Hello readers,
We face right now the biggest challenges since Tony Abbott tried to destroy this industry.
This time it’s global. There’s no need to reiterate what we all know. Suffice to say that we need the Democrats to win the US election in November and we need to keep a lid on Peter Dutton’s crazy nuclear fantasy at home.
The good news is Dutts is Done, or near done, we reckon. Don’t be surprised if he does a Bye Bye Biden (as many hope) before long. Crazy ideas without solid foundations will do that, especially when they start to embarrass the proponent’s own side.
And so you don’t think we’re Luddites on all shiny new tech, our problem with nuclear energy is it needs elite capitalists to switch to socialism because its supporters want the government to pay for it.
Second, we need to wait two decade or more for delivery during which time Dutts tells us we can pretty much pause on renewables. (Which is like the doctor saying you’ve got cancer but it’s all good, there’s a brilliant cure coming – you just need to wait a few years, and hope the government pays for it because it’s out of your reach).
And third is that nuclear energy for all its huff and puff would supply nothing much more than around 9 per cent of our energy needs by the time it’s delivered. BloombergNEF said in its recent major report on the sector that, “Even if a coalition government went ahead with its vision for about 6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2050, a huge build-out of renewable energy capacity was required to meet the net zero emissions target.”
But you know all that right?
Our job at The Fifth Estate is to tell you what you don’t know, to seek out the innovations, insights and solutions this brilliant industry is working on, in small groups, in nascent breakthroughs and bring it to you as often as we can.
In recent weeks you would have noticed there’s been a surge of contributions flooding through our pages – opinions, insights and noted valuable points of inflection from writers who, like their readers, are well aware of the vastness of the challenge before us.
We are starting to see now the shape of the fossil fuelmonster before us –wears green, blue, red, pink, grey…anything at all to get inside out heads and change the messaging on climate action to neutral or worse – send it into reverse.
Media is its front line. Facebook is banning news – and the so called anti spam laws mean if you don’t open The Fifth Estate newsletter in your inbox for two weeks you’ll be cancelled. Yes, cancelled.
Check your spam folder – and resubscribe! Get everyone to subscribe. It’s one of the few ways we can bypass big tech.
Trusted media is therefore our most powerful line of defence as the mountain of digital garbage grows ever larger before us.
The best way to create lasting change, say experts, is to build a tight nuggetty circle of committed people and from there seed other interlinked like-minded circles, and so on – till you get to the tipping point.
Our plans
So even before we have the financial/commercial backing to do so, that’s what we’re working on, strengthening our core.
We’re constantly searching for the nuggets of brilliance and asking those stars to form the backbone of events and projects of all shapes and sizes that we’re planning over coming months. And of course we’re crossing fingers that we attract the sponsorship and commercial support that can see the value in aligning with this work. Just sayin’!
TFE Live
On Thursday this week we checked out a fun little broadcast “studio” in Glebe, around the corner from our offices. The idea is to pull together a small audience of 15-20 engaged audience members to listen to our guests and engage in discussion. And of course live stream the show that will go from 5-7 pm, so people can then hop across the road to the range of bars, cafes and restaurants on offer.
Hopefully this becomes a regular event so we can build a “home” for sustainability.
Masterclasses, events and summits
We’re also working on more masterclasses, half day events and full day summits geared to solving the big challenges ahead – in housing, climate resilience, social resilience, social impact, and maybe what happens when buildings and portfolios don’t deliver what they promise on the label. Send any ideas through to editorial@thefifthestate.com.au
The big topic of building for a new 2050
Australia’s building commissioners are starting to get motivated in interesting ways. They’ve shepherded through a slightly stronger energy efficiency standard for the National Construction Code to 7 star NatHERS rating.
But there is so much more that can be done. With strong energy efficiency and keeping heat out of the building we can slash the demand for nuclear energy and a lot of new renewable energy.
And ordinary people – readers in mainstream media are starting to get wind of this now.
Save the date
In late April The Sydney Morning Herald’s esteemed economics editor Ross Gittins broadcast the potential of buildings as batteries, zeroing in on the huge work done by Craig Roussac to champion this option through his Buildings Alive company.
Craig, along with Jorge Chapa chief impact officer of the Green Building Council of Australia and Alison Scotland chief executive of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council are presenting our next masterclass on this topic.
Details coming soon! But save the date, 28 August, 1-3.15 pm.
There’s more though – much more to come on buildings. It’s this industry’s time to shine. Residential buildings need to be front and centre of attention on how to reduce energy load by insulating better and performing intelligent demand management that Craig champions for commercial buildings.
The Monthly is another publication that has picked up the vibe that that energy efficiency is finally becoming sexy.
In its current edition architect David Neustein of Other Architects outlined some exciting innovations from younger members of his profession who get the drift on how innovation and bright new thinking can change the game.
Among them is Sydney based architect Ben Berwick of Prevalent who’s designed the “Solgami” blind, a screen that can control temperature without blocking access to light, uses post consumer waste in its manufacture and fixes straight to the window with removable glue.
“Within the 20-millimetre-thick panels of the blind are aerofoil-like louvres that can be customised to the window’s particular orientation and surrounding conditions,” Neustein writes.
“Berwick claims that the louvres can reflect visible light deeper into a building’s interior (reducing dependence on artificial lighting), omit glare and reduce the heat-transmitting infrared radiation from sunlight, while the blind itself adds insulation to the glass.”
And he then tells the readers what we all surely know in this patch: “The largest percentage of carbon emissions in our atmosphere have come primarily from the heating and cooling of buildings, and specifically existing buildings, and specifically glazed towers.”
We called Ben Berwick and he says he hopes the commercial rollout of the blind will be next year. At a cost estimate to be between $US360 and $US420 ($534 to $624) a square metre the product aims for tall commercial buildings to start with but is clearly applicable to any building.
The company is taking pre-orders now for delivery next year. But there’s still a manufacturer to line up. With any luck this is one of those Future Made in Australia ideas that remains at home.
Anyone who can connect this nugget of brilliance to the commercial side of the equation, get in touch with Ben!