Monthly Archives: March 2010

Winners of Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence & Innovation Awards Announced

25 March 2010

Ray Wills, CEO
Western Australian Sustainable Energy Association Inc. (WA SEA)
Website: www.wasea.com.au
Email: info@wasea.com.au

The inaugural WA SEA Sustainable Energy Industry Awards for Excellence and Innovation, with Sally Dominguez from the ABC New Inventors as MC, and awards presented by the Minister for Energy, Hon. Peter Collier.

The Western Australian Sustainable Energy Association Inc. (WA SEA) ran its inaugural Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Awards last night (Wednesday 24 March 2010).

WA SEA is delighted to announce the winners of the 2010 Awards.

Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Developer Award
– Award sponsored by the Forest Products Commission.
This award is for innovative development plans for a new renewable energy project, process or plant which is well advanced through the design and construction process, but not yet in operation. The award focuses on innovation and leadership by example in renewable energy and project sustainability addressing economic, environmental and social factors.

The winner of the Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Developer Award was Carnegie Wave Energy Limited (ASX:CWE) and their Perth Wave Energy Project.

The judges commented:

“Carnegie’s nomination stood out as it clearly demonstrated that the project is truly innovative and sustainable. Wave technology is attractive as it creates a reliable and predictable power source which operates without water consumption and the use of the novel fully submersible technology means the project has little visual impact. Of particular note is the potential second application of this technology to provide desalinated freshwater.”

Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Community and Regional Initiatives Award
– Award sponsored by Unlimited Energy
This award is presented to a community or government enterprise, or an organisation, that through projects, policy, initiatives or other action, has advanced the cause of sustainability and renewable energy use within its stakeholder group. Through the sustainable nature of projects at a grass roots level, it has provided a greater awareness and support within communities for the uptake of renewable energy.

The winner of the Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Community and Regional Initiatives Award was Horizon Power for their Energy Efficiency project.

The judges commented:

“The quality of applicant in this category was extremely high making the judges’ task quite difficult. The winner is Horizon Power for their “grass roots” Energy Efficiency project which has been implemented throughout 12 aboriginal communities. The community engagement and clearly demonstrated results suggest that this is a model which could be adapted and rolled-out to the wider community.”

The judging panel also asked to make special mention of the Somerville project. The judges commented that “This is an inspirational project which, when completed, will provide an excellent role model for sustainable living. We look forward to hearing more on the progress of this project in future years.”

Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Project Award
– Award sponsored by The West Australian.
This is awarded to an organisation for an outstanding single project completed in the 2009 calendar year, that embodies the principles of sustainable energy, efficiency and/or greenhouse gas abatement/mitigation. Projects in this category are judged on their innovation and leadership by example for the sustainable energy industry.

The winner of the Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Project Award was The Department of Treasury and Finance.

The judges commented:

“Treasury and Finance (Building Management and Works) was chosen for the wide range of sustainable technologies and design features which have been incorporated into the WA Basketball Centre building. This project has created an excellent public showcase for sustainable development.”

The judging panel would also like to make special mention of Sunpower. The judges commented: “Sunpower’s energy re-fit of the Crowne Plaza in Alice Springs utilizing existing infrastructure and their engagement and education of hotel guests via public displays and in-room information is an excellent example of educating and getting buy-in from the community.”

Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Energy Generation and Distribution Award
– Award sponsored by Jackson McDonald.
This award is to an organisation that during the 2009 calendar year that is best seen in embodying the principles of sustainable energy, energy efficiency and/or greenhouse gas abatement/mitigation in the generation of energy for Western Australia domestic and commercial customers. In being innovative and leading, these organizations show a commitment to sustainable energy and WA SEA principles.

The winner of the Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Energy Generation and Distribution Award was Landfill Gas and Power Pty Ltd (LGP).

The judges commented:

“The judging panel felt that Landfill Gas were a worthy winner of this award as their nomination clearly demonstrated their excellent track record in the field of extraction and application of landfill gas to create a safe, clean energy source.”

Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Product and Technology Award
– Award sponsored by The University of Western Australia
This award is presented for an innovative new renewable energy product, introduced onto the market since the start of 2009. The companies in this category are the innovation engines through which energy efficiency, renewable energy and Green House Gases abatement can be achieved.

The winner of the Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Product and Technology Award was SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWRA, SPWRB) and their T20 Single Axis Tracker project.

The judges commented:

“Sunpower submitted an excellent nomination that clearly demonstrated the suitability of their technology for use in remote locations and how its novel backtracking technology addresses some of the technical challenges of traditional tracking systems.”

Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Ambassador Award
– Award sponsored by Western Power
This award is presented to an outstanding individual that has, through philosophy, attitude, behaviour and action, shown commitment and leadership in the areas of sustainable energy, energy efficiency or greenhouse gas abatement mitigation. This award is presented to those whose commitment to these principles is demonstrated clearly over their careers.

The winner of the Sustainable Energy Industry Excellence and Innovation Ambassador Award is Professor Klaus Regenauer-Lieb, Director, Western Australian Geothermal Centre of Excellence.

The judges commented:

“This category was hotly contested with a number of very high quality nominations. The judges chose Professor Klaus Regenauer-Lieb to recognise his significant contribution to the industry and in particular, for his ambassadorial services by uniting academia, industry and government to ensure sustainable energy solutions for Western Australia. The culmination of which was the set-up of WAGCOE.”

The judges would also like to make special mention of Garry Baverstock.

The judges commented: “Garry’s nomination demonstrated that he is a man who “walks the talk” and has great passion for and commitment to sustainability. He has spent his whole career involving and educating the community on sustainability issues and we commend him for his work and passion.”

2010 Sustainable Energy Industry Award for Excellence and Innovation
– Award sponsored by WA SEA
This award was to the applicant to be seen by the judges, as the best of all applications in embodying and supporting the philosophy and principles for which WA SEA was founded and under which it operates. The winner of this award has demonstrated an outstanding performance in their innovation, and commitment to excellence in sustainable energy principles.

The 2010 Sustainable Energy Industry Award for Excellence and Innovation went to Horizon Power. Horizon Power was acknowledged for their commitment in looking for all opportunities to deliver sustainable solutions to their customers.

The award ceremony followed the successful conclusion of Western Australia’s largest ever sustainable energy conference. With a great conference program featuring more than 40 speakers and 35 exhibitors, and the event including our ceremony, we are pleased that our conference and awards will be covered extensively by media partners EcoGeneration and Recharge, and also by the ABC New Inventors television program.

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Climate Change – A Change in Architectural Education

22 March 2010

Sasha Ivanovich, FRAIA
Architect

[cf]IvanovichVideo[/cf] solar-e.com expert Sasha Ivanovich is a multi award winning architect in Western Australia and Sydney. In his video blog, Sasha discusses the importance of integrating sustainability into architectural education.solar-e.com logo

Climate change and the proposition that human activity is instrumental in climate change brings to the fore the whole discourse on our responsibility for the future we are creating for our children and all life on our planet. It also implies a new direction in teaching architecture.

Integrating Sustainability into Architecture

Integrating Sustainability into Architecture

The making of architecture has always been contingent on meanings vested in the cultures from which it has sprung. As we understand the world, so we create it. The complexities of our predominant world culture, is equally reflected in our making of architecture. It has been said that in our modern world, the idea of the meta-narrative, a single unifying way to interpret the world, has been replaced with a ‘post modernist’ multiplicity of narratives and in architecture, an apparent freedom to invest meaning with ideas vested with equal value, freely chosen by the author/s.

Access to information through the internet and for architecture, access to information on technologies, building systems and building practices has also affected architecture making as we see it around us today. It is subsumed that the 21st century architect/designer need only download building systems, techniques and specifications to give flesh to the form, container or functional program required by a project and identified by him.

Computer aided drafting systems in their common form are conducive to architecture making reliant on the most accessible drafting processes and outcomes. The effect is increasingly more evident in mainstream architectural work.

The erosion of traditional values originating in a pop-culture interpretation of post-modernism mediated by a ‘menu-download’ architecture making process may breed an architectural profession well suited for a self-generated ‘virtual reality’ culture, a ‘brave new world’ arising in the core of our 21st century city.

Climate change is our awakening from our virtual reality to the real world – living with nature and not against nature, awakening to the reality in which we are part of this nature and symbiotically enmeshed with it. In architecture, this awakening would mean a radical change. Architectural design as a process of research investigation and innovation needs to replace the current practice of collage and assembly of market elements, prevalent in the industry. As if we need to come to earth from our self-created virtual reality, we need to learn again that we are breathing living beings, totally interconnected with and inter-dependent on our environment and the living planet in which we have our being.

In practical terms and in architectural education, remaking is necessary around the fundamental idea of sustainability. Ideas are sustainable when they are based on the extensive knowledge of our heritage – scientific, cultural and spiritual, when they encompass the whole, when they consider the whole planet and are holistic rather than circumstantial and incidental.

For that, a new system of value needs to be created for the sourcing of ideas, components, and elements that make part of architecture making. If the internet is to remain as it will as a knowledge tool, the information needs to be critically appraised and a system developed to determine its true value, its sustainability value.

In architectural education, there will need to be a shift – from expediency – in some universities processing students for the evidence of desirable turnover and university income, to developing the student’s innate creativity, power of discrimination and responsibility for a sustainable world, from collage making and downloading to understanding of form, light, structure and the behaviour and nature of living and inanimate objects/materials. Perhaps it is a knowing of the world from within. Perhaps it is a new school for architects for the world to come.

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