Ecos articles from April 2006

Ecos archives from April 2006

Moving in the right direction.
April 1, 2006... Ecos 130 was rewarding to edit. Good news came in from many directions. In particular, the issue presents five feature articles with insight into some inspiring efforts and developments across the sustainability spectrum. Rivers reborn on...

Landmark forestry conflict playing out in court.(Australia. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999)
April 1, 2006... There are potential ramifications for the national Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act from an important court case which is currently under way after Greens leader Senator Bob Brown sought a Federal Court injunction...

Ozmotech's plastic-to-fuel solution in demand.(EnvoSmart Technologies)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... New private Australian company, Ozmotech Pty Ltd, has developed ThermoFuel technology to recycle plastic waste into commercial grade diesel fuel that complies with international fuel and EPA standards. It has just signed another contract, this...

Formaldehyde levels high in wood panel products.
April 1, 2006... The Australian Environmental Labelling Association (AELA) claims the results of independently commissioned tests show that many imported wood panel products sold every day in Australia contain dangerous levels of the suspected carcinogen...

Research value highlighted at innovation awards.(2006 Academy of Technology, Science and Engineering (ATSE) Clunies Ross Awards)
April 1, 2006... Passion, dedication and the rich return to Australia from investment in scientific research were the major themes at the recent 2006 Academy of Technology, Science and Engineering (ATSE) Clunies Ross Awards, where six noted scientists were...

Trialing a 90% capture of coal power's C[O.sub.2].(carbon dioxide)
April 1, 2006... The trial of new technology that could collect up to 90 percent of the C[O.sub.2] emitted from a conventional coal-fired power station should see Australia leading the way on carbon capture technology. The Cooperative Research Centre for...

BP's big biofuels commitment.(BP Australia Proprietary Ltd.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Announcing an emphatic commitment to clean fuel and local industry, BP Australia is to supply over 200 million litres of biofuel a year to the consumer by 2008. This represents an early delivery of more than half of the Federal Government's 350...

He's closed the loop: a single environmental commitment turned Steve Morris into an entrepreneur with a company that's about to go global.(In Profile)(Interview)
April 1, 2006... Electronic waste--mountains of discarded devices such as mobile phones, printers, toasters and computers, as well as consumables such as batteries and printer cartridges--is now a major problem. 'E-waste' is growing in landfills at three times...

On the vanguard of cleantech: prematurely misunderstood in Australia, 'cleantech' is a rapidly maturing international paradigm changing the way we see green and clean technologies, investment, business and politics. Nicholas Montgomery reports on the emergence of a lucrative industry under the new environmental imperatives.(clean technology)
April 1, 2006... Thought of as revolutionary as information technology at the start of the 1990s, 'cleantech'--short for 'clean technology'--is a 'perfect storm' of new technologies backed by entrepreneurs, neo-greens, environmental business and technologists....

Rain gardens buffer Melbourne's waterways.(Monash University, Ecological Engineering Associates)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Joint venture work by Monash University and company Ecological Engineering has developed ingeniously simple 'rain gardens' that filter stormwater before it is collected for re-use, thereby preventing chemically tainted urban run-off from...

Rivers reborn: Greening Australia's spirit is leading a rousing community buy-in to its ambition to revive Australia's struggling rivers.
April 1, 2006... Tackling a crisis that extends far enough to reach halfway to the Moon sounds like a recipe for heartbreak. Yet Carl Binning is undaunted. In fact, he's optimistic that Australians will be first in the world to return their river systems to...

Learning to change: it's early days in the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, but change is already underway to have sustainability high on the agenda across a wide range of industry, business and educational endeavours by the decade's end in 2014.(Senator Ian Campbell)
April 1, 2006... A nationally agreed 'vision' for environmental education has been introduced into schools with a comprehensive blueprint document, Educating for a Sustainable Future, sent out to school curriculum developers and teachers across the country late...

Plant detectives struggle against time: in a crumbling Armenian institute, priceless botanical records of crop lineages and unique floral biodiversity are being lost to the blanket of time. Australian agricultural scientists, who know the archives hold vital information about the world's food plants and their adaptability, are pitching in to safeguard what they can.
April 1, 2006... Dr Izabella Arevshatian carefully folds a new plant specimen inside the pages of an old Soviet newspaper; the photograph of a heroic astronaut fleetingly exposed before the page is creased and flattened against the fresh green leaves. It's her...

A view of dangerous climate change: earlier this year, prominent international climate advisor, Professor John Schellnhuber, spoke in Canberra on the topic: Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change. Steve Davidson was there, and reviews the background to the widening discussion on this scenario.(Progress)(Editorial)
April 1, 2006... For many years, interest in climate change centred on whether or not global warming was really happening and, if it were, by how much climates would change in various parts of the world. In scientific circles, all but a minority of sceptics and...

Encouraging a new capitalism.(Jonathan Porritt views)(Interview)
April 1, 2006... Sir Jonathan Porritt has been around for a fair while at the challenging interface between the environmental lobby and industry politics--he's earned his stripes. As founder of the British-based charity and think tank, Forum for the...

Roof tiles go solar: a short-listed entry in this year's Australian Design Award[R]-Dyson Student Award has the potential to revolutionise adoption of solar power in Australian suburbs, transforming the humble concrete roof tile into a technical package delivering both solar power and solar hot water to grid-connected homes.(Sebastian Braat's Keep It Simple Solar Tile)(Editorial)
April 1, 2006... Sebastian Braat, a design student at the University of Western Sydney, calls his invention the KISSTile (Keep It Simple Solar Tile) and was inspired to develop it by the many hectares of tiled roofs in our towns and cities. 'In housing...

Cooperation on capturing China's mine methane emissions: approximately 70 per cent of all coal-mining related greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to methane and 45 per cent of this originates from China.
April 1, 2006... A new technology called VAMCAT (Ventilation Air Methane Catalytic Turbine) is poised to take a sizable bite out of global methane emissions by collecting and using waste gas from coal mines in China. It will result in a greenhouse reduction...

New geopolymers have multiple benefits.
April 1, 2006... Geopolymers are new ceramic-like, inorganic composite building materials produced at low temperatures with dramatically lower emissions compared to concrete. Add in that they are fully recyclable, as well as fire, blast, and acid-resistant, and...

Events calendar.
April 1, 2006... Fenner Conference on Urbanism, Environment and Health Canberra, 25-26 May http://nceph.anu.edu.au/Fenner2006/index.htm National Greenbuild & Eco Show Sydney, 9-11 June www.ecoshow.com.au World Urban Forum--WUF III Vancouver, Canada,...