A project exploring the viability of capturing and re-using urine from urban toilets as an agricultural fertiliser has won UTS’s Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) its second major award within a week. [ + ]

The Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) has called on the Australian Government to provide leadership in building the sustainability skills that will ensure a safe, productive and sustainable future. [ + ]

The Hon Patrick Conlon MP, South Australian Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, and Minister for Housing and Urban Development, unveiled Australia’s first Infrastructure Sustainability rating scheme, known as the IS scheme, at its South Australian launch at Parliament House in Adelaide yesterday. [ + ]

A new report from carbon analytics firm RepuTex indicates that last week’s announcement of plans to link Australian and European carbon pricing schemes is set to save liable Australian companies $2.5bn over five years. [ + ]

Kiwis can now see the green credentials of a mobile phone before they buy it, thanks to New Zealand’s first sustainability ranking scheme for mobile phones. The scheme was launched today by Vodafone. [ + ]

Local Government Super (LGS) has been recognised for its leadership on climate change issues and commitment to sustainability in the delivery of green energy across its portfolio, winning both the 2012 Climate Change Leadership Award and the Energy Award in the NSW Government’s 2012 Green Globe Awards. [ + ]

CSIRO has rejected the claim made in a television commercial aired on 2 September that ‘CSIRO [and government studies] have shown that groundwater is safe with coal seam gas’. [ + ]

A student residential development at Monash University is the first multiunit residential project in Australia to achieve a Green Star rating for sustainable construction. [ + ]

Australia’s leading experts in water research and management will gather at the University of Canberra today for the second day of a two-day workshop to address the challenges of sustaining Australia’s vital freshwater ecosystems. [ + ]

Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, has signed an agreement to acquire SolveIT Software, an Adelaide-headquartered scientific software provider specialising in supply and demand chain optimisation and predictive modelling. [ + ]

NSW Minister for the Environment Robyn Parker yesterday launched a new suite of websites for the NABERS program, including a refreshed public site, a secure members’ site and a new ratings platform, NABERS Rate. [ + ]

Carbon capture and storage has been seen as an uneconomical solution to reducing carbon emissions, with the capture of CO₂ emissions from a power station currently requiring about 30% of the total electricity it produces. But thanks to Dr Matthew Hill, a researcher at CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, the capture of carbon emissions is now cheaper than ever before. [ + ]

This National Recycling week, to be held from 12-18 November, Planet Ark is encouraging all Australians to take recycling action at their home, school or workplace. A variety of events will be held to highlight the importance of recycling. [ + ]

Meridian Energy Australia will soon start construction on Mt Mercer, a 64-turbine wind farm in Victoria. [ + ]

University of Sydney researchers will be looking for ways to slash one of the world’s biggest single sources of energy consumption - the heating and cooling of buildings - at a state-of-the-art new laboratory. [ + ]