Geelong Sustainability

"The world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter, China, has proposed to install a cap on emissions by 2016. The proposal is being hailed as major breakthrough in the push to address global climate change."

"Now you can skip the long wait for solar to pay for itself and leapfrog straight to lower electricity bills from day 1, and all without any up-front investment. Sungevity Australia is an innovative solar provider that's making clean energy simple and affordable for homeowners across Australia. There's never been a better time to join the Rooftop Revolution."

"The Endeavour Centre is excited to begin the Canada's Greenest Home project, a residential build in Peterborough, Ontario that we are undertaking with the students in our five-month, Sustainable New Construction certificate program. Throughout the design and construction of Canada's Greenest Home, we will make every effort to publicly detail the entire process on this blog, so please follow along. We are sure to have a steep learning curve, and we want this learning to be a legacy of the project."

Check out the Better Block Tour highlights video from the 2013 Sustainable Living Festival

Tired of hearing that sustainable construction has to cost more, Josh and his colleagues want to prove that resource efficient homes can be built at comparable cost and timeframes to regular houses. The homes will be thermally comfortable year round, without the need for air conditioning or additional heating. They will generate more electricity than they use, and will harvest and recycle water. In addition to private garden areas, a common productive garden will supply both houses with fresh food. What sets this project apart from many others is that the building designs have achieved a 10 Star energy efficiency rating*, whilst intentionally using conventional building materials and construction methods so they can easily be replicated by industry and the wider community. The project also demonstrates a more sensitive approach to residential subdivision that has considered maximising effective garden area around the homes to allow for natural shading, children's play spaces and local food production - important health and lifestyle benefits that are rapidly disappearing from our suburbs. Construction started in November 2012 and is scheduled for completion by May 2013.

"The Schools Water Efficiency Program aims to provide data loggers to all Victorian schools to continue the education and demonstration of water efficiency in practice. SWEP is managed by the Department of Sustainability and Environment and supported by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development."

"Climate science is a complicated beast, and making solid predictions about the future is never easy. Forecasting exactly how our agricultural systems will cope with changing climate conditions is not straightforward, but it is clear that we can't take bountiful harvests for granted. We will need innovative adaptive measures to ensure that our agricultural systems cope with feeding the future generations."

"The Victorian Government is committed to building on the existing ResourceSmart Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative Victorian (ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic) framework to reach an additional 400 schools by 2015. As part of this initiative, selected eligible schools are being provided with a one-off grant payment. The Energy Efficiency Grants provide a one-off payment of up to $10,000 per school to undertake energy audits, purchase energy efficient or sustainable infrastructure, and undertake related energy saving activities."

Japan is forecast to install 6-9.4GW of solar capacity this year under its feed-in tariff, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. This could make it the second-largest - or even the top - solar market in 2013.

"Playing Out is a UK initiative to close streets temporarily for motor traffic in order for children to play outside. The City of New York has a Play Streets initiative which has regular (weekly or more!), scheduled road closures all across the city for children to play."

Last week the world's atmosphere took a giant leap backward. For the first time in more than 3 million years, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) reached 400 parts per million. This was recorded at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory located on Mauna Loa in Hawaii right out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a long way from major sources of CO2 in Asia and North America. What this means for the environment is uncertain but it's likely that, if no measures are taken to reduce this level of greenhouse gas, we could be headed for 3-4 degrees C warming globally by the end of this century

It looks as though everyone will be happy to sign the next global climate agreement, due in 2015. Why? Because there will be very little in the agreement that will force countries to act on climate change.

"In the 1960s, cars were threatening to displace bicycles in the main Danish cities. But the oil crisis, the environmental movement and a couple of controversial road projects reversed the trend. This is however just part of the story behind why Danes still cycle so much."

"The "recycling wars" between Coca-Cola and Greenpeace have spilt into cyberspace, with the beverage giant buying the top advertising slot for searches of the environmental group's name."

"Some of the most extreme predictions of global warming are unlikely to materialise, new scientific research has suggested, but the world is still likely to be in for a temperature rise of double that regarded as safe."

"Australian scientists have found a way to print large but extremely lightweight and flexible solar panels like money. World-leading scientists at the CSIRO said the A3-sized panels, which are created by laying a liquid photovoltaic ink onto thin, flexible plastic could soon mean everyone has the ability to print their own solar panels at home."

"Imagine having a wafer-thin touchscreen on your sleeve that, like a scene out of a Philip K. Dick novel, gives you all the functionality of a smartphone without the awkwardness of a cumbersome battery. The best part about this scenario is it may not be as far from reality as you think."

Think Brick Australia is proud to present a new tool that makes designing for climate extremely practical and accessible: The Climate Design wizard. It is designed to use localised data from a number of key locations around the country including Geelong

"How can putting a price on carbon lower greenhouse gas emissions? Get to grips with the theory of how carbon pricing works."

"On 9 May 2013 The National Sustainability Council presented Sustainable Australia Report 2013 to Minister Burke. The report provides a picture of Australia - what we look like and who we are. It tells the story of how we have changed as a nation over the last 30 years. We have made great progress in many areas. Australians are living longer, our health and levels of educational attainment have improved. We have benefited from a strong economy, with low unemployment and increasing incomes. However, inequality has increased and the health of our natural environment has continued to decline in some key areas. The report provides an evidence base for decision-making and planning about the future. It highlights a number of trends in Australia and the world that are set to have a significant impact on the next generation of Australians. We need to plan for an ageing population, rising health costs, growing cities and changes in traditional work and family roles. The National Sustainability Council intends to use the report, the first of its kind in Australia, as a starting point for a national conversation about our future."