Plastics recyclers need to emphasise value rather than cost
The recent “circular economy” push will fail without significantly more market pull, according to the founder of Plastic Forests. Brent Balinski spoke to David Hodge.
Oz Minerals shows just how dispensable are fossil fuels
Comment by Peter Roberts One by one the bastions protecting the fossil fuel industries are falling, driven by economics it seems as much as by a wish to protect the planet. Household and grid-scale solar and wind plus battery and pumped hydro-storage have displaced the necessity of using dirty oil and gas from our homes,…
Profiles of success: waste whisperer to begin machine manufacturing
Natural Evolution’s expertise in turning green bananas and other produce into nutritious powders has seen it move into consulting and, soon, machinery exports. Brent Balinski spoke to founder Rob Watkins.
Business alive to climate action opportunities
Comment by Peter Roberts While the federal government continues to thumb its nose at public and scientific opinion on climate change, there is no shortage of innovative businesses looking to help stem the global warming trend.. As Canberra was dying in a ditch protecting the failing technology of coal power, a group of entrepreneurs has…
Buying overseas comes back to bite NSW Government
Comment by Peter Roberts If ever we need an argument for maintaining a viable local manufacturing sector, then look no further than the massive $4 billion cost blow-out in the metro rail project being built under Sydney Harbour. The project, originally to cost between $11.5 and $12.5 billion, will now cost $16.8 billion according to…
Profiles of success: the juggling act of an Australian company trying to save the world
“The sun never sets on the Calix empire,” says Adam Vincent light-heartedly. The general manager of R&D joined the company in 2010, five years after it began, and the same year it commissioned its first continuously operating plant at Bacchus Marsh. Calix operates at nearly 20 locations globally, with its major R&D work…
Government acts on gas supplies, throws the climate under a bus
Comment by Peter Roberts It has been a long time coming, far too long, but a federal government has finally taken action on the high price and lack of supply of gas in the eastern states. The tripling of prices was brought about by Canberra in the first place when the former Labour government approved…
Clean energy investment collapses as government policy falters
One of the few successful ways Australia has been cutting greenhouse gas emissions – large-scale wind and solar energy installations – is collapsing as a lack of federal government policy hits investment. Figures from the Clean Energy Council show investment commitments in large-scale renewable energy projects have collapsed by more than 50 per cent, falling…
Profiles of success: AML prepares to go public, says standards are key to commercialisation
There has been a series of successful IPOs for high-tech Australian manufacturing companies in recent months, including Carbon Revolution, K-Tig and Amaero Engineering. 3D printing bureau AML3D hopes to add to this, with a place on the ASX planned for March. Founder and managing director Andy Sales agrees that investors are keen on sophisticated manufacturers…
Australia’s economy under threat as national innovation slips yet again
By Peter Roberts Australia’s slide down the list of leading developed nations has been dramatically confirmed with the Australia Day weekend coinciding with evidence of a fall in our national innovation effort. The highly respected Bloomberg innovation index saw Australia slip to number 20 in the world on its ranking of innovation (table below). Australia…
