Community Energy Retailer for NSW Northern Rivers

An exciting initiative to create Australia’s first community owned electricity retailer has been given the green light. A community retailer offers energy to local customers at competitive rates, supports local renewable generation and allows residents to participate...

Australia’s largest community-owned solar system

Australia’s largest solar project would be financed by ‘everyday investors’ in an exciting community initiative which will bring  jobs, investment and solar power, through community involvement , to the Shoalhaven region. Shoalhaven Heads Bowling and Recreation Club...

Draft Sustainable Communities ISO released for comment

The first draft of ISO’s standard for sustainable communities has been released for comment. ISO 37101 sets out the requirements, guidance and supporting techniques and tools for sustainable development in communities. The standard provides a management system for...

Creating a New England “Zero Net Energy Town”

A pioneering new initiative to create Australia’s first “Zero Net Energy Town” (ZNET) was launched today. The first stage of work will be creating a blueprint and business case for the concept. The ZNET idea is to create a distributed ‘mini’ electricity and energy...

Rise in global greenhouse gas emissions is accelerating

Global greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing by at least 1.3 per cent every year since 1970. From 2000 to 2010, those emissions were even greater, increasing by 2.2 per cent annually. Current efforts to reduce greenhouse gases through demand management, energy...

5 Keys for a Sustainable Home

1. Efficiency Over the life of a building the operational energy used to run it generally exceeds the embodied energy used to build it (save the likes of a passive house). This explains part of why there has been such a push for efficiency in recent years. 2. Energy...

Lismore leads the nation in uptake of solar energy

LISMORE is leading the nation in solar power with a higher percentage of households in the 2480 postcode using rooftop solar and/or hot water systems than anywhere else in Australia. A new report by the REC (Renewable Energy Certificate) Agents Association also finds...