July 2010 - Swinburne University of Technology

More documents

Recommendations

Info

swinburne JULY 2010 SUSTAINABILITY 10 FROM PAGE 9 exercise among students and staff. Professor Fisher’s approach to waste management is similarly direct. He says waste should be labelled for what it is: bad design. “If a product or package cannot be recycled or biodegraded, there is something wrong with its design.” Bins at the Design Centre are now signposted: ‘Bad Design Disposed Here’. •• CONTACT. . Swinburne University of Technology 1300 275 788 magazine@swinburne.edu.au www.swinburne.edu.au/magazine ILLUSTRATION: KEN UCHIDA Key points Good design is the key to changing people’s behaviour. Sustainability is being integrated into all design disciplines at Swinburne. Swinburne has joined a global accord to encourage sustainable design. Swinburne Sustainability Strategy: more than just another policy document The Swinburne Sustainability Strategy – Swinburne’s commitment to sustainability – has a set of outcome measures that will ensure all Swinburne courses embed sustainability and that 50 per cent of staff are upskilled by 2015. With these targets, Swinburne is a leader in the Australian university sector in embedding sustainability in its core business, its courses, its research and the skills of its staff. For Swinburne, sustainable thinking represents an emerging mode of inquiry, one that questions and seeks to understand whether current products, processes or systems can be continued indefinitely into the future from ecological, social and economic viability perspectives. Swinburne’s Sustainability Strategy focuses on six interdependent priority directions: •Culture and Stewardship To draw on the leadership, commitment and knowledge of the university and broader community to create a working, learning and research culture that is the benchmark in sustainability for all education providers globally. New course embeds sustainability in educational practice Swinburne’s National Centre for Sustainability has developed and is now teaching Australia’s first accredited course in education and training for sustainability. The Vocational Graduate Certificate in Education and Training for Sustainability is principally a qualification for teachers, those in vocational education and training, higher education, and secondary and primary schools, who wish to embed sustainability in their curriculum, teaching and assessment, and use education for sustainability as a tool for change. However, for others interested in making sustainability changes in their community groups, local councils, government agencies, industry and non-government organisations, the course will also enable them to design and implement effective learning and change programs. Over three core competency units, graduates learn to: Tradies turn a greener shade Through ‘green’ training on water-wise plumbing and irrigation systems, recycled greywater and solar insulation Swinburne University of Technology is helping to prepare Australia for a more sustainable, low-carbon future. Due to be completed in July 2010, Swinburne’s Green Trades Complex will upskill and re-skill builders, plumbers and other construction apprentices in ‘green’ trades, such as traditional plumbing courses in certificates II and III. Built environment manager at Swinburne TAFE School of Engineering, Technology and Trades Stuart Hoxley says 250 plumbing students will go through the doors of the complex this year. “These are a mix of school-based Vocational Introductory Programs (VIPs) students, pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship students,” he says. Mr Hoxley, who manages Swinburne’s plumbing, carpentry, bricking and blocking, painting and decorating, advanced building studies, and fire technology courses says the new •Teaching and Learning To ensure that the design, delivery and promotion of education programs develops appropriate discipline-specific expertise, skills and attributes in graduates, which assists them to contribute to a sustainable future within the context of their particular career, profession or trade. •Research To ensure that faculties and schools undertake research in a sustainable manner and establish research areas that contribute to sustainability globally. •People Development To build a positive enabling culture that embraces sustainability in the curriculum, research and the workplace. •Social and Community Sustainability To maximise its dual-sector strengths to create a transformational model for community and sustainable educational partnerships, which embraces social inclusion and diversity. •Business and Environmental To be an efficient, effective and sustainable organisation. • teach, review and design learning strategies to embed sustainability practices within existing programs; • plan and implement a learning-based change program for sustainability; • conduct action research projects to transform sustainability practices; • implement an education-for-sustainability learning strategy; • facilitate a broad range of delivery and assessment strategies to support sustainability change; and • review business missions and/or business plans, or educational objectives to incorporate sustainability principles. More information • www.swinburne.edu.au/ncs/edutrain.html complex is a “fantastic opportunity for Swinburne to enhance its green training in critical trade sectors. “It’s an opportunity to give young kids a wider variety of prospects, plus upskill existing tradespeople and retrain existing workers.” The facility, funded via a $10 million Australian Government grant, is the first of its kind in Victoria and has strong industry support. “ It’s an opportunity to give young kids a wider variety of prospects, plus upskill existing tradespeople and retrain existing workers.”
JULY 2010 swinburne surprise findings IN BUSINESS CARBON CHASE STORY BY Tim Treadgold A GROUNDBREAKING STUDY by a team at Swinburne University of Technology has found that smaller companies would have little to fear from a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) … if or when Australia gets one. Instead of incurring the heavy costs that some commentators have predicted, smallto-medium enterprises (SMEs) employing less than 200 people are likely to only face fees in the hundreds of dollars a year, which for many would be less than typical annual increases in existing electricity, water and other essential services. The study sheds a different light on claims that an emissions trading scheme, such as the mothballed CPRS, would impose a significant cost burden on SMEs. Scott McKenry, who supervised the study, says the cost of an emissions scheme is likely be lost against the background noise of other cost increases. “The research suggests there will not be a significant price incentive to drive investor and consumer behavioural change.” Mr McKenry, team leader in the business and community services division of the National Centre for Sustainability, says that shelving the CPRS did not affect the importance of the results obtained by the survey. Despite policy backpedalling, he believes businesses will continue to move ahead. “Early adaptors and innovators will continue to pursue carbon-constrained opportunities because there are clear market opportunities to do so. Energy and resource efficiency is good for business no matter which way you look at it.” The Swinburne study originated from work undertaken by students as part of the Carbon Accounting course at Swinburne’s National Centre for Sustainability. Each participant in the course undertakes work in their own business (or another business) to develop a carbon inventory and report for the workplace. Until this information was gathered, most of the data relating to carbon accounting applied to large organisations, such as that collected by the Carbon Disclosure Project. This Swinburne research was therefore unique because it focused on the footprints of small-to-medium-sized enterprises with less than 200 employees. “We complemented the data analysis by undertaking surveys to help us understand which businesses were being proactive in carbon reduction,” Mr McKenry says. Before the Swinburne research, most studies on the cost of emissions trading had a macro-economic focus and examined the impacts on various (mostly carbon-intensive) sectors, such as power stations, aluminium production and mining. This was partly due to the lack of reliable data on small-tomedium-sized organisations. Discovering that an emissions trading scheme would have minimal impact on most small-to-medium-sized organisations was a surprise to the researchers, Mr McKenry says. “You can chase carbon until you’re blue in the face. So a boundary was drawn around the process to mainly look at major factors such as electricity, liquid fuels, gas, flights and waste, which typically represent about 95 per cent of an SME’s carbon footprint.” Mr McKenry feels much of the debate surrounding emissions trading, especially the potential cost involved, has been driven by a fear of the unknown, similar to points raised before the mid-2000 introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). He doubts a carbon emissions trading scheme will stay on the political backburner and when it does re-emerge the students’ research will be a valuable reference. •• More information • To read the full Swinburne research report visit www.swinburne.edu.au/ncs/Innovation/climate_ change_report.html CONTACT. . Swinburne University of Technology 1300 275 788 magazine@swinburne.edu.au www.swinburne.edu.au/magazine Key points ILLUSTRATION: ARTVILLE Smaller companies have little to fear from a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Taking a different approach to carbon costs, Swinburne research focused on small-to-medium-sized enterprises. Researchers were surprised to find that an emissions trading scheme would have minimal impact on most small-to-medium-sized organisations. ALUMNISUSTAINABILITY 11
Page 1 and 2: www.swinburne.edu.au Electric cars
Page 3 and 4: JULY 2010 swinburne WEB TOOL TO GET
Page 5 and 6: JULY 2010 swinburne Dr Darryl Bigga
Page 7 and 8: JULY 2010 swinburne manufacturers,
Page 9: JULY 2010 swinburne Materials recyc
Page 13 and 14: JULY 2010 swinburne direct evidence
Page 15 and 16: GOT A BETTER IDEA? A different tomo
Page 17 and 18: JULY 2010 swinburne a yet-to-gradua
Page 19 and 20: JULY 2010 swinburne ,, Previously a
Page 21 and 22: JULY 2010 swinburne BIOMEDICINE 21
Page 23 and 24: JULY 2010 swinburne have been inocu

July 2010 - Swinburne University of Technology

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?