A lot of people who work in the data centre industry have allowed themselves to develop a bad habit - they think like real estate agents. But this bad habit can be broken, and we don’t need nicotine patches or hypnosis to do so. All we need is to do stop thinking about data centres in real estate terms.

‘Being green’ is a catch-phrase everyone seems to use these days. But it means different things to different people, depending on what’s important to them. ‘Earth Hour’ involves turning off lights to highlight electricity wastage; the automotive industry wants to curb the amount of pollution from cars on the road; while the waste industry wants us to recycle more and put less into landfill. But what does it mostly mean to the electrical industry?

Commercial property is in a particularly tough place these days - not only is it suffering as a whole from the downturn in the economy, but radical changes are being asked of the industry in how it develops and manages property and how it measures success. Among those requested changes are calls for more energy efficiency, given that commercial buildings typically consume 40+% of Australia’s energy output, which emits significant volumes of CO₂.

Regulatory impact statements (RIS) published with new regulations in Australia generally state that mandatory changes of any kind are carefully scrutinised before they are imposed, to minimise their impost on both industry and the community. That situation is true with regard to electrical regulations, where most mandated requirements revolve around electrical safety. Few mandatory energy-efficiency regulations are enforced upon us.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) specialises in developing and manufacturing computing, data storage and networking hardware, designing software and delivering services. According to Brian Gregory, the HP Networking Account Manager for Qld and NT Universities, the ANZ University community, led by CAUDIT, wished to carry out a proof of concept that would confirm the suitability of HP networking equipment to be used within a university campus LAN environment. The tests to be carried out were determined by a collective of IT engineers across a number of universities with multiple protocols, as well as performance, due to capacity expansion upwards of 10 GB.

The European Parliament completed its first reading of the draft of RoHS II in November 2010 and the publication of the directive is expected in the first half of 2011.

A report on energy management identified Queensland as the state with the greatest number of power outages in 2010.

Lighting forms a significant factor in the correct assessment and treatment of patients in hospitals.

The latest greenhouse and energy data has been published by the federal government.

Cutbacks are irrational during financially stressful periods as they only amplify skill shortages when conditions return to normal, which in turn hinders recovery. Much of Australia’s business community is now experiencing that costly scenario, as it endeavours to attract quality safety professionals, among other skilled personnel, to their businesses.

Australian Industry Group welcomes the government’s positive response to the National Resources Sector Employment Taskforce.

NECA agrees with the coroner who finds that the tragic death of a child could have been prevented if a wet extension cord had had a safety switch installed.

The Randwick Labor Club, in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs, provides social and entertainment facilities for the local community.

Tamworth’s boutique shopping centre, The Atrium, recently installed Philips Lighting’s latest LED lighting technology, LuxSpace Compact Power LED downlight throughout its mall.

With the promise of a robust and broad range of next-generation networking offerings, the awareness of cloud computing’s advantages is widely acknowledged.