By Ross Garnaut, The University of Melbourne Australia now has a government and parliament wanting timely transition to net zero. We have a government and parliament wanting to build Australia as the renewable energy superpower of the zero-carbon world economy. For the time being, we have favourable international settings for using our opportunity. The government…
By Jack Hetherington, University of Adelaide; Adam James Loch, University of Adelaide, and Pablo Juliano, CSIRO Every year, 7.6 million tonnes of food is lost or wasted in Australia. When we think about this, we might picture mouldy fruit, stale bread and overly full fridges. But in fact, almost half of this waste happens before…
The future of AI-augmented additive manufacturing holds enormous promise, believes Dr Ali Zolfagharian. He explains the concept and why there’s a new group dedicated to it. Artificial intelligence (AI) has already made a significant impact across various sectors in automated manufacturing, but its by default integration into advanced manufacturing is about to reach new heights. With…
By Michael Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie, Charles Darwin University; Matthew Abunyewah, Charles Darwin University, and Patrick Brandful Cobbinah, The University of Melbourne Pollution and waste, climate change and biodiversity loss are creating a triple planetary crisis. In response, UN Environment Programme executive director Inger Andersen has called for waste to be redefined as a valuable resource instead…
By Dennis B. Desmond, University of the Sunshine Coast In April, US lawmakers urged President Joe Biden to ban Chinese-built electric vehicles (EVs), labelling them an “existential threat to the American auto industry”. The proposed ban arose from concerns that Chinese car makers have an unfair advantage due to government financial support. Following a months-long…
By Jay Rutovitz, University of Technology Sydney; Chris Briggs, University of Technology Sydney, and Elianor Gerrard, University of Technology Sydney The electricity workforce will need to double in five years to achieve Australia’s 2030 renewable energy target, our new report finds. More than 80% of these jobs will be in renewables. Jobs in energy storage…
First Graphene has announced a two-year agreement with Halocell to supply graphene used in solar cells, ahead of the release of Halocell’s first commercially-available perovskite solar module this month In a statement to the ASX on Thursday, First Graphene said its customer had been able to “expedite its manufacturing process and enhance [the] light absorbing…
By Michael Anenburg, Australian National University Extinct volcanoes are hard to study – we never see them erupt. Using a unique experimental technique, we were able to recreate a certain type of extinct volcano in a lab, learning more about the magma these volcanoes produce. We found that some rare magma types are surprisingly efficient…
A couple of years ago, the importance of the semiconductor industry was a hot topic, for businesses, consumers, and policy-makers. The chip shortage of 2020 – 2023 saw companies adopt measures like redesigning products and building extra capacity to hoard supplies. Consumers saw extended wait times on things like cars and appliances. And politicians had…
By Sirjana Adhikari, Deakin University; Ellen Moon, Deakin University, and Wendy Timms, Deakin University As the climate changes, large parts of southern Australia are projected to get drier. Extreme rains are also becoming more common. For farmers, these changes pose big risks. What can we do to manage changes already locked in? One adaptation is…
