ETC Research & Projects

The ETC's research program includes projects in the areas of water, food, energy, shelter, and material resources, with an emphasis on the interactions between these areas.

Learn more about the four main areas of our research

| Food | Water | Energy | Construction |

Current projects include research into:

• appropriate sustainable technology for developing countries (eg. Indonesia);
• desalination by reverse osmosis using solar energy;
• processes for testing the quality of drinking water;
• removal of nutrients from sewage effluent;
• water conservation;
• production of high quality art paper by recycling waste paper;
• bush products and revegetation techniques via ethnobotanical analysis;
• waste water treatment by wet composting.

The research program has two elements: basic research initiated and conducted at ETC by staff; and research collaboration with industry and other organisations. The ETC has a strong track record of research and development collaboration with industry. Many of the ETC's industry partners are small to medium sized local companies who have provided research and development funding and collaborated to commercialise the results of research projects. A number of these projects have resulted in new products and services. These include:

• the SOLARFLOW solar-powered reverse-osmosis desalination unit, now under manufacture by Venco Products;
• an evapotranspiration wastewater disposal system, now widely used by remote communities in WA; and
• an on-site bacteriological water quality test kit, presently being trialled by thirty communities.

The etc is a partner of the following Australian Cooperative Research Centres:

Desert Knowledge CRC
Sustainable Tourism CRC
Environmental Biotechnology CRC

Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) bring together researchers and research users in industry, universities and government to carry out collaborative research in new, cross disciplinary areas. They apply the results for the benefit of their participants, and the Australian economy. CRCs receive about 25% of their funding from the Australian Government thus significantly leveraging industry research funds. At present there are about 65 CRCs researching fields as diverse as agriculture, mining, health, the environment and information technology.