In the Land Down Under, a concrete producer named the Elvin Group recently became the first company in the city of Canberra to be awarded a grant by the federal government to install a solar array. It is receiving $90,945 from carbon tax revenue and is spending another $90,000 of its own funds to install the solar panels, part of what it calls the greening of its business.

The installation is significant - 55 kilowatt - and sits on a warehouse roof at the company's Mitchell site. ''We're trying to do things better in many aspects of our business, including environmentally,'' said Managing Director Barry Innes. ''The array will save us money, but what we're really trying to do is to come up with a more environmentally friendly product."