Today (June 5th) is World Environment Day and the theme for 2012 is ‘Green Economy: Does it include you?’

World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly to mark the opening of the 1972 Stockholm Conference. This year marks the 40th anniversary for World Environment Day, since the creation of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1972.

The host country for 2012 is Brazil and world leaders will meet at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) from 20-22 June 2012, twenty years after the historic Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro which was held in 1992. It is described as a Conference at the highest possible level, including Heads of State and Government or other representatives.

Part of a ‘Green Economy’ is looking at energy supply and working towards a way to transition to renewable energy and supporting clean, sustainable energy sources. 2012 has also been declared as International Year of Sustainable Energy for All by the United Nations General Assembly.

Yesterday, we posted comments from Prof. Barry Brook, Director of Climate Science at the Environment Institute, who believes Australia will go nuclear by 2030.

At the Environment Institute and the Institute for Mineral and Energy Resources (IMER), the Centre for Energy Technology (CET) is also doing research into different options for bringing in sustainable and renewable systems.

In the video below, Professor Gus Nathan, Director of the CET, outlines the research being done here at the University of Adelaide and how the CET are developing hybrid models for energy.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo5INbGA1lc&w=560&h=315]