe.

"I'm back, with the controversial topic of the so-called 'pause' in global warming. Some parts of the news media incorrectly claim that the climate is no longer warming, but is actually cooling. They get to this conclusion by everything from cherry-picking the data, all the way up to telling big fat fibs."

"When we talk about greenhouse gases we usually talk about carbon dioxide. When media reports depict climate change, we invariably see the cooling towers of a coal power station. Which is fair, because carbon dioxide, or CO2, is the big one: nearly 75% of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions are carbon dioxide. Most of those come from the energy sector and the combustion of fossil fuels. But there are other gases involved in the greenhouse story. Methane and nitrous oxide are also contributors to Australia's greenhouse gas account. And both have a much greater impact on the atmosphere in terms of global warming than carbon dioxide."

"Free teacher resources and engaging student toolbox brings sustainability to life through learning activities, video, images, stories and units of work across the entire Australian Curriculum."

"This online course will emphasise a multitude of ways to enrich your teaching programs using the theme of sustainability. As a cross-curriculum priority of the Australian Curriculum, you will learn practical and creative ways to make sustainability come alive in your classroom. Busy teachers will find this course incredibly valuable, as you will be provided with a complete Education for Sustainability (EfS) 'getting started toolkit'. You will gain a: * A clear definition of what EfS is and why it is important to integrate it into teaching practices * Guidance on how and where it can be integrated into your classroom using the Australian Curriculum * Examples of best practice from leading schools and other inspirational teaching ideas * Strategies in overcoming barriers and enabling staff and students * Hundreds of FREE to access, high quality ready-made classroom lessons and hands-on activities that can be used by all teachers within your school. Get a head-start on 2015 and enrich your curriculum today!"