Former President of Green Roofs Australasia (GRA) Sidonie Carpenter retains her position in the 100 Global Sustain Ability Leaders list as she continues to specialise and consult on green roof and wall design at home and abroad.  GRA hold its “Greening Cities” conference in Melbourne next month. She is joined on the 2012 by Freddie Sharpe, CEO of Climate Friendly, the pioneering business that helps households and businesses do their part to combat climate change and has won the prestigious City of Sydney Business of the Year Award for 2012. Read More

Announcement of inclusion of Green Roofs champion in 100 Global Sustain Ability Leaders list

Former President of Green Roofs Australasia, Sidonie Carpenter has run her own design and construction business (Green Canopy Design Pty Ltd) in Sydney and Brisbane for the last 18 years, with a focus on residential and small commercial projects.

She retains her position in the 100 Global Sustain Ability Leaders list for the second year in a row. (She was inadvertently missed in the listing announced earlier this month.)

She specialises and consults on green roof and wall design, and construction and maintenance, specifically for Australia’s unique climate and plant species. She has studied green roof design and construction around the world.

As GreenRoofs Australasia (GRA) is the peak body for the promotion & dissemination of green infrastructure information in Australasia, Sidonie remains active in the organisation, now as Treasurer and a champion for the cause, which holds its active in annual Greening Cities conference next month and in 2014 she will be helping to host the World Green Infrastructure Congress in Sydney.

GRA has received funding & support from the City of Melbourne (CoM) to hold a National Conference at The Melbourne Law Function Centre 28 November to 1 December 2012.

The ‘Greening Cities” Conference themes have been chosen to reflect the diverse range of disciplines involved in the design, implementation and monitoring/maintenance of green roofs and walls. This year there will be a focus on the Australian experience to showcase how international models of green roofs and walls have been adapted for Australian conditions; demonstrated by case studies and research. We also aim to highlight studies which have quantified the benefits of green roofs and walls and how this new information could be used in policy and planning to promote their implementation.

GRA has always promoted urban green infrastructure within Australasia by incorporating international keynote speakers at the annual National Conference. In 2012 there will be four acclaimed keynote speakers and sixteen lead National & NZ speakers.

International speakers:

Lawrence Reed, Landscape Architect, USA. SWA group has been involved in the largest & most innovative projects with green roofs in the USA. Such projects are the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

Ed Snodgrass, Nurseryman president & founder of Emory Knoll Farms, USA. Ed is an authority on installation, consultancy & plant specification for green roofs. He is internationally recognised as an author, an influential advocate and a pioneer of green roof research.

John. S. Loomis, Landscape Architect, USA. John will be discussing major projects by the SWA group in China including Giant, Shanghai.

Prof Jeremy Lundholm, Plant Ecologist,Canada. Jeremy is a plant ecologist who conducts research on green roofs, restoration ecology, and urban ecosystems. He has championed the involvement of ecologists in green roof research and studies the effects of native plant biodiversity on green roof performance.

National speakers will include:

Warwick Savvas Speaking on the design, instalation & progress of the Victorian Desalination Plant.

Paul Presenting recent large commercial Australian & International green wall projects. The Oz guru of plant specification for green walls.

Graeme Hopkins Author of “ Living Architecture “. Speaking on the integration of green roofs and living walls within the metropolitan area.

Source: www.greenroofconferences.com

Climate-change champion is Business of the Year

11 October 2012:

A pioneering business that helps households and businesses do their part to combat climate change has won the prestigious City of Sydney Business of the Year Award for 2012.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore congratulated Climate Friendly and said the Business of the Year Award was recognition of the high standard of work as well as the innovation and dedication of staff.

“The annual City of Sydney Business Awards recognise the best in local business,” the Lord Mayor said.

“Over five years they have grown to become a major event for small and medium-sized businesses in our city.

“Climate Friendly has become a market leader in their sector by engaging the community and helping a wide range of homes and business to do something about climate change. Despite challenging economic times, this business has managed solid growth.

The Business Awards judging panel praised Climate Friendly, based in Woolloomooloo, for making it easy for people from all walks of life to act on climate change by using simple online calculators and offering tips to become more energy efficient in everyday life.

The City’s 2012 Business Awards are the biggest yet with a record 883 businesses nominated and 60,000 Sydneysiders casting a vote.

This year, for the first time, winners will receive a cash prize from the City of Sydney, with $5,000 going to the overall Business of the Year and $4,000 to the Small Business of the Year.

Winners were judged by an independent panel made up of experts from government, academic institutes and the business community. This year’s panel included Greg Hayes of Hayes Knight, Starfish Consulting’s Kate Groom, and Paul Wallbank from Netsmarts.

All finalists are required to submit detailed business plans and are judged on criteria including industry innovation, community participation, strategic planning and environmental sustainability planning.

Climate Friendly offers a range of local and international carbon offsets and has also:

Launched a Climate Friendly Business Starter Kit for small business;

Developed Mainstreaming Green, a community of like-minded businesses with chef and restaurant owner Kylie Kwong and the Body Shop as ambassadors;

Developed a renewable energy certification program with WWF called GoldPower; and

Launched Flight Portal, a fully automated offset and reporting tool for business travel.

Climate Friendly’s client list includes; Qantas, News Ltd, the Green Building Council of Australia and world footballing body UEFA.

The company says their projects have carbon savings equivalent to removing over 533,000 Australian cars off the road or eliminating over 10.5 million flights from Sydney to Melbourne.

“We thank the judges and the City of Sydney for this award which recognises our efforts to make it easy for all of us, at home and at work, to take action on climate change,” said Freddy Sharpe, CEO of Climate Friendly.

“We are proud to be part of the move toward a global clean energy future and to be in Sydney, which is leading the way in Australia on taking action on climate change.”

During the past year, Climate Friendly has established an Asian presence and are looking to expand with a European office.

“We aspire to be at the heart of the global conversation about sustainability,” Mr Sharpe said.

The major awards announced last night include:

Business of the Year winner Climate Friendly. Runners-up in this category are Bikewise and Spencer Travel;

Small Business of the Year winner Glebe Medical Centre. Runners-up in this category are Café DOV and WOWCOW;

EnergyAustralia Sustainability Award winner real estate agency MARTIN;

ANZ Super Regional Award winner Climate Friendly; and

Hayes Knight Entrepreneurs Award winner Real Learning.

“I congratulate all the finalists in this year’s Business Awards. Their success comes from a huge amount of hard work and dedication,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

The Awards are supported by major sponsors ANZ and Google Apps for Business, and sponsors EnergyAustralia, Hayes Knight Accountancy, TAFE NSW Sydney Institute, QuickClips and Central Magazine.

Source:  www.sydneybusinessawards.com.au