eNewsletters
Current eNewsletter July 2009
eNewsletter January/February 2009
eNewsletter November/December 2008
eNewsletter September/October 2008
Company News
What's going on behind the four walls...
FWR guiding QLD EPA Sustainable Manufactured Housing Program
FWR are excited to have been invited to guide the QLD EPA's Manufactured Housing Program...
How Green are The Good Guys?
FWR is leading The Good Guys national Sustainability pilot program...
LOHAS: The biggest consumer market you have never heard of
A current $12 billion market and the numbers are poised to grow, even in a global downturn...
FWR Beta-testing the Ecolect Virtual Classroom
FWR have almost finished the 12 month development of their eLearning/eTraining Virtual Classroom...
Nundah State School gets HOG'ed
FWR are pleased to announce that Nundah State School have been HOG'ed...
FWR guiding QLD EPA Sustainable Manufactured Housing Program
Four Walls and A Roof were commissioned by the QLD EPA to lead the Manufactured Housing sector sustainability program. Commencing with a sector forum this December 2008, FWR is developing face-to-face training and eLearning/eTraining modules to assist the Manufactured Housing sector in developing more sustainable practices and systems.
The manufactured housing sector has the capability to make a difference in economic, social and environmental terms. Manufactured homes can be produced and erected more efficiently, consume less energy and generate less waste than the construction of conventional homes.
The potential for manufactured homes, if delivered correctly, is to allow more client choice and involvement, particularly in the case of housing where a variety of different features and systems can be realised from manufacturers. For the construction industry, prefabrication allows the problems associated with shortages of skills to be avoided.
Using manufactured components on a project allows the time spent working on site to be reduced. This means that the impact of the construction on the local environment is for a shorter period of time.
Manufactured homes also maintain quality standards as, in factory environments, the quality of the finished product is much easier to assure than on site.
If you or your Organisation are involved with the Manufactured Housing sector and would like to be involved in this program, please contact us at Four Walls and A Roof.
How Green are the Good Guys?
What started as one ecoChampion's initiative to build sustainability into the core of his business plan has now grown into a National Pilot Program. James Brockhurst The Good Guys (left, with Mike Duggan) has long been a leader in energy, water and resource efficiency. As one of the founding Queensland EPA ecoBiz Program Partners, the Capalaba store is now looked upon as a case study in retail sustainability. And, the rest of The Good Guys have stood up and taken notice.
Launching this December 2008 The Good Guys have brought on the Team at Four Walls and A Roof to lead the Pilot of their Sustainability Program across the Australia. Commencing with pilot stores in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia, Four Walls and A Roof and The Good Guys Support Centre Team will be introducing sustainability in business operations and sustainable selling to the electrical goods retail sector.
Energy, Water, Waste, Transport and Greenhouse Gas Emission Audits of the Pilot stores will be completed by the end of December. January2009 will see the sustainability education and training program in full swing. We are looking forward to an exciting 2009 and beyond working with The Good Guys.
LOHAS: The biggest consumer market you have never heard of
High profile issues such as drought, climate change, and even that pesky global financial crisis have raised the awareness of Australians regarding economic, social and environmental sustainability. While the government and business debate their responses, what do consumers think about all this?
Conscious shoppers that make tradeoffs when choosing products and services, considering not just their own personal benefit but the impact on the community and planet are not just a fringe or marginalised group any longer. They are drawn from all parts of society. They are LOHAS consumers and they buy everything a 'normal' consumer does - they represent a current $12 billion market and their numbers are poised to grow.
The above information represents an excert from the Living LOHAS Report Overview. To download the Overview or purchase the full report, please visit the Mobium Team. Mobium is the peak LOHAS research organisation in Australia.
FWR Beta-Testing the Ecolect Virtual Classroom
Ecolect is the world's first 'Virtual Classroom' designed exclusively for the growing sustainability industry.
elearning, eTraining, and eMarketing services will be coming online soon – including free learning opportunities as well as fee for service eLearning/eTraining packages that will save people, professionals and companies considerable time and money in the long term getting up to speed with the latest knowledge in relation to sustainability and sustainable development.
What is a Virtual Classroom you may ask? A virtual classroom is like a big, dynamic, interactive library. It is comprised of content and learning management systems that provide live, anytime, online education, training and information. Virtual Classrooms also have lower environmental impacts then many 'real world' classrooms. For example:
- They reduce the need for people to travel to a central location for every workshop, thereby, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and petrol use and;
- Reduce the waste generation of paper, plastic cups and full garbage bags that are a feature of typical education and training workshops.
elearning opportunities also reach more people – by affecting a critical mass of people in one session. This achieves faster results for the environment and human health and also increases the knowledge pool more rapidly.
We invite you to join our elearning opportunity program and be ready to sign up for the growing course catalogue in 2009. Ecolect is currently in the Beta-testing stage (i.e. we are working out the little hiccups in the content and learning management systems). Feel free to surf on in and visit Ecolect and contact us for more information.
Ecolect is a division to the Four Walls and A Roof Organisation and in partnership with Allied Organisations.
Nundah State School gets HOG'ed
Four Walls and A Roof have been working with Nundah State School to integrate the RainwaterHOG into not only their curriculum, but also the walls of their new resource centre. The Resource centre is almost complete and 113 RainwaterHOGs were installed in late November. FWR are developing a teaching program to be used with the HOGs to teach students about rainwater collect, heat and coolth transfer (thermal mass), and eco-preferable building products.
Designed and made in Australia and tested under drought conditions, the Rainwater HOG allows the house-proud and the eco-conscious to harvest their rainwater without compromising space or aesthetics. HOG modules can be used horizontally or vertically, and are designed to fit under decks, houses, along walls and fences. Best of all, because HOG is a modular design, you can add capacity at will, by simply screwing on a couple more HOG units, and if you move - you can take HOG with you!
The award-winning designer of the HOG, Sally Dominguez, says the idea for HOG arose from a need to fill a void in the building market for a water tank that could be incorporated into a small space of an urban dwelling with the ease and versatility of building blocks, while also maintaining a designer aesthetic.
The environmental credentials of HOG are sound. Each unit is food-grade polyethylene which is fully recyclable at the end of its useful life, but the life of the HOG itself has been designed to extend beyond that of other tanks because of its modularity and size. Because each HOG weighs only 200kg when full, it needs no concrete footings, just compacted ground. This means that HOG leaves no footprint when it is removed for reuse.
Not only is HOG modular, simple to install and reusable, but it can also be used to add super effective thermal mass to a building. Water has more than double the r value of concrete, so building in lightweight timber frame and adding HOGs between the floor joists can vastly improve green ratings and thermal comfort. From simple domestic rainwater harvesting to large scale night sky cooling systems, the modular nature of Rainwater HOG means that it works for everyone. It can also be seen as a valuable backup water supply for fire-fighting. The HOG comes in over 40 colours and can be matched to, for example, your corporate, sports team, and/or school colours and branding.
Four Walls and A Roof are the exclusive distributors of the RainwaterHOG in Queensland and Northern NSW. Please contact us for a full RainwaterHOG Information/Installation Pack.
Sustainability News
Greening the ICT Industry
GreenICT have completed their first phase of industry research into sustainability within the information and communications sector. Not surprisingly the research, conducted through phone interviews, case studies, and industry data collection, indicates that, whilst there are a few doing some good things, there are many whom aren't. With a big push in the USA and Europe to 'green up' the ICT Industry, it won't be long before Australian companies are finding their feet in the growing GreenICT sector. Contact us for more information about the GreenICT Research.
ANZ Bank Green Team gets dirty
The ANZ Bank Environmental Sustainability Team held their first bush regeneration day at the Fox Gully Regeneration site within the Toohey Forest (Brisbane, QLD). The Regeneration Day was arranged by Michael Fox (Site Co-ordinator), Michael Duggan (FWR), and Robert Moulden (ANZ) whom have now planned further days to come in 2009. The regeneration of the Fox Gully is a key initiative for Climate Active, Four Walls and A Roof's 'giving back' program and it is great to have ANZ Bank assisting with the regeneration efforts.
Pre-Service Teaching Sustainable Education
The Queensland Group leading the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) Pre-Service Teacher Program (iQuEST) have just completed their year long, action research into the state of environmental education for sustainability in pre-service teacher programs. The research indicates that there is a great deal more to be done in order to prepare and empower our future teachers to provide education for sustainability. The iQuEST group have further research cycles to commence in 2009 so keep you eye out for further updates. Contact us for more information on the iQuEST Project.
Living LOHAS 2 Report released
Mobium Group have released the Living LOHAS 2 Report. LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) are one of the worlds fastest growing consumer groups. Mobium Group are the peak organisation for LOHAS research in Australia and their latest report indicates that, regardless of a slowing global consumer market, LOHAS-aligned consumers are not slowing their spending or dropping out of the market. In fact, their flocking to LOHAS-aligned products and services in numbers. Check out the Mobium Group website to find out more.
