Sustainability

This archive tracks real progress on sustainability — from clean energy adoption and circular economy breakthroughs to policy wins and community-led conservation efforts. Each story focuses on what’s working, where, and why it matters for the long-term health of people and the planet.

Solar panels on a brick house roof under blue sky, England rooftop solar mandate

Australia’s households install record 3.5 million panels in 2017

Rooftop solar in Australia hit a stunning new high in 2017, with homeowners, schools, and small businesses installing roughly 9,500 panels every single day. The country added 1,057 megawatts of small-scale solar capacity in a single year — enough to rival a medium-sized coal plant, but spread across millions of ordinary rooftops. Average system sizes doubled compared to five years earlier, as falling prices turned solar from a niche eco-choice into a practical way for households to take charge of their power bills. It’s a hopeful reminder that the energy transition isn’t only happening in distant policy rooms or massive infrastructure projects — sometimes it’s being built one sunny rooftop at a time.