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

Auckland buses going electric • If you hop on a bus in Auckland, New Zealand, there’s a good chance it will be a zero emissions electric vehicle.

Robots do solar • We are seeing a move towards automation of solar installations, away from human labour towards faster robotics.

Increasing grid stability for renewables • A 100% renewable grid needs to be as stable as a fossil fuel powered one. There are several solutions to this issue …

Electric trucks taking off in Australia • It’s been a slow start, but the trucking industry is finally working out that electric trucks are best for most uses. We look at a few recent developments.

Leading the charge • We learn about Newcastle’s pioneering new climate accelerator program.

Learning from native crops • Ancient crops combined with new harvesting and processing tech is presenting opportunities, writes Dick Clarke.

Farm it Forward models community-based food production • Tulitha King speaks to Emmanuela Prigioni of Farm It Forward about how they are taking a localised, community-based approach to food production in the Blue Mountains.

The wild world of robofauna and regenerative robots • Get your mind-blown emojis out, as Daniel Simons shares some of the leading robot technologies that are turbocharging a regenerative revolution.

Becoming a conservationist in your own backyard • Journalist Oliver Lees makes a case for inviting more life onto your property, and shares stories of people doing just that.

Are dome homes a housing crisis solution? • With the housing crisis steadily getting worse, and state and local governments tinkering at its edges, all options need to be considered. Lance Turner looks at one housing system that has barely rated a mention.

CASE STUDY

Retrofit in the village • We speak with owner-builders Aiden Varan and Alex Childs about their all-electric renovation of a concrete home originally commissioned for the 1956 Olympic Village.

Renewing landscape management in Australia • We desperately need a new way of managing non-urban and peri-urban land in Australia, to avert or minimise wildfires, regenerate biodiversity, and aid in the regeneration of degraded and invaded landscapes, writes Dick Clarke.

Removing carbon from the atmosphere • In this opinion piece, sustainability consultant Rob McCann gives an overview of where climate capture technologies are at, and where they could be going.

The steady-state economy • Professor Mark Diesendorf on what it is, why we need one and how it could be progressed.

Power to the pedal: a bicycle and e-bike maintenance guide • Whether you use your bike to commute, get the kids to school, do the grocery run, or just take a lazy meander through a park on the weekend, maintenance is key. Janina Waldmann brings us this helpful resource for looking after our pushies and e-bikes, with a little help from some of Sydney’s bike gurus.

Kitchen waste wins • Nathan Scolaro heads to the Purpose Precinct at Queen Victoria Market, where all kinds of creative solutions to food waste are bubbling to the surface.

A reliable outdoor tap • Most brass outdoor taps seem to be cheap junk that don’t last. So, why not make something better? Lance Turner explains.

A journey to all electric and net zero, including the car • Kim Wilkinson takes us on his electrification journey.

EV market update • Bryce Gaton gives an overview of where...