ETC Mission Statement
The Centre’s mission is to carry out research, development and diffusion of sustainable technology with industry and communities worldwide, with a unique focus on small-scale systems for urban, rural and remote communities.

Sustainable Competitive Advantage
The Centre’s sustainable competitive advantage is its status as an established leader in the field of small scale, integrated environmentally sustainable technologies appropriate to remote and developing communities, sustained by its community support network and strong links to the international environmental technology field and to the small to medium enterprises which constitute the environment industry in Western Australia.

Profile
The Environmental Technology Centre (ETC) is a Centre of Excellence for Industry focussed Research & Development in Environmental Technology. It receives recognition and funding from the Western Australia Department of Commerce and Trade for this particular purpose. The ETC is a Partner Centre for the Asia Pacific region of the United Nations Environment Programme International Environmental Technology Centre. The aim of the ETC is to research, develop and demonstrate environmental technologies, conduct education and training, provide consultancy services to industry, and raise community awareness of environmental technologies. Its facilities are open to industries wishing to test and monitor products within the university infrastructure.

The ETC occupies a 1.7 hectare site on the Murdoch University campus at which over fifty environmental technologies have been combined to form an integrated operating demonstration system. The technologies used and researched at the site include climate-sensible buildings, renewable energy systems for power supply and water pumping, aquaculture systems, organic waste management, and permaculture. The integrated approach allows research to be carried out on the important interactions between different technologies, rather than just the effect of a single technology. This gives the ETC a considerable advantage over other research institutions which focus on single technologies in relative isolation.

The ETC is able to offer holistic and flexible solutions to human needs. The ETC's focus is on small-scale environmental technologies, which are low cost, robust, efficient, and easy to operate and maintain. The aim of this is to maximise the opportunities for user communities to "own" the technology, resulting in greater and more sustained uptake of the technology, higher levels of community awareness and involvement, and ultimately a more successful operation. This approach is highly applicable to communities in developing countries, as well as to urban communities worldwide, particularly when applied in collaboration with industry and government.