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Category Archives: carbon emissions

Opera House Goes Carbon Neutral Five Years Ahead of Schedule

The Sydney Opera House was notoriously behind schedule on most things during the 14 years it took to build but will be five years ahead of schedule when it meets its target to reduce emissions and become carbon neutral. This move puts it up there with New York’s Empire State building and Paris’s Eiffel Tower as global architectural icons which are actively working to become world symbols of energy efficiency, its Environmental Sustainability Manager Emma Bombonato said. … Officials at the Sydney Opera House have been working to increase its energy efficiency and decrease its waste for the past decade. In 2014 it replaced incandescent bulbs …

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In Australian first, two schools powered solely by green energy.

Two schools’ classrooms in NSW will be powered solely by renewable energy, taking them off the grid and teaching students about sustainability. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and federal government are providing $370,000 in funding to St Christopher’s Catholic Primary School in Holsworthy and Dapto High School to trial a 100 per cent renewable power and smart technology program in their new classrooms. Known as the Hivve, the modular classrooms – which are fully air-conditioned – integrate solar photovoltaic panels and real-time energy and air quality monitoring to generate energy and control their own usage. According to ARENA, these classrooms will have …

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Greening the Concrete Jungle: How to Make Environmentally Friendly Cement

Cement is the world’s most widely used material apart from water, largely because it is the key ingredient in concrete, the world’s favourite building material. But with cement’s success comes a huge amount of greenhouse emissions. For every tonne of cement produced in Australia, 0.82 tonnes of CO₂ is released. That might not sound like much, especially when compared with the 1.8 tonnes emitted in making a tonne of steel. But with a global production of more than 4 billion tonnes a year, cement accounts for about 8% of the world’s CO₂ emissions. The electricity and heat demands of cement production are responsible for …

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Renewable Energy In Cities – IRENA Report

Making up 65 per cent of global energy use and 70 per cent of anthropogenic carbon emissions, cities must play a crucial role in the shift to a low-carbon economy says IRENA. A new report from IRENA focuses on best practice gleaned from thousands of cities around the world making up 60% of global energy demand, demonstrates what is possible and details the sorts of policies required to enable the change. “We have to rethink the entire urban energy landscape, which requires rigorous planning and holistic decision-making,” said Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA Director-General “Renewable energy, combined with energy efficiency, will …

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