Good news from Queensland with new wastewater treatment using Dutch magic dirt

Saving money on energy costs, recycling a valuable water resource & greening up the city of Kingaroy.
So many positives. (Not likely to make the 6 o'clock news bulletin - what a shame)
Thank-you, little Dutch good-bacteria.

www.sustainabilitymatters Queensland-wastewater-treatment-plant-to-be-upgraded

Unchecked immigration's disruptive affect on sustainable professional practice

www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-when-local-jobs-dry-up-so-too-should-457-visa-numbers

This article from the Engineers Australia - Queensland Division President, remarks on current low engineering demand and continued high numbers of skilled migrants is producing further negative salary pressure.
Cheap imports have contracted the Australian manufacturing industry into a shadow of its former self.

It's logical over-supply in the engineering profession will reduce opportunities for local graduates alike to gain a local job after graduation.  Flooding a quiet job market is clearly counter-productive and unsustainable but it can cheapen and contract the entire profession here.
Do we want this result?

Sustainable Housing - Oz McMansion Syndrome

The Oz McMansion - pretty, cheap - sustainable?

Whilst leaving one of my recent residential project construction sites I noticed the builder had branded his ute with a large "Sustainable Builder" sign - (its was much bigger than his trading name).  As it happened the plumber on site that morning had similarly branded his van in bold green text as an "Environmental Drainer".  Trendy. Maybe I should wear my sustainable engineer hard hat to site too to fit in with these guys.

Here we have two tradesmen doing the same things they have been doing their entire Australian working lives but now its re-branded "Sustainable" or "Environmental".  It sounds good but what is the material point of difference?

Obviously it's what they are building that counts and sustainable design must be the horse that pulls and directs the sustainable building cart.

Now with the US and China's leadership in photo-opportunity agreement to do something about carbon emissions at a future date for which they will not be personally responsible - is this just a show?  Will or can they walk the talk?  What is the material policy and practical difference?

Today's Australian mass consumer home-market is still buying houses from project builders who want to look and sound green but are just presenting more of the cheapest, flashy looking homes they can sell on a commercial basis.  Do these homes return a noticeable sustainable dividend back to their buyers or the wider community?

Consumer demand for sustainable houses must be informed and sold as truly valuable with a transparent national rated and reportable home running cost (& benefits) Australian Standard.  As indicated below what happens on-site but outside the house's walls has a role to play.

What do you think is the solution?
Can sustainable homes for the masses be sold cheaply with some viable sales appeal or are we locked into more of the same cheap outer-suburb drive-though development?

Based on the new home subdivisions I have driven past (in late 2014), there is still allot of hectares locked-in to the McMansion planning and mindset holding pattern.

Just a light conflict of interest

Better light, lower cost & less profitable?

Marc Howe remarks on this sizeable and expensive power dilemma from sourceable.net;

"The ownership of public street lamps by electrical distribution utilities means that it is not in their economic interests to introduce equipment, such as LED lamps, which consume less energy and thus incur lower costs. According to IPWEA, utilities at present are failing to install the new lights as quickly as councils would like.

The IPWEA’s statement follows accusations levied against NSW public utility Ausgrid last year that split incentives had compelled the company to delay the deployment of LED technology.

The IPWEA believes the rollout of LED street lamps would bring tremendous benefits to both local governments and the environment, halving power consumption and reducing Australia’s CO2 emissions by as much as 720,000 tonnes per year while also saving councils throughout the country as much as $87 million collectively. 

The City of Sydney managed to save $300,ooo and reduce energy usage by over 27 per cent in the 16 months following the installation of 2,600 LED lights starting in March 2012, reducing carbon emissions by 1,547 tonnes."

http://sourceable.net/are-utilities-dodging-led-street-lamps/


How can we uncouple this issue?
This conflict between keeping consumption profits high and delivering efficient value to the paying public is a reoccurring theme.

If managed for the lowest running costs can the net savings be passed on with lower rates and power bills?  Don't hold your breath.
There must be a better way for what should be a public service necessary utility, not a shareholder profit milking service.
What do you think is the answer?

Clearly this is chance to enforce direct action for energy conservation with dollar savings and effective carbon emission reductions.

The more things change... the more expensive they become

As with privatising state electricity suppliers, promoted system improvements and advancing delivery technologies don't necessarily mean lowering costs for consumers.

Locally SAI GLOBAL is doing its part to keep the inflationary costs of professional practice rising well ahead of CPI figures.

The new and simplified 2014 Masonry code for small buildings and houses checks in at whopping $580-$308 for the pdf file format of 185 virtual pages.

ACCC referral anybody?

No sir that's not the price to build a small masonry building - that''s just the cost of a pdf attachment file that you download.
...I know, but think of the money we saved not printing and mailing this code out to you.

UPDATE:  The Concrete Institute of Australia has kindly shared a useful link via Linkedin concerning access to standards  online. http://www.concreteinstitute.com.au/Australian-Standards-Online.aspx