Regional funding scheme The Philmac Project, established by fitting and valve manufacturer Philmac, has opened up a new round of cash grants for nationwide community groups with water on their minds. [ + ]

The Australian and NSW governments have announced a $350 million package of new irrigation efficiency projects across NSW. Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said the Australian Government is "contributing an extra $125 million of funding to the revised package, bringing total Australian Government funding for NSW to nearly $1.5 billion". [ + ]

US consultancy Dual Citizen has released The Global Green Economy Index (GGEI) - a measurement of the green economic performance of 60 countries. The report found that perceptions of Australia's green economic performance dramatically exceed its actual performance. [ + ]

New Zealand trucking business HW Richardson has joined the EECA's Heavy Vehicle Fuel Efficiency program, which aims to improve fuel efficiency and decrease carbon dioxide emissions in the heavy vehicle sector. [ + ]

A new national framework for remediating contaminated sites will help identify the best ways to clean up Australia's polluted land. The framework has been developed by CRC CARE, state and federal governments, environmental authorities and clean-up industries. [ + ]

Data centre company Equinix has won Frost & Sullivan's 2014 Asia Pacific Data Centre Green Innovation Leadership Award. The company won the award based on four key criteria: navigational positioning, execution excellence, technological sophistication and total customer experience. [ + ]

Emerson Process Management has licensed royalty-free patent rights for its PIDPlus wireless PID controller technology to improve real-time control performance, simplify tuning and inherently protect against system failures across all control systems. [ + ]

Engineering and infrastructure services provider Downer has acquired all the shares in Tenix for $300 million on a cash and debt-free basis. [ + ]

Yarra Valley Water is using water-quality monitoring probes as part of a trial to deliver sewerage services to the Melbourne suburb of Park Orchards. According to project manager David Diaz, the probes will help monitor the health of the local environment to assess whether containing all treated sewage from septic tanks on each property is an environmentally sound sewerage solution. [ + ]

Start-up company Refoil has partnered with haircare brand De Lorenzo's ASPYA program for the inaugural 'Foilest Challenge' - a competition aimed at reducing foil waste in hair salons. [ + ]

The State of the Water Sector Report 2014 was released today by Deloitte and the Australian Water Association (AWA) at the National Water Policy Summit. AWA Chief Executive Jonathan McKeown said the report is based on a survey of over 1000 professionals working across Australia's water industry, both urban and rural. [ + ]

Superannuation and investment company Australian Ethical has announced its 2014 Community Grants program is now open, with $100,000 available to not-for-profit organisations, social enterprises and community projects. [ + ]

Yingli Solar has been announced as the first solar PV module manufacturer to successfully pass the Australian Solar Council's Positive Quality inspection program. The program was announced in May this year in order to help distinguish between high- and low-quality solar panels. [ + ]

Sustainability Victoria CEO Stan Krpan has announced $3.2 million in Victorian Government funding to develop new transfer stations and resource recovery centres at closing landfill sites in rural and regional Victoria, in addition to the $600,000 already allocated to build new transfer stations on the sites of closed landfills. [ + ]

Ten schools and youth groups across Australia will get a natural turf makeover to help green up their outdoor learning and play areas, as part of the 2014 Perfect Pitch of Green Program. The program was previously known as Perfect Patch of Green and is now in its third year. [ + ]