Renew Magazine

Fact-based and human-interest stories about building climate and energy resilience in your home and community. All the latest in sustainable issues and technology, as well as useful how-tos for reducing your footprint and contributing to a more resilient future.

Renew Magazine

Editorial

Quarterly round-up

PRODUCTS

PRODUCTS - EV ROUNDUP

Electric bus depots scaling up • Electric buses need to be able to charge in large numbers. We look at how it's being done in Sydney using a novel charge connection system.

Electric shipping gains momentum • There have been many naysayers when it comes to electrification of shipping, but the shipping industry is just getting on and doing it.

Long distance trucks going electric too • Short and medium distance trucking is easy to electrify, as there are electric trucks that can do such routes on a single charge. But long distance trucking needs a different approach.

Sharing the solar boom • With daytime solar generation increasingly flooding the grid, Owen Hill looks at how the Solar Sharer Offer aims to extend the benefits of cheap renewable electricity to more Australian households.

Beyond the big retailers • Australia's electricity market is slowly becoming more innovative, with a new generation of retailers offering wholesale pricing, peer-to-peer energy trading and smarter ways to manage home solar and batteries. Energy policy specialist Dean Lombard explores how these emerging models work, and which households stand to benefit.

Vehicle labels catch up with reality • Australia is finally replacing its outdated vehicle testing and labelling standard with one that better reflects real-world driving. Bryce Gaton looks at what the change means for consumers and the transition to cleaner vehicles.

More power, more freedom, more fun: on completing our journey to the Solar Age • Philippa England thought a solar system and an EV would be enough. Instead, one upgrade led to another as her household embraced batteries, vehicle-to-grid technology and dynamic electricity pricing. Along the way, she discovered sustainability can be equal parts practical project, hobby and obsession.

Data in the city and the invisible impact of the cloud • As AI and cloud computing drive a boom in data centre construction, Australia faces growing questions about how these energy-hungry facilities will affect electricity demand, local communities and the transition to net zero. Mia-Francesca Jones examines the trade-offs—and asks whether Australia can build the cloud more sustainably.

Renewables on Country • As the energy transition continues across Australia, First Nations people are increasingly taking ownership of renewable energy projects built on their Country. Gus Goswell reports on how Traditional Owners are making renewables work for their communities on their own terms.

How Goulburn built its own solar farm • After 12 years of planning, fundraising and persistence, the Goulburn Community Solar Farm is now exporting clean energy to the grid. Jacinta Cleary looks at how community investors turned a kitchen-table idea into a working power station.

From kitchen table idea to solar farm

Lessons in community energy

Lessons from Wavertree House • Featured in this year's Sustainable House Day program, Wavertree House is an off-grid home in Darwin River inspired by the tropical architecture of 1930s government architect Beni Burnett. Andrew Spiers discusses the ideas behind the project and what contemporary Australian housing can learn from designing with climate rather than against it.

Church, rewired • Ormond Uniting Church in Melbourne has transformed its climate footprint. Once a significant emitter, it now generates more renewable electricity than it consumes and draws very little...