ABB has been announced as a winner in the 2012 Banksia Environmental Awards in the Clean Technology - Harnessing Opportunities category for its new sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) gas recycling technology. The technology was developed by an Australian team and has been implemented at ABB’s gas recycling centre at Moorebank, NSW, Australia. [ + ]

The Electrical Trade Union’s claims that Ausgrid has suspended asbestos removal programs are “not correct”, the electricity distributor has said. [ + ]

Master Electricians Australia (MEA) has welcomed the announcement of an inquiry into the school building scheme which has left small contracting businesses millions of dollars out of pocket and driven many to the brink of bankruptcy. [ + ]

VSS Monitoring has been recognised with multiple industry honours in this year’s Fierce Innovation Awards Program, an operator-reviewed awards program from the publishers of FierceWireless, FierceTelecom and FierceCable. [ + ]

Australian cricketing legend Glenn McGrath will be the keynote speaker at the National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA) conference on Langkawi Island in Malaysia in April. [ + ]

The ETU claims to have evidence that shows Ausgrid has documented 49 cases of asbestos-related illness in 22 years. The union group has threatened action if an asbestos removal plan is not developed. [ + ]

Glebe’s Bicentennial Park is the first park in Sydney to have new LED lights installed as part of the City of Sydney’s $7 million three-year rollout of the green technology. [ + ]

The Electrical Trades Union has questioned Endeavour Energy’s policy on asbestos meter boards, claiming that its policy relies on out-of-date workplace safety advice. [ + ]

Mobotix, the world’s largest manufacturer of megapixel network video surveillance systems, has announced the most recent addition to its Australian and New Zealand team. [ + ]

Schneider Electric has announced MIX2012, a power and cooling event for engineers and contractors, scheduled for Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane throughout November. [ + ]

Australians are more concerned about the failure of electricity and water services than disruption to transportation or telecommunications, new research from Unisys shows. [ + ]

Scientists at Stanford University have created the world’s first solar cell constructed entirely of carbon, which they say is a promising alternative to the expensive materials currently used in photovoltaic devices. [ + ]

In partnership with ABB, the first KNX certified training centre in Australia opens at RMIT University, allowing electrical technicians and undergraduates to study this open-architecture building control system. [ + ]

The National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA) is calling on the NSW Government to protect electrical and communications contractors caught up in the alarming amount of insolvencies that have been occurring in the state’s construction industry recently. [ + ]

ABB has secured a $29 million order for integrated power and control for site conveyor systems that will ensure reliable, energy-efficient performance to speed transport of coal to end customers in Asia. [ + ]