Consultation begins for cost recovery under national environment law

The federal environment department is calling for public comment on potential cost recovery mechanisms under national environment law.

Federal environment minister Tony Burke recently announced major reforms of national environment law, and noted that cost recovery options would be further investigated.

The department has now released a consultation paper outlining options for recovering the costs of regulatory activities and reform under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

“All submissions received will be considered, to help the government make a fully informed choice on cost recovery options to resource the activities delivered by the legislation,” federal environment spokeswoman Vicki Middleton said.

The cost recovery consultation paper will be open for public comment for six weeks until 31 October 2011.

The paper is available at: www.environment.gov.au/epbc/reform, by emailing epbc.costrecovery@environment.gov.au or by calling 1800 423 135.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Winners of the inaugural Sustainable Building Designer Awards - Australia have been announced at the BDAQ gala awards dinner in Brisbane. Two hundred and thirty guests enjoyed a sumptuous dinner, great entertainment and celebrated with the winners of a variety of awards.

The sustainable building designer winners were:

Winner Sustainable New House
Travis Quennell,  QUBD for Ecovillage256


Runner-up for Sustainable New House
Brett Grimley, Ecolibrium Designs for Currumbin Ecovillage

Winner Sustainable Public Building
Ray Brown, Regency Design Centre for Community Centre Castle Hill

Winner Sustainable Small Commercial Buildings
Ian Darnell, nspire Planning and Design for Condimine Veterinary Clinic

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS AND ENTRANTS

Sustainability gets side-tracked by Climate Change

Tony Blair once said; “We can debate this or that aspect of climate change, but the reality is that most people now accept our climate is indeed subject to change”.

It really is sad that any movement towards a more sustainable world has been totally side-tracked by the argument about man-made climate change. The answer to the question, of course, is that it doesn’t matter if man made climate change is real.

What really matters is that we cannot sustain the world as we know it without changing the way we operate in a number of ways, including;

·         stoping the depletion of the earth’s resources at a greater rate than nature is able to renew,

·         stoping polluting our natural environment whether it be the air that we breath, the oceans that are so necessary to sustain life on earth or the land from which so much of our sustenance comes,

·         stopping the destruction of ecosystems which maintain the fine balance of flora and fauna,

·         begin to rebuild the biodiversity on which our whole existence depends.

It is all very simple really and should not be lost in a dumb debate about the science and the reality of climate change. It really doesn’t matter why or how the problem occurred or who is to blame.

It only matters that we all work towards a sustainable future.

Everything else is just a distraction from the main game or is political point scoring which is only working to polarise the population, create unhelpful animosity and doing plenty to discourage people from actually acting sustainably. Unfortunately, the language so often used by the proponents of climate change indicates that they hope to bully the rest of the population into submission. This won’t work.

Buildings and how we use them are crucial to sustainability and this puts building designers at the frontline in efforts to secure the future.

Over the past month BEDI has been equipping Endorsed Sustainable Building Designers to effectively address the four imperatives mentioned above. These designers will be able to design buildings which meet the sustainability requirements of the Building Code of Australia and the Queensland Development Code.

More than this they will be able to research materials and technologies to design buildings that don’t deplete the earth’s resources, don’t contribute to the pollution of the environment and don’t destroy our ecosystems. They will actually work towards restorative sustainability by attempting to assist nature to repair some of the damage of the past and will advise their clients on how to occupy the buildings in a more sustainable way.

It’s time for all the talk, all the bravado and all the bully tactics to end and be replaced by real action and we know that Endorsed Sustainable Building Designers are ready to stand up and lead the way.

Russell Brandon

We are creating a mountain of waste!

Waste reforms, guided by the Queensland’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Strategy 2010-2020, are progressing full steam ahead. To keep up to date with the news and read about the programs available to assist business visit the reThink business waste pages on the Department of Environment and Resource Management website. Click here to subscribe to the waste reform upcoming newsletter updates.

Design for Deconstruction

Apologies to those who also follow the BDAQ Blog. I feel that this post applies to both groups.

Design for Deconstruction

The web site http://www.lifecyclebuilding.org/ advises that the factors influencing deconstruction are:

•The local cost of landfill tipping fees

•The local cost of labour and equipment

•The ease of disassembly which affects labour cost

•The value of the materials recovered

•Having adequate time available for deconstruction

Source: http://www.lifecyclebuilding.org/files/DFD.pdf

The buildings we are designing right now are expected to have a life span of around 50 years. Think of that in terms of the factors influencing the practice of deconstruction.

The rate at which we have been using up landfill sites over the last 50 years means that the sites themselves will become a rare commodity within the next 50 years. "The local cost of landfill tipping fees" in 2061 will make the practice of putting a wrecking ball through your building at the end of its life and carting it away to landfill a very expensive exercise.

We are also now using up building materials faster that the planet can reproduce them. This means that the materials we are using now will be quite rare in 2061. Rare material is of high value.

So by the end of the expected life of the buildings you are designing right now two of the five factors influencing the practice of deconstruction will be in play. The rest is up to you.

The cost of labour and materials and the available time is out of our hands so that only leaves "the ease of disassembly".

Your role as a building designer is to consider the materials you use, think about the connections and fixings you use and make it as easy as possible for the principle of reduce, re-use, re-cycle to be applied at the end of your building's life.

To find out more just "google" "design for deconstruction". You may be surprised at how many results you get.

Russell Brandon

Responsible use of materials

“The business community does not have enough respect for designers. They are currently at the bottom of the management food chain. Marketing tells them what to do. That doesn't make any sense.

Designers hold a key to the future, but designers need to understand their role differently and learn to have more self-esteem, ambition and responsibility.”

Dr. Michael Braungart

There are a myriad of resources available to help designers better understand how to be innovative in seeking to design buildings which reduce their own impact on the environment. I was recently alerted to this blog; www.core77.com/blog/articles

and checked out this article where Dr Braungart discusses “Material Shortages and Designing a New Material World”.

Dr. Michael Braungart is a chemist and co-founder of Cradle to Cradle® Design and MBDC McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry in Charlottesville, Virginia. His research in materials sciences has pioneered a new paradigm that focuses on redesigning eco-effective products and systems to support a positive ecological footprint in the next industrial revolution.

According to Dr Braungart, “designers must learn to expand their interests and responsibility beyond just aesthetics. I see it slowly happening. For example, in Japan, the designer truly understands the link between total quality and total beauty. It's not beautiful if it is connected to child labour. It's not beautiful if it poisons the oceans. It's not beautiful if it perpetuates conflicts over precious resources. It's not about only the right materials. There is also a social component. Clearly, there is an opportunity for designers to become pivotal players in the industrial transformation, adding immense strategic value.”

While he is not talking specifically about building designers, I think there certainly is a lesson for us all here.

You can check out the entire article and more at the blog address above. There are some great insights into materials and how we, as designers, can accept our social and environmental responsibilities by considering the source, use and disposal of materials.

Russell Brandon

Discount deadline for ESBD Course ENDS TODAY

You can save dollars by registering TODAY for the Endorsed Sustainable Building Designer courses in either Ipswich or Cairns. There are still plenty of subsidised places available but you need to complete your registration NOW.

The courses will cover Environmentally Sustainable Design Compliance and Solutions on day 1; Building Rating, Materials, Issues and Solutions (day 2); Green Building and Materials Procurement (day 3); Life Cycle Assessment in Practice (day 4).

Our ESBD trainers are undergoing intensive training under the tutalage of David Baggs from EcoSpecifier who is a world renowned expert on building sustainability and co-author of the materials.

The new BEDI web site with an exciting innovation - Building Consumer Advice Bureau - will be launched on 16 April 2011 and will deliver unprecedented promotion to Endorsed Sustainable Building Designers.

This is your opportunity to be part of that promotion. If you are not near Ipswich and Cairns and would like to suggest a course in your area, please contact us at russell@bedi.com.au or just add a comment to this post.

If you need a registration form or more information please contact us at russell@bedi.com.au or phone 07 38899119.