Posted in Carbon Credits

Architectural Design Making a Positive Impact on Sustainability in your Liveable City

If you are faced with the question; “Are you part of a liveable city”, would you know how to answer?

Many would consider any city that they live in as a liveable city, but what does that really mean?

The answer revolves around a few simple words that some of us are well versed with, while others are not. – sustainability, conservation, environmentally friendly, eco-friendly and carbon friendly (to name a few).

Creating a more liveable city comes down to several factors, beginning with residential and commercial designs that offer sustainable features.

Modern technology is now proving that there are new ways of building more sustainable homes, commercial offices and even shopping centres. We did some investigating around Australia and found a few architects that deserve to be praised for this kind of work.

BREATHE ARCHITECTURE – MELBOURNE

A Melbourne architectural company leads a great example by designing carbon neutral homes and commercial properties. Several architects met in December 2019 and collaborated on how to achieve carbon neutral home designs. They are now working together to achieve a more sustainable future in Australian cities.

The Design Director Jeremy McLeod, who founded the company in 2001 together with Tamara Veltre, has asked business owners to pledge that they will take their business into a carbon neutral future via an Architects Declare Architects Act movement. It’s a promise where united architects aim to take Australia into the future with new, modernised designs that will be 100% green powered, carbon audited by 30 June 2020 to ensure it’s working, and will be carbon neutral by 30 December 2020.

Visit their website and check out some of their incredible designs already achieving a carbon neutral future.

BENT ARCHITECTURE – MELBOURNE

Another Melbourne-based architectural company that needs to be praised for their outstanding sustainable work is Bent Architecture.

Established in 2003 by Directors Paul and Merran Porjazoski, they have built and designed sustainable buildings that have won a number of national and international awards, including two open design competitions (Growing Up Green Roof and Living Places Public Housing.

They have proven themselves to be leaders in both residential and commercial designs that are environmentally sustainable, and low costing.

LIVEABLE CITIES CONFERENCE: WEBINAR SERIES 2020

The list goes on with several organisations in Australia already making a positive and sustainable impact in our cities that need to be acknowledged and the Association for Sustainability in Business has been lucky enough to be secure some of the experts in the country for our new webinar series.

If you are interested on how others are successfully achieving positive sustainable results within communities, the first webinar of the Liveable Cities Conference: Webinar Series 2020 is all about sustainable design and architecture making a positive impact on the future of sustainable liveable cities.

The first webinar will be held live online on Tuesday 9th of June 2020 between 10:00am – 12:30pm. The schedule includes three successful case studies delivered by keynote speakers, showcasing how sustainability can be implemented into your liveable city through an intellectually sustainable design. Here’s two of the case studies that will be presented online in June as part of the webinar series.

GINNINDERRY PROJECT

Ms Jessica Stewart; the Sustainability Manager of the Ginninderry project will be speaking about how they have effectively advocated homes with smarter energy solutions that have allowed them to uphold their Ginnindery Green Start Communities rating by constructing sustainable dwelling which create the same or more energy than they consume.

EAST VILLAGE AT KNUTSFORD

Ms Naomi Lawrence, the Senior Development Manager at DevelopingWA, will be the second webinar speaker, delivering a presentation on the case study of the East Village at Knutsford, one of the most highly desired villages to live at in Freemantle in Perth.

The three-part webinar series is set to propel you into the future of sustainable design and several steps closer towards achieving the main goal; to improve sustainable lifestyles.

 

 

With carbon trading conservation pays for itself

tasmania carbon tradingIn a place like Tasmania we cannot escape nature because it’s all abound.

Nature is a great provider. It gives us clean air, clean water and productive soils. It pollinates our crops, and gives us places to recreate and places for inspiration. People value nature for cultural connection to place, for the value it brings the community, for the value it brings our economy and for itself.

The Tasmanian Land Conservancy has been working to make explicit some of those connections.

In terms of the economic value, in 2010 TLC embarked on the New Leaf Project, acquiring 28,000ha of native forest to tap a new vein of possibilities for conservation business. Such a large tract of native forest, partly logged but largely intact, offered the chance for us to seriously explore sustainable incomes from our reserves.

This coincided with the evolution of a carbon market, globally and domestically. The emergence of the market was not always straightforward due to policymaking pressures and the complexity and enormity of the system. However, the TLC, with the help of others with similar tenacity, persisted with the process and pursued the goal of entering the carbon market.

Across the New Leaf properties, including Five Rivers Reserve in Tasmania’s Central Highlands near Bronte Park, the New Leaf Carbon Project is in place in 12,130ha, with the remainder managed for ecosystem health and species diversity.

Having successfully traded in the voluntary international market by partnering with Virgin Australia, the TLC is now operating in the domestic voluntary carbon market.

This market includes airlines, banks, manufacturers and other corporates wanting to buy carbon credits to offset their emissions. In that way they demonstrate corporate social and environmental responsibility to clients and shareholders. Participants in the voluntary scheme include, Virgin Australia, Origin Energy and Bendigo Bank. However, the TLC is one of few environment groups in the carbon market also supporting nature conservation activities. To read more click here.

Carbon trading: the opportunities and pitfalls in Australia

Carbon-Trading-sustainabilityIt might be early days for carbon trading in Australia but many farmers and graziers are already trading or exploring how they can trade carbon.

In April 2015, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) conducted the first “reverse” auction to buy carbon credits with the second auction being conducted in November 2015.

In a recent article by Thynne & Macartney it states while there are benefits, participating in the ERF and entering into a contract with the CER are not without risk.

There are a number of methods landholders and producers can implement to earn tradeable Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) including:

  • Forest regeneration – the regeneration of native forests that have been suppressed by livestock or clearing.
  • Avoided deforestation – the preservation of native forest previously approved for clearing (therefore avoiding the emissions that would have resulted from clearing).
  • Savannah burning – fire management in the early dry season in northern savannas is aimed at reducing the incidence and extent of larger, higher intensity late dry season fires.
  • Feeding nitrates to beef cattle – replacing urea lick blocks with nitrate lick blocks for pasture-fed beef cattle.

These auctions are funded by the Federal Government’s Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF). The ERF is a scheme designed to help Australia meet its emissions reduction targets. Through these two auctions the Federal Government has now committed $1.217 billion of the $2.55 billion set aside for the ERF.

The next auction is set for 27th and 28th April 2016 and a further auction set for the final quarter of 2016, now is the time to consider whether your business can benefit.

To view the article in full CLICK HERE.

US legislature to introduce a market-based mechanism to place a price on carbon?

President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama

13 February 2013 — US President Barack Obama has called on the US legislature to introduce a market-based mechanism to place a price on carbon.

President Obama was delivering his 2013 State of the Union address, delivered to Congress, 13 February, Australian time.

The President called on Congress to pass a bill similar to that proposed by Senator John McCain and former Senator Joe Lieberman a few years ago, which would have introduced a US “cap and trade” emissions trading scheme.

“I urge this Congress to get together to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago,” he said.

“But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will.”

Read the full story here

GlobalData Forecasts Increasingly Volatile Carbon Market

The price of carbon credits traded in regional and national emissions markets worldwide will become increasingly volatile and difficult to accurately forecast through 2015, according to a report by GlobalData.

GlobalData said the prolonged European sovereign debt crisis, a glut of carbon credits and uncertainties under the Kyoto Protocol are expected to keep prices low through 2012. The recession in the European Union, which operates the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, will cause emissions to grow less than expected through this year.

Economic conditions in the eurozone and outcomes of the Kyoto Protocol will determine the global carbon prices between 2013 and 2015, GlobalData said.

Read the full article here