First Solar and The University of Queensland have begun construction on a 3.275 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) research facility at UQ's Gatton campus. [ + ]

The Australian Smart Lighting Summit, to be held in Melbourne from 18-19 August, will attract developers, contractors, lighting industry professionals and local government authorities. [ + ]

Townsville City Council is upgrading its utilities infrastructure in the CBD. The project involves upgrading approximately 12 km of water and sewerage underground pipework and construction of a new reservoir, as well as stormwater drainage and footpaths. [ + ]

A report detailing paint consumption and disposal in Australia, released by the National Paint Stewardship Scheme Implementation Working Group, will form a cornerstone in the development and economic modelling of a national voluntary paint stewardship scheme in Australia. [ + ]

The NSW Department of Planning and Environment's Building Sustainability Index (BASIX) has been revised to set a lower greenhouse gas emission rating for residential wood-fire heating. [ + ]

Speakers at the upcoming All-Energy Australia conference, to be held in Melbourne from 15-16 October, have claimed that the clean energy sector faces a difficult future unless it embraces transformation and collaboration. [ + ]

Pump manufacturer Nov Mono has secured major industry certification for its innovative InviziQ pressure sewer system (PSS). The system received the certification from the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) for various criteria, including meeting WSAA standards, technical compliances, manufacturing quality and performance. [ + ]

Accounting firm RSM Bird Cameron has outlined the initial impact of the abolition of the carbon pricing mechanism on businesses. [ + ]

Sustainability adviser Net Balance has found that a growing number of Australian-listed companies are setting high standards of transparency and accountability regarding their sustainability performance, though a large number of companies still face a learning curve in understanding and communicating their social and environmental impacts. [ + ]

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) have this week published standards relating to water footprint management and the chain for custody for forest products, respectively. [ + ]

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has provided the second carbon monitoring report to the Treasurer, the Hon Joe Hockey MP, detailing its monitoring activities for the June 2014 quarter. [ + ]

A comprehensive cost-benefit analysis has identified up to $28 billion in net economic benefits that could flow to Australia if smart-grid technologies were to be implemented across the country's electricity system. [ + ]

Keep NSW Beautiful and the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) are running a grants program to resource community groups who want to undertake a project to cut litter in their neighbourhood. [ + ]

At its most recent technical conference, held in San Francisco, GHD brought together 60 of its wastewater, water-treatment and desalination engineers from offices in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. [ + ]

Australian and Taiwanese scientists have discovered a new molecule that is bringing the science community closer to overcoming one of the barriers to using hydrogen fuel cells as a viable power source for cars. [ + ]