Major construction projects in Queensland are predicted to decline by more than $7.5 billion, the President of the Queensland Major Contractors Association has said. [ + ]

Australian-produced ChargeIQ electric vehicle charger has been given the ‘green light’ by a Victorian Electric Vehicle Trial participant, with the innovation receiving high points for user friendliness, flexibility, cost savings and sustainability. [ + ]

AusGrid is inviting interested parties to the latest Smart Grid, Smart City seminar, for an update on the Rooftop Solar Trial. [ + ]

Energy Efficiency Council members have elected two new directors, Rob Thomson, Group General Manager at Energetics and Paul Troughton, Manager of Regulatory Affairs at EnerNOC. [ + ]

Master Electricians Australia has called on insurance companies to “buy local” when they are sourcing contractors for flood repair work in Bundaberg and other parts of regional Queensland. [ + ]

Robotic technology from Oxford University that enables a car to ‘drive itself’ for stretches of a route has been shown driving a Nissan Leaf electric car. The new car gives a glimpse of what the driver’s experience of an auto drive-enabled car of the future might be like: the technology is controlled from an iPad on the dashboard that flashes up a prompt offering the driver the option of the car taking over for a portion of a familiar route - touching the screen then switches to ‘auto drive’ where the robotic system takes over. [ + ]

EMSc (UK) Ltd, manufacturer of the Powerstar voltage optimisation system, recently hosted Arthur Savidis, newly appointed sales engineer to the companies Australia branch - EMSc (Australia) Pty Ltd. [ + ]

New rules for the safe installation of optical fibre communications in customer premises are part of a revised Australian Standard for telecommunications wiring published by Communications Alliance. [ + ]

TMC, a global integrated media company, has awarded VSS Monitoring’s vBroker Series of Network Packet Brokers as a 2012 Internet Telephony Product of the Year. [ + ]

The Lightmoves Group of companies, which includes Lightmoves, Resolution X, Balanced Technology and Browns Precision Welding, is pleased to announce that they have successfully completed the acquisition of the stock, assets and hire assets of Lots of Watts (LOW), which is now trading as Lots of Watts Australia. [ + ]

The myth of the noisy wind farm has finally been put to rest, with the South Australian EPA releasing a report showing that wind turbines produce less infrasound than air conditioners and traffic. [ + ]

A line-up of internationally and nationally renowned experts in lighting design, education, research and architecture are speakers at the SPARC International Lighting Event 2013 to be held in Sydney in June. [ + ]

A new Deloitte Access Economics report highlights the vital role played by mobile telecommunications in lifting Australia’s productivity performance and estimates a boost of nearly $12 billion to the economy from current developments by 2025. [ + ]

Harting China has received a Business Innovator award in Shanghai, recognising outstanding contribution in product and technology innovation. [ + ]

Approximately 50 systems integrator customers, architects and specifiers gathered for the world launch of Clipsal by Schneider Electric’s new C-Bus lighting control eDLT switch in Adelaide earlier this month. [ + ]