Tuesday, 04 August 2009 03:57

A renewed focus on localised and networked water systems could increase water supply capacity and improve the resilience of critical water delivery systems, a new briefing paper has suggested.

The paper Distributed Water Systems: A networked and localised approach for sustainable water services describes how instead of just relying on water services from large centralised, energy dependent systems, people and organisations are taking advantage of local water resource opportunities. This is having many benefits such as increasing people's ability to absorb the impact of water shortages, supporting business linkages, reducing impacts on stressed waterways and empowering communities.

Lead author Mr Che Biggs, based at the University of Melbourne, says that climate change, ecosystem stress and oil scarcity require a fundamental rethink about the design of water systems. The briefing paper calls for an gent evaluation and support for emerging innovations in the water sector.

“The choices we make now about critical services like energy and water will be with us for many decades. Therefore, it is important we acknowledge what options exist, understand the risks involved and recognise where innovative trends are moving.”

A full media release with key findings are attached below. Click here to download the briefing paper.

Wednesday, 20 May 2009 06:07

indesignlive's sustainability articles: the latest products, people, projects and news on sustainable design and architecture practice.

 

An introduction to EcoCity Melbourne appeared as an article in the sustainability section of indesignlive on May 14, 2009.

Tuesday, 05 May 2009 04:47

"Aiming for a zero-carbon urban future, Melbourne university students design an alternative to the Australian CBD - the Ecological Business District"

"A Melbourne universities' initiative has aimed to show viable options that go beyond an individual green building to a green urban centre.  'Eco-city' projects are underway in Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Norway, the US and China. This growing search supports claims that a 'green collar' sector is where most new jobs will come."  Ethical Investor, April 2009 Issue.

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Friday, 06 February 2009 02:46

SUSTAINABLE SHARING

Sustainable Cities Round Table

A networking and information event presented by SustainableMelbourne.com, a project of the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab.

The Sustainable Cities Round Tables are regular events that feature a variety of speakers who provide three-minute glimpses of what they are doing to create a more sustainable Melbourne. This month the theme is Sustainable Sharing and features guest speakers from Herdshare, Growlocal.com, Green Hanger and My Sister’s Wardrobe who will take the stage at the ECO-CITY Exhibition.

Friday, 06 February 2009 02:07

ECO-CITY MELBOURNE

building a low carbon future

An exhibition of designs for an Ecological Business District neighbouring Docklands. Visions from the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab.

What does Melbourne look like in 2032? The Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL), funded by the Victorian Sustainability Fund has looked at the last remaining vacant land available for development in Melbourne’s CBD known as E-Gate and applied some very radical thinking.

Last year VEIL ran a series of workshops with design staff from Melbourne, Monash, RMIT and Swinburne Universities who engaged with international and local experts to develop revolutionary visions for the E-Gate site as a zero-carbon eco-city. Around 200 students took these visions to develop design ideas for a demonstration city as a living expo of a low-carbon urban community, now known as the Ecological Business District (EBD). EBD is an eco-city of the future between the Docklands and the CBD, a new model of sustainable prosperity.

Thursday, 15 January 2009 05:28

The VEIL Map featured in an article, 'Gross Domestic Produce', in the Melbourne Weekly, January 14 2009. See a pdf of the article below.