Archive for the ‘Research’ Category
Research refers to reports by organisations or research by academic institutions relating to urban sustainability issues within Melbourne. If you have research that relates to urban sustainability issues and could benefit people and organisations in Melbourne, please post this information on Sustainable Melbourne. To do so visit the “How to use this site” page and follow the prompts.
Smart Grids for Distributed Power
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on February 24th, 2010
Source: Stock & Land
From The changing face of rural Australia’s energy supply, by Matt Cawood
THE nature of the power grid is about to fundamentally change, analyst Paul Budde believes.
Instead of a central power station pushing energy out to homes, farms and business sites around the grid, many sites will become capable of generating renewable power and sharing it around the grid via a “smart” management system that uses computer analysis to trigger switchgear. The United States government has just allocated US$20 billion to developing such a grid, and the Australian government is seeking tenders on a more modest $100 million grid linking 10,000 houses.
Mr Budde, whose company BuddeComm has recently released an analysis of smart grid trends and opportunities in Australia, regards the move to smart grids as “absolutely inevitable”. Currently, nearly a third of all energy generated is wasted because of inefficiencies in the delivery system, he said. “About 10 per cent of all power just disappears. We can’t afford to waste electricity in such a way.”
The cost of fossil-fuel generated electricity continues to climb. A system that helps use power more efficiently—by, for instance, switching on dishwashers in the early hours of the morning instead of during peak load—patterns of energy delivery can be smoothed out and the infrastructure needed to supply energy refined. And then there is the surge in renewable energy generation. “If we want solar energy, we want it to be efficient. It is not very efficient for everyone to have their own solar panels but not utilising the combined power of what is effectively a giant solar panel if you join them all together. A smart grid does that, and makes the whole system more efficient.”
Farmers have a big role to play in a world of smart grids, Mr Budde said. “Already in Europe, in places like Denmark and Germany, lots of farmers have windmills—thousands of them. It’s not just for their own properties: they are pumping energy back into the network. In Australia, solar power generation should be a very useful farming activity.”
From The changing face of rural Australia’s energy supply, by Matt Cawood
Tags: consumption, energy, production, smart grid
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Out of the Scientist’s Garden: Australian Urban Agriculture
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on February 22nd, 2010
Source: Cleanfood, the Future Climate newsletter
Out of the Scientist’s Garden — a story of water and food by Richard Stirzaker
From the Book Review by Andrew Campbell
There are few more fundamental issues facing humanity than how best to feed ourselves in an increasingly crowded world, and — in Australia especially — what that means for scarce water resources. Richard Stirzaker has written a fascinating exploration of the realities of turning water, sunlight and nutrients into food. Out of the Scientist’s Garden — a story of water and food is published by CSIRO Publishing.
This elegant, lucid book starts in the Stirzaker family garden on a 877m2 block in suburban O’Connor, ACT. It works from that very local scale through large-scale industrial agriculture to national and global food security issues and back again, always grounded in a profound understanding of the challenges facing food producers at all levels. In our quest for more sustainable options, the Stirzaker garden should stimulate the Australian consciousness as Walden Pond did for Americans — an evocative lens through which to examine and better understand big issues of our time.
In his day job, Dr Richard Stirzaker is a Principal Research Scientist with the CSIRO. He has an outstanding track record in science and innovation as the inventor of a uniquely simple irrigation wetting front detector and CSIRO’s ‘Clever Clover’ kit for vegetable gardens. First and foremost, Richard Stirzaker is a gardener with a lifelong passion for growing food. This book unites the scientist and the gardener beautifully, blending the rigour of the scientific method with the sensuality of planting in rich soil and tasting perfectly ripe fruit and fresh vegetables. When Stirzaker suggests that the best way to experience an apricot at its most perfect is to lie under the tree with your mouth open, it is easy to imagine him doing just that.
Tags: consumption, soil, urban agriculture, water
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2010 Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on February 19th, 2010
Source: Ethical Consumer Guide
The 2010 Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping is now available. To help you navigate through the issues connected to your everyday purchases, we’ve not only updated company information, but also added a more detailed rating system, new blurbs, and two new categories — Alcohol and Office Supplies. Order here.
Overview:
The Ethical Consumer Guide has come out of a shared concern that many people although eager to make changes in their buying habits for the better, do not have access to information to make informed choices. The website and accompanying guides, provide information on companies and brands, drawing from existing sources. The information allows evaluation of the social and environmental impact of companies on the earth and our society, and gives insight into the ever-increasing concentration of company and brand ownership.
The guide is specific to Australia. We hope that this ethical buying guide can allow people to not only make wiser choices in their purchases and open up a dialogue with companies, but also come to more fully understand the connection between how we act and what is going on in the world around us.
It is our aim to:
* inform shoppers of more ethical or less ethical choices in their buying
* empower people and create awareness about consumer power
* provide a means for consumers to give feedback to companies and government, and so encourage change
In doing this we seek to make all information:
* freely accessible
* transparent and well sourced
* easy to use for the everyday shopper
Tags: behaviour change, consumption, education, Food
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Transforming Cultures: State Of The World Report 2010
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on January 14th, 2010
Source: Eanth-L, e-list for the field of ecological/environmental anthropology.
Like a tsunami, consumerism has engulfed human cultures and Earth’s ecosystems. This cultural system encourages people to define their happiness and success through how much they consume. But on a finite planet, this system is maladaptive and threatens to cause significant disruptions to Earth’s climate and ecosystems, and subsequently to human civilization. If, on the other hand, we channel this wave, intentionally transforming our cultures to center on sustainability, we will not only prevent catastrophe, but may usher in an era of sustainability—one that allows all people to thrive while protecting, even restoring, Earth.
Worldwatch Institute’s Transforming Cultures project turns a critical eye to how we can shift today’s consumer cultures into cultures of sustainability. The key to this transformation will lie in harnessing institutions that play a central role in shaping society–such as the media, educational services, business, governments, traditions, and social movements–to instill this new cultural orientation.
In State of the World 2010, sixty renowned researchers and practitioners describe how we can harness the world’s leading institutions—education, the media, business, governments, traditions, and social movements—to reorient cultures toward sustainability.
The report, scheduled for release in January 2010, will include articles from 60 eminent researchers and experts on consumerism, sustainability, and cultural change. It will provide information on how we can make the needed shift to a culture of sustainability and illustrate how people around the world are already taking important steps.
Tags: behaviour change, consumption, new systems/services
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‘How to Make Trouble and Influence People’: Book Launch
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on October 30th, 2009
Source: Friends of the Earth Melbourne
Image via bindarri
This book reveals Australia’s radical past through tales of Indigenous resistance, convict revolts and escapes, picket line hi-jinks, student occupations, creative direct action, media pranks, urban interventions, squatting, blockades, banner drops, street theatre and billboard liberation; including stories and anecdotes, interviews with pranksters and troublemakers, and over 300 spectacular photos documenting the vital history of creative resistance in this country.
Written, compiled and researched by Iain McIntyre. Additional research and editing by Lou Smith. Book design and Photo Editing by Tom Sevil.
Melbourne Launch: Thursday 5th November, 6pm-8pm
With Iain McIntyre and a special guest appearance by the John Howard Ladies’ Auxiliary Fan Club.
Bella Union Bar, Trades Hall, Victoria and Lygon Streets.
Tags: innovation, local action
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Hungry Jacks Dining Room Composting
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on September 14th, 2009
Source: EcoVoice
Hungry Jack’s, a long term supporter of Keep Australia Beautiful ran a week-long trial of dining room composting and co-mingled recycling in its Fulham metropolitan restaurant during KAB Week.
The trial, which is an Australian first, will provide a benchmark study for the Australian fast food industry on ways to divert organic food and other compostable waste from landfill. It will also demonstrate the level of consumer awareness about co-mingled recycling, in terms of avoiding contamination, which could also provide further insight into current kerbside recycling practices and knowledge.
Tags: behaviour change, business, education
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Phase 2 of Paddock to Plate: re-thinking food and farming
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on September 3rd, 2009
Source: Food Climate Research Network
Paddock to Plate: policy propositions for sustaining food and farming systems is the second and final phase of the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Future Food and Farming project.
The report puts 24 propositions to the Victorian Government, based on the premise that healthy environments, healthy farming systems and healthy people are intricately intertwined. The report looks at the activities and investments that will be needed if Victoria is to equip its food and farming systems to produce more healthy foods, more sustainably, in a much more difficult climate, while consuming less water, energy and soil, fewer nutrients and without damaging our biodiversity.
How can we improve the performance and resilience of the Victorian food and farming system? This propositions paper outlines policy suggestions that would substantially assist the Victorian food system in delivering healthier foods, healthier profits and healthier landscapes.
Download the report.
Tags: Food, governance, resilience
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Psychological inhibitors for climate reaction
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on August 31st, 2009
Source: Greenleap
From “Psychological Factors Help Explain Slow Reaction To Global Warming“, retrieved August 17, 2009, from ScienceDaily
Image of “Reduce”, Yair Engel, by kimberlyfaye via flickr
While most Americans think climate change is an important issue, they don’t see it as an immediate threat, so getting people to “go green” requires policymakers, scientists and marketers to look at psychological barriers to change and what leads people to action, according to a task force of the American Psychological Association.
Scientific evidence shows the main influences of climate change are behavioral – population growth and energy consumption. “What is unique about current global climate change is the role of human behavior,” said task force chair Janet Swim, PhD, of Pennsylvania State University. “We must look at the reasons people are not acting in order to understand how to get people to act.”
Tags: behaviour change, community, education
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Take part in national consumption survey
Posted in Research by Virginia on May 13th, 2009
Take part in a national online survey to inform innovative research into household consumption and lifestyles in Australia. CSIRO’s Household Consumption project is conducting research into household consumption, time use and lifestyles with the aim of developing a lifestyle typology based on the consumption and time use behaviour of Australian households. Their research hypothesis is that different household types and their way of consuming and living will result in distinguishable resource use and emission intensities. The project outcomes should enable the identification of pathways for consumption to promote a low carbon economy.
Tags: climate change, consumption survey, CSIRO, energy efficiency, sustainability
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Woods Bagot release new publication
Posted in Research by Devin Maeztri on April 6th, 2009
Green Building Council Australia (GBCA) member organisation Woods Bagot has released a new publication – Public #5: A Human Thing. Published in 2009, it is a commentary on social, ecological and economic sustainability.
For the first time in human history more than half of the world’s population lives in cities. As the globe experiences rapid climate change and issues of energy and resources conservation are paramount, the design industry faces an urgent challenge on how better buildings and cities can significantly reduce our impact on the environment. By entering the debate, Public#5 acknowledges that a problem on this scale has no single solution: policy, technology and behavioural change all have important roles to play in an arena that traverses the individual, product, industry, city, country, affecting the entire globe.
To purchase Public #5: A Human Thing go to the Woods Bagot website.
Ref: GBCA-Woods Bagot release new publication
Tags: green buiding, human, publication, sustainability
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