Green building market in Singapore [online]
Author: International Business Strategies
"The market potential in Singapore for technologies, systems and equipment used in the construction of environmentally sustainable buildings (green buildings) is becoming stronger. This covers all types of systems and products to improve energy and water efficiency of a building, technologies and equipment that improve indoor air quality, construction systems that reduce noise and air pollution, as well as recyclable building materials." - summary.

Energy Statistics of OECD Countries, 2009 [online]

Authors: International Energy Agency (IEA) & Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

This volume contains data on energy supply and consumption in original units for coal, oil, gas, electricity, heat, renewables and waste. Complete data are available for 2006 and 2007 and supply estimates are available for the most recent year (i.e. 2008). Historical tables summarise data on production, trade and final consumption. The book also includes definitions of products and flows and explanatory notes on the individual country data.

Why your world is about to get a whole lot smaller : oil and the end of globalization [book]

Author: Jeff Rubin

"Explains why the conventional rules of economics simply don't work for oil markets and reveals how the wheels of globalisation will be thrown into reserve by the end of cheap oil. ... Shows how record oil prices - not subprime lending - were largely to blame for the global financial crisis and how a return to high prices will lead to dramatic changes in how we all do business, how we live and where we get our food." - cover.

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Creating a productive and inclusive Australia. (journal article)
By Lisa Paul
From Public Administration Today, No 17 October/December 2008
" Responses to the current global financial crisis - need to invest in human capital to ensure resilience to current and future challenges - work of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) within the Australian Government's productivity agenda - DEEWR's role in promoting productivity - education - vocational training and higher education - employment services - addressing Indigenous issues."

The art of innovation (journal article)
By Kim Carr
From Public Administration Today, No 16 July/Sept 2008
" Importance of the disciplines of social science, arts and humanities in fostering innovation - government strategy to boost Australia's innovative performance - promoting knowledge creation and transfer."

Urban infill: extent and implications in the city of Monash
By Thu Phan and Shobhit Chandra
From People and Place, Vol 16 No 4, 2008
"The Urban Development Program (UDP), a major initiative of the Victorian Government to support the implementation of Melbourne 2030, was established in 2002. It is currently monitoring the development of the green-field subdivisions and major project residential infill developments, but not dispersed infill. Thus there is little official information on the level of dispersed infill. The Melbourne 2030 planning documents have nothing to say about possible infill in established suburbs outside the boundaries of activity centres. One study suggests that some 35 per cent of new dwellings in Melbourne take the form of infill. This paper explores the extent and location of infill between 2000 and 2006 in one of the thirty-one local government areas in the Melbourne Metropolitan Area (MMA): the City of Monash. "

Cities could deliver greater emissions reductions than CPRS (journal article)
by Angela Dorizas
from Government News, 14 August 2009
"Australian cities could halve their greenhouse gas emissions over the next 20 years by implementing a targeted strategy similar to the City of Sydney’s Sustainable Sydney 2030 plan, a new study has found.In research commissioned by the City of Sydney, climate change consultancy company Kinesis found that actions outlined in the Sustainable Sydney 2030 strategy had the potential to cut emissions by 540 million tonnes between 2010 and 2030. The reduction is the equivalent of Australia emitting zero carbon for a year. "

Energy White Paper: more strategic technology planning needed (article)
from ATSE Journal, June/July 2009
"The Academy has welcomed the Australian Government’s release of the National Energy Policy Framework 2030 strategic directions paper and notes there are significant challenges to accelerate the deployment of technology to meet climate change targets that are being set by Government. In response to the associated Discussion Paper, Maximising the Value of Technology in the Energy Sector, ATSE notes that the Government needs to follow the White Paper with more detailed strategic technology planning."

Innovation: have we got it right yet? (journal article)
by Ron Johnston
from ATSE Focus, June/July 2009
"The evidence presented in the Cutler review indicates that, more than ever, getting innovation right is a pressing matter for the future of the Australian economy. It assembles a range of indicators which show that Australia’s innovation-related performance has declined over the past decade relative to many comparable OECD countries:“Australia has slipped from fifth to eighteenth in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index. Our multi-factor productivity grew 1.4 per cent a year on average between 1982-83 and 1995-96. Growth has averaged only 0.9 per cent a year since then.”"

Changing the game : how video games are transforming the future of business [book]

Authors: Davide Edery & Ethan Mollick

"Reveals how leading-edge organizations are using video games to reach new customers more cost-effectively; to build brands; to recruit, develop, and retain great employees; to drive more effective experimentation and innovation; to supercharge productivity ... in short, to make it fun to do business." - cover.

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Energy Balances of OECD Countries 2009 [online]

Authors: International Energy Agency (IEA) & Organisation for Econcomic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

This volume contains data on the supply and consumption of coal, oil, gas, electricity, heat, renewables and waste presented as comprehensive energy balances expressed in million tonnes of oil equivalent. Complete data are available for 2006 and 2007 and supply estimates are available for the most recent year (i.e.2008). Historical tables summarise production, trade and final consumption data as well as key energy and economic indicators. The book also includes definitions of products and flows, explanatory notes on the individual country data and conversion factors from original units to energy units.

Lies, damned lies, and science : how to sort through the noise around global warming, the latest health claims, and other scientific controversies [book]

Author: Sherry Seethaler

"Reveals how science and health research really work...how to put scientific claims in context and understand the real tradeoffs involved...tell quality research from junk science...discover when someone's deliberately trying to fool you...and find more information you can trust! " - cover.

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Global trends in sustainable energy investment 2009 : analysis of trends and issues in the financing of renewable energy and energy efficiency [online]

Author: United Nations Environment Programme

Provides an overview of capital flows and an analysis of the trends in sustainable energy investment activity.

The price of saving water (journal article)
from OECD Observer Issue 272 April 2009, pp. 19-22
"The article reports on the hesitation of investors regarding water investment amidst financial crisis. It is said that investors hesitate in investing in water because the risks stay high and the revenue from water projects comes from user fees and government subsidies. It is suggested that government must establish regulatory framework to assure investors that water offers the alternative of stable investment return."

WHY BREAK THE HABIT OF A LIFETIME? RETHINKING THE ROLES OF INTENTION, HABIT, AND EMOTION IN CONTINUING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY USE (journal article)
By Ana Ortiz de Guinea and Lynne M. Markus
from MIS Quarterly Vol. 33 Issue 3 Sept 2009, pp. 433-444
"One of the most welcome recent developments in Information Systems scholarship has been the growing interest in individuals' continuing use of information technology well after initial adoption, known in the literature as IT usage, IT continuance, and post-adoptive IT usage. In this essay, we explore the theoretical underpinnings of IS research on continuing IT use. Although the IS literature on continuing IT use emphasizes the role of habitual behavior that does not require conscious behavioral intention, it does so in a way that largely remains faithful to the theoretical tradition of planned behavior and reasoned action. However, a close reading of reference literatures on automatic behavior (behavior that is not consciously controlled) and the influences of emotion on behavior suggests that planned behavior and reasoned action may not provide the best theoretical foundation for the study of continuing IT use. As a result, we call for empirical research that directly compares and contrasts the consensus theory of continuing IT use with rival theories that place much greater emphasis on unplanned and unreasoned action."

INVESTIGATING USER RESISTANCE TO INFORMATION SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION: A STATUS QUO BIAS PERSPECTIVE (journal article)
By Hee-Woong Kim and Atrey Kankanhalli
from MIS Quarterly Vol. 33 Issue 3 Sep 2009. pp. 567-582
"User resistance to information systems implementation has been identified as a salient reason for the failure of new systems and hence needs to be understood and managed. While previous research has explored the reasons for user resistance, there are gaps in our understanding of how users evaluate change related to a new information system and decide to resist it. In particular, missing in the explanation of user decision making is the concept of status quo bias, that is, that user resistance can be due to the bias or preference to stay with the current situation. Motivated thus, this study develops a model to explain user resistance prior to a new IS implementation by integrating the technology acceptance and resistance literatures with the status quo bias perspective. The results of testing the model in the context of a new enterprise system implementation indicate the central role of switching costs in increasing user resistance. Further, switching costs also mediate the relationship between other antecedents (colleague opinion and self-efficacy for change) and user resistance. Additionally, perceived value and organizational support for change are found to reduce user resistance. This research advances the theoretical understanding of user acceptance and resistance prior to a new IS implementation and offers organizations suggestions for managing such resistance."

Peak Oil and Strategic Resource Wars (journal article)
By Roger Howard
from Futurist Vol. 43, Issue 5, Sept/Oct 2009, pp. 18-21
"When the oil fields run dry — and they will — what will happen to the economies of petroleum producers? And what will that mean for the rest of us? The time to consider the potential scenarios and strategies is now."

Ammonia, the Fuel of the Future (journal article)
By J Storrs Hall
from Futurist Vol. 43 Issue 5 Sept/Oct 2009, pp. 10-10
"Hydrogen fuel cells could get a boost from an unexpected source."

Environmental impact assessment in Australia : theory and practice [book]

Authors: Mandy Elliot & Ian Thomas

"Provides a thorough grounding in environmental impact assessment in Australia. Its emphasis is on practical application, how good assessments can lead to better decisions and how politics plays an integral role in EIA. Case studies are included to demonstrate key points." - cover.

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Does E-Government Measure Up to E-Business? Comparing End User Perceptions of U.S. Federal Government and E-Business Web Sites (journal article)
By Forrest V. Morgeson III and Sunil Mithas
from Public Administration Review Vol 69 Issue 4, pp. 740 - 752.
"This paper examines the federal government's success in implementing and providing high-quality service through e-government, something that has received very little attention. We define quality from the perspective of the end users of federal agency Web sites, as measured through customer survey data. Using data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, we compare the performance of federal agency Web sites across a range of relevant variables with a private sector equivalent, e-business Web sites. Our findings suggest that federal e-government Web sites are not yet, in the aggregate, providing the same level of quality as their e-business counterparts. We also find significant variability among federal agencies. We discuss the implications of these findings for e-government performance measurement, performance benchmarking, and the market-centered theories of administrative reform that are driving e-government and similar transformations of government practice."