A combination of biotechnologies has been used to design sensors that can detect the presence of pathogenic organisms or chemical contamination in water, food, industrial or point-of-care situations in less than six hours.

Alcoa has received The Clean Air Achievement Award from the WA branch of the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand (CASANZ). The award was presented to the company for its Carbon capture technology that delivers greenhouse benefits by locking up CO₂ that is otherwise released into the atmosphere.

The New Zealand sustainable building competition, SHaC09 will tour the country next week with project coordinators updating tertiary organisations on the progress of the project.

Curtin University of Technology has been awarded three Australian Research Council (ARC) grants including a 2nd QEII Fellowship awarded to Prof Kliti Grice to study past and future climate change and understand the mechanisms of global warming.

Architects, designers and building officials are among the attendees expected at a series of seminars to be presented by senior BRANZ scientists, Nigel Isaacs and Michael Camilleri, and Department of Building & Housing Building Standards Advisors, Nick Locke and Stephen Ward, in November and December.

CSR Ethanol Agservices has received the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) Value-Adding Award at the 2007 NAB Agribusiness Awards for Excellence Ceremony.

An innovation fund to encourage smart innovations that will lead to the uptake of solar water heating and heat pump water heating technologies has been launched by Jeanette Fitzsimmons, Government Spokesperson on Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EECA).

Businesses, community groups, research organisations and individuals with sustainable water use projects have until 9 November 2007 to submit applications for Round 5 Smart Water Fund funding.

ScottishPower energy company has put forward revolutionary plans to convert its two biggest power stations to clean-coal technology.

A mobile glass crusher will help increase New Zealand’s ability to recycle glass, according to Environment Minister David Parker.

A Monash University environmental engineer has warned in a new report that mineral resources are running out, excavation costs are escalating and the environmental costs of mining are devastating.

Australia’s Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) have joined forces on research and training for contamination risk assessment and clean-up.

Emissions trading as a solution to global warming will go under the spotlight when key commentators tackle the subject at a seminar in Sydney on 1 November, organised by the NSW Division of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE).

Smart Approved WaterMark, a national independent symbol to show that a product can save water around the home, was launched at National Water Week along with its new website: www.smartwatermark.org.

Westpac has announced it is the only bank in the world, and one of just four companies in the Global FT500 list, to achieve a 100-point, AAA rating in the 2007 Climate Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI).