Simon Wild

Will we achieve sustainable development – survey says yes!

The results of the quick 3 question survey are in. The survey asked – is what we are doing sustainable and would we ever achieve true sustainable development.

The survey was done partly online and partly face to face on mobile. In total there were 31 respondents, with 10 people answering anonymously online.

Here are the questions, answers and my commentary.

So a resounding 65% believe that…

How can we address the demographics of climate change?

On Tuesday I wrote about how our changing demographics could reduce our per person carbon emissions by 20% by 2060 but our increasing population will wipe out the per person benefits creating a two fold increase in carbon emissions if we do nothing. But this demographic analysis of carbon emissions highlights an interesting fact – the greatest emitters in 2061 will be the 55-65 year olds. So what…

Will our aging population save us from climate change?

Harry Dent visited our Australian shores recently and was espousing that our aging population in Australia would cause a housing bubble to happen in the next 1-2 years. The premise being that when the baby boomers come to sell off their houses in retirement there aren’t enough Gen Xers or Millennials to buy them – low demand, high supply therefore price drop.

Which got me thinking, what impact…

Australia’s worsening fuel security risk – how will you cope?

I wrote this original story about 6 months ago that focused on the liquid fuel security risk report by the NRMA. With the announcement by BP that they will be closing their Brisbane refinery the predictions by NRMA are starting to come true. The closure of the Brisbane refinery reduces Australia’s domestic liquid fuel production to about 45% of demand, with the majority of liquid fuel imports…

Is it better to store rainwater in offices or just use mains?

Rainwater and water of any kind is a precious commodity. We are being encouraged to store rainwater in office buildings by various industry bodies and government. But the question is – from an ecological perspective is it better to store rainwater in tanks and reuse within an office for toilet flushing or is it better to let the rainwater flow to the local catchment and be recovered as part of…

What impact will impact investing have on your building?

Impact investing requires a positive social and ecological return alongside a financial return, its a growing trend with a potential market size of $500 billion, its coming and will impact the property market. The question for property owners and developers is – what impact will Impact Investing have on your assets? And how will you respond?

My article on Tuesday explored the background of impact…

Does your building have Impact?

There is a new trend in investment markets called ‘Impact Investing’. Impact investing requires a positive social and ecological return alongside a financial return. The question for property is – what impact will Impact Investing have on your assets? And how will you respond?

The first of two posts explores the recent trend of Impact Investing and the second will answer the question of what…

3 question survey about sustainable development

A very quick survey, I promise it should take less than 30 seconds and I will post the survey results next week.

Paraphrasing from Eric Lowitt’s recent book ‘if all buildings were green buildings, would we achieve a state of sustainable development?’ My answer would be no. So then the question is “what would enable the world to achieve a state of sustainable development?” and “can we acheive…

The collaborative economy promises to disrupt the conventional marketplace

A great quote from a recent article on Harvard Business Review called “Established Companies, Get Ready for the Collaborative Economy”. The question is are you ready for the disruption?

The HBR article offers some insight into what they believe are the core drivers for the collaborative economy. Below are a summary of the four key drivers together with my views on how the property industry can…

Companies that collaborate will ride on rocket powered roller skates

Collaboration will drive success in your company over the next 5 years. You will have to collaborate with your competitors, with your supply chain, with Government, with NFPs and with companies and people who aren’t even on your radar.

The companies that get it right will be riding on rocket powered roller skates, those that don’t will be left behind. Do you have Collaboration for Impact…

Interesting article in Grist about a new piece of research from Pew that has found that being an environmentalist is at an all time low. Which is kind of in line with other trends that we are seeing in the world. So here are some opinions from others, some thoughts of my own and some take home hopes.

First some opinions of others.

A friend and believer in the industry “Sustainability seems to be…

4 fold increase in Qantas fuel price and we need a second airport in Sydney?

There is a lot of press at the moment about whether the carbon tax is a significant influence on the financial performance of Qantas and Virgin Australia. It’s a good distraction from the elephant in the room – fuel price.

The peak oilists seem to have gone quiet in recent years but I did come across this one recently via flipboard crudeoilpeak.infoand their fascinating and Qantas data filled…

We Are Alone! Climate Change Laws Span The World

There was a great article in Forbes magazine recently called “We Are Not Alone. Climate Change Laws Span The World”. But unfortunately the ‘we’ refers to the US not Australia. In Australia we are alone. And it will put us in a competitive disadvantage. Here’s why.

Let’s start with the article. The main gist is that American’s aren’t alone in the creation of national or state level climate change…

Growth or progress – that is the question.

We are in interesting times again. The bulls are claiming a restart of growth, there is a prediction of 2% global GDP growth in 2014 and the talk around town is 2014 is the start of the next 5 years of growth. But we have many (non-australian) political leaders around the world stating climate change as one of our biggest risks in the near future. It creates an interesting dilemma for all of us.…

Reblogged from Wild About Sustainability:

An article from Entrepreneur Magazine talked about the impact of setting personal and business goals versus systems and targets but it started me to question the effectiveness of focusing on goals and targets…

3 lessons from entrepreneurs that will help save the world @impacthackers @EntMagazine #impacthacking #sustainability

10 Sustainable Business Stories Too Important to Miss from HBR

A great article on the 10 sustainable business stories from 2013 from Harvard Business Review. For…