Sustainability

Private sector fossil fuel spending on exploration is drying up just as modest rises in clean energy investments are being observed. With stock market investors increasingly embracing renewables, the IEA has observed positive signals in its latest energy investment report, but warned we are still doing far too little to keep global heating at bay.

Reclaim PV is pushing ahead with plans to expand its solar PV module recycling operations, the South Australian-based company confirming it has received the tick of approval from government departments to establish a second operation in Queensland.

The New South Wales government has today launched a renewable Renewable Gas Certification Pilot, with the aim of sparking a new energy market for clean gas in Australia.

Charles Darwin University’s Deepika Mathur, and Imran Muhammad of Massey University in New Zealand reveal surprising results from their study into why Australians are retiring solar panels before their time, and what it means for our material footprint and the environment.

ARENA and green-thumb Angus Taylor have launched a project to demonstrate that renewable energy can be cost competitive compared to fossil-fuel use in the processing of alumina — providing an incentive for one of Australia’s biggest industries to adopt this technology and offer low-carbon alumina to the world market.

Ben & Jerry’s and 4 Pines, two companies who have been long supportive of renewable energy, have teamed up to create a limited-edition Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Nitro Beer which will also help a community group receive a solar installation from Enova Community Energy.

Australia’s first 100% electric hospital will be built in Adelaide with the South Australian Government announcing that the new $685 million Women’s and Children’s Hospital will operate without input from the state’s mains gas network.

With South Africa holding 63,000 of the world’s estimated 69,000 metric tons of platinum reserves – according to the Statista.com website – and Russia and Zimbabwe a further 5,100 between them, the European Commission has cited the metal as an example of a potential supply chain bottleneck that could handicap its grand plans for renewables-powered hydrogen production.

While suburban Australian rooftops have become coated in solar panels, the roofs of our commercial and industrial buildings have remained conspicuously bare. Our shopping centres, however, seem to be slowly be moving in the direction ordinary Australian’s have paved, with Australia’s largest privately-owned shopping centre yesterday announcing plans for a sizeable microgrid. Likewise, Vicinity, one of the country’s largest shopping centre managers, has managed to increase its sustainability rating largely through its extensive solar program.

Edge Centres’ model for grid-independent data distribution at the edge of connectivity is set to rock regional Australia with its low-cost reliability, and has been welcomed by solar operators in Japan.