Many trades, particularly in the building industry, work on a subcontract basis for a primary contractor instead of working as employees. [ + ]

NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe has urged the public not to deal with Charbel Khoury or Switchiton Electrical Services Australia. [ + ]

Clean Energy Week 2014, hosted by the Clean Energy Council, will be held in Sydney from Tuesday 22 July to Friday 25 July. [ + ]

Philips has announced that it will start the process to combine its Lumileds (LED components) and Automotive lighting businesses into a stand-alone company within the Philips Group. [ + ]

Queensland's utility companies, Energex and Ergon Energy, have worked together with the solar PV industry to develop a new Inverter Energy Systems (IES) connection standard, in response to oversupply issues that have arisen for utilities, installers and customers in recent years. [ + ]

An electric heating products company has been recognised by the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame. [ + ]

The ACCC has warned small business owners about false billing scams after the Targeting Scams Report 2013 revealed a 45% increase in complaints. [ + ]

Renewable energy provided 14.76% of Australia's electricity in 2013, enough to power the equivalent of 4.9 million homes, according to The Clean Energy Australia 2013 report. [ + ]

B&R Enclosures has received the 2014 NBN Co Chairman's Award for Supplier Excellence and Innovation. [ + ]

Nominations for the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) Awards will open on 30 June 2014 and close on 4 August 2014. [ + ]

Toshiba Corporation and Toshiba Solutions Corporation have started to demonstrate a home energy monitoring system and community management system (CMS) in Lyon, France. [ + ]

Schneider Electric has launched Asset Connect Services for critical environments including data centres. [ + ]

NECA has just signed up to be a Knowledge Partner in the LJ Hooker-led Liveability initiative. [ + ]

Nichia Corporation has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Australia seeking an injunction to restrain Arrow Electronics from infringing Nichia's patent for LED products. [ + ]

NBN Co has renewed a key contract with Service Stream for the connection of homes and businesses to high-speed broadband. [ + ]