Cleantech Industries Sunshine Coast

What’s new in Transport clean technologies?

Bookmark this page and revisit to see the latest updates.

Euro 6/VI vehicle emissions standards

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Ford’s luxury Lincoln brand to make an electric vehicle with Rivian

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The HUMMER Returns As An Electric Vehicle — 1,000 Horsepower, 0–60 MPH In 3 Seconds

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Tesla Model 3 Protected Owner, Family During Australian Fires

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Tesla Says 2020 Deliveries Should Comfortably Exceed 500,000

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The dirty secret of electric vehicles

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Another Study Argues Electric Cars Are Bad for the Environment. It’s Demonstrably False

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‘Tipping point’: Electric vehicle ownership costs to undercut gas and diesel cars post-2022

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With the launch of self-driving ride-share service ‘Waymo One,’ what’s next for cities?

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The pace of corporate electric fleet commitments is picking up

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We are an eco business hub promoting local clean technology and sustainability businesses. An independent, not-for-profit organisation providing the latest cleantech news, information and professional development opportunities for cleantech business owners and supporters. To join CISC visit the membership page.

Megyn Carpenter, President

At the AGM and Christmas Drinks, we welcomed the new Management Committee of Cleantech Industries Sunshine Coast. President & Secretary Megyn Carpenter, Vice President Peter Kelly and Treasurer Jackie Capiaghi. New Management Committee members Mark Leckenby of Enopte and Josh Bennett of Q-Image joined Leanne Hellmrich, Darren Walters, Adam Prescott, Will Waters and Glenn Eales. Megyn thanked Jackie for the her work with the financials over the past 3 years.

Megyn acknowledged the tremendous support of the Sunshine Coast Council, in particular Scott Breust and Cr. Steve Robinson, for their commitment to CISC announcing that CISC has been awarded Community Partnerships annual funding of $10,000 over three years to assist with operational expenses.

Megyn said “This funding will give a huge boost to CISC. As a volunteer association, I believe we have come a long way in the past couple of years. We have fantastic support and there are huge opportunities for businesses in the cleantech industry, especially with the national conference being held here in May 2019.”

Encouraging CISC Members to attend the National Clean Technology Conference and Exhibition in May 2019, Megyn said “CISC Members receive a 40% discount to the conference giving savings of up to $500. With CISC annual membership being kept at $99, being a member of Cleantech Industries Sunshine Coast has fantastic benefits.”

We are an eco business hub promoting local clean technology and sustainability businesses. An independent, not-for-profit organisation providing the latest cleantech news, information and professional development opportunities for cleantech business owners and supporters. To join CISC visit the membership page.

Megyn Carpenter, President

50 Years Strong and Growing

A look at the development of the Sunshine Coast – 50 year anniversary. And what’s next?

Design Challenges – Creating Sustainable Communities

In this keynote session, multi award-winning architect and Director of Maddison Architects Peter Maddison will discuss the importance of challenging current housing and community design to consider options for future livability. The presentation will address topics such as sub-tropical architecture, the ‘missing middle’, diversifying design choices, and building safer, healthier communities with a real sense of place. The high profile, well-respected speaker and host of Grand Designs Australia will inspire the audience to consider pushing the boundaries, integrate new technologies and materials designing and building for the future.

Building on Innovation: New Technologies from Projects to Practice

In an industry where efficiency is key to meeting budgets and schedules, it is important for all building and construction professionals to stay up-to-date with the latest technology trends. This session will give a brief overview of the latest building technology developments and explain how they are influencing the industry.

 What’s Old Is New Again – The Resurgence Of Timber

This presentation discusses some of the most compelling reasons for using wood in the built environment. A flexible, versatile and cost effective material, discover how not only is wood a natural product of inherent beauty, as a building material it offers superior performance backed by significant environmental credentials.

UnitingCare QLD Case Study – It’s More than ROI

UCQ is Queensland’s largest community services and health provider. With over 460 properties including 4 hospitals and an energy bill of $20million and rising, reducing operating costs is vital. With competing priorities in hospitals, crisis counselling and child protection services how do you decide what Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) you are going to implement? Is it just about the ROI or are there other business drivers that need to be considered when making these decisions. This presentation will provide an insight into the development of a Sustainability Matrix and the criteria when selecting properties in a wide diverse portfolio.

Maximise Energy Production Using Internet Of Things

The Renewable Energy sector has long skirted around the edges of automation, but rising electricity prices have given an added sense of urgency to recent product developments. In this presentation, Jeff will discuss why its not about selling a Jetsons like living experience but it’s a purely economic approach which revolves around maximizing the capture of renewable energy production.

The Rise of Local Energy Trading

Peer-to-peer energy trading is one of the latest disruptions in the power industry. This presentation will look at case studies of local energy trading both in Australia and overseas, and discuss the implications and opportunities of these community driven projects.

 Commercialising Innovation at Unitywater

Ray Aspey will discuss how Unitywater is fostering a culture of innovation by adopting three key strategies – envisioning, communication and sponsoring. These key strategies allow Unitywater to feed the core business, creating productivity gains in targeted areas and creates new growth opportunities for non-regulated revenue. He will also touch on Unitywater’s commercial focus areas and goals in achieving operational excellence throughout Queensland.

What Will It Take To Create Healthy, Smart and Creative Communities On The Sunshine Coast?

Bringing together a panel of both local and interstate industry experts, Dr Keith Suter will ask “How do we take the next steps to drive better design in our built environment that brings together new technologies and sustainable materials to guarantee the vision we have of the Sunshine Coast as a healthy, smart and creative community.”
Speakers on the Panel:
Anthony Burke, Keith Suter, Nic Jacobson, Peter Bolton-Hall, Richard Kirk, Adrian Just

 Future Opportunities for Sustainable Communities

This session will bring together the key messages of the day and shed light on the future of communities, both on a global and local scale. Highlighting the opportunities for continued exploration and growth in the area of clean technology, it will touch on both the economic and environmental impacts of the Cleantech Industry on the overall sustainable growth of the region.

Unitywater Supported Networking Drinks incorporating Kawana Chamber of Commerce meeting.

We are an eco business hub promoting local clean technology and sustainability businesses. An independent, not-for-profit organisation providing the latest cleantech news, information and professional development opportunities for cleantech business owners and supporters. To join CISC visit the membership page.

Megyn Carpenter, President

At this CISC event, we were welcomed into the Sunshine Coast Council’s Smart Centre in Caloundra. Thanks to our speakers for an informative and entertaining event.

We are an eco business hub promoting local clean technology and sustainability businesses. An independent, not-for-profit organisation providing the latest cleantech news, information and professional development opportunities for cleantech business owners and supporters. To join CISC visit the membership page.

Megyn Carpenter, President

The Cleantech Effect is the only conference, solutions showcase and networking event of its kind in Australia.

The 2017 event held by the Sunshine Coast Council in partnership with Cleantech Industries Sunshine Coast empowered businesses with the latest information and solutions to save energy, water, waste and money.

With keynote speakers Peter Maddison (multi-award winning architect and host of Grand Designs Australia and Dr Keith Suter (global futurist and media commentator), the event focussed on the challenges of ‘designing our future’ and creating sustainable communities.

Key decision makers and innovators in the Cleantech Industry came together and enjoyed a delicious lunch of locally-sourced produce and networking drinks.

Over 25 exhibitor stands shared knowledge on smarter energy, water, building and waste solutions and there were dynamic sessions with experts, case studies and panel sessions as well as success stories from companies that have embraced Cleantech to boost business performance.

We are an eco business hub promoting local clean technology and sustainability businesses. An independent, not-for-profit organisation providing the latest cleantech news, information and professional development opportunities for cleantech business owners and supporters. To join CISC visit the membership page.

Megyn Carpenter, President

Construction has commenced on an industry-leading Solar Farm on Sunshine Coast Council owned land at Valdora, Sunshine Coast.

In a series of firsts, the Council is the first local government to build a Solar Farm.

The 15 megawatt (MW) utility scale, grid-connected facility will be the largest solar farm in Queensland and will be the first to operate at 1500 Volt DC (other solar farms are built to 1000 Volt DC).

In another first, and from as early as 2017, Council’s entire electricity consumption will be offset by the Solar Farm. This includes electricity for all administration buildings, swimming pools, performance venues, community centres, libraries, sport and recreation facilities.

It will save millions of dollars over a 30-year period based on today’s electricity costs (taking into account the costs of building and ongoing operational costs).

With electricity prices set to increase substantially in the future, the solar farm will protect Council and its ratepayers from these costs.

The Valdora Solar Farm construction by Downer Utilities, partnering with Council, consists of:

• over 57,000 PV (photovoltaic) modules
• 1500 support structures
• six inverter stations
• control room
• access track
• road widening
• medium voltage (MV) underground lines

At its peak, the solar farm will generate 15,000 kilowatts of electricity from the sun positioning the Sunshine Coast Council as leaders in the renewable energy space.

With this project, Council is well on it’s way to the goal of the Sunshine Coast becoming Australia’s most sustainable region.

We are an eco business hub promoting local clean technology and sustainability businesses. An independent, not-for-profit organisation providing the latest cleantech news, information and professional development opportunities for cleantech business owners and supporters. To join CISC visit the membership page.

Megyn Carpenter, President

What is Lidar Mapping?

Used in aerial mapping and surveying, LiDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging.

A laser scanner sensor is mounted in an aircraft and fires millions of laser pulses to the ground. Laser pulses penetrate tree canopies to build a 3D view of vegetation, infrastructure and the ground surface.

The primary output from this technology is the classified, colourised point cloud

Ground features such as trees, can be switched off to reveal the bare earth surface.

The 3D point cloud is highly accurate (within 10cm vertically and horizontally), and can be viewed in 3D at any perspective.

Once the data is processed, various maps can be produced from the LiDAR point cloud including aspect, canopy height, bare ground surface, drainage, contours, erosion, and irrigation. The applications for LiDAR are unlimited.

Agriculture, Water and Forestry

LiDAR Mapping can be used to assess areas subject to flooding and create water flow accumulation maps used to select optimal planting areas.

Used in conjunction with infrared imagery, data can be used to monitor health and productivity of vegetation and track growth by showing the height trees. Multiple surveys over time can determine which trees are growing faster and likely to be more productive.

Natural Resource Management

Regular surveys can monitor and help manage coastal and soil erosion and bathometric LiDAR sensors collect data up to 22metres under water.

Urban Planning, Land Development & Wind/Solar Energy

Aerial LiDAR sensors can map large areas and produce base data for planning new infrastructure developments, drainage, and determine the best locations for wind turbines or solar panels.

3D models of the earth’s surface can be displayed with or without ground vegetation and man-made structures, depending on the application. Vegetation canopy models calculate biomass and land clearing or re-vegetation areas.

Mine mapping

In mining, LiDAR is often used to calculate the volume of stockpiles to measure the amount of material removed from the ground or to be loaded on a ship.

Once an aerial LiDAR survey is completed, it can be repeated regularly to monitor infrastructure development, erosion or changes in vegetation.

Atlass-Aerometrex is a local LiDAR survey company engaged in aerial surveys over Queensland and New South Wales. LiDAR models were used for the smart city development.

Follow this link for a short  video introduction to LiDAR.

To find out more information about aerial surveys, see CISC member Atlass – Aerometrex.

We are an eco business hub promoting local clean technology and sustainability businesses. An independent, not-for-profit organisation providing the latest cleantech news, information and professional development opportunities for cleantech business owners and supporters. To join CISC visit the membership page.

Megyn Carpenter, President