In Australia’s middle and outer suburbs, rooftop solar technology provides a clear way to reduce the emissions from the energy our houses use. But higher density housing types (apartments and medium density housing) do not lend themselves to rooftop solar at the scale needed to make a difference to household energy and carbon budgets. So...

More then ever, we are awash in information. With the advent of the internet, search engines and now more than two billion people wired users globally, information “has become the modern era’s defining quality, the blood, the fuel, the vital principle of our world”, writes author James Gleick: We are all patrons of the Library...

Welcome to the CBD. Take a look at all the glass masonry and asphalt. The streets are canyons. Apart from a tree in the footpath, or a Peregrine Falcon way overhead, there’s little nature to be seen. Nature is absent in these landscapes, or more correctly “hardscapes”. This runs counter to the trend to put...

Welcome to Shades of Grey, a series from The Conversation that examines the challenges posed by Australia’s ageing workforce. Today, Adjunct Associate Professor Margaret Patrickson from the University of South Australia takes a look at the underlying desires and expectations of our older workers. Though much has been written about the issues that arise from...

The facts of Australia’s ageing population are stark: around 13.5% are currently aged 65 and over, but by 2050 this age group will make up almost 23% of the population. There will be just 2.7 people of working age (15-64) compared to five now, for each Australian aged 65 years and over. Taxation, social spending...