Platform for the latest research
The ARBS seminar program was an ideal platform for the release of new research covering green buildings and indoor air quality.
The keynote speech delivered by green building expert Jerry Yudelson covered research that will form the basis of his next book on how to measure better building design outcomes.
His presentation, entitled The World’s Greenest Buildings: Promise vs. Performance in Sustainable Design, profiled more than 50 case studies of LEED Platinum and six-star buildings.
It was a mix of local and international case studies including the award-winning Pixel building in Melbourne, 1 Bligh Street in Sydney and 2 Victoria Avenue in Perth.
He was followed by NABERS accredited assessor Ania
Hampton, who presented a session on how to design user-friendly passive buildings.
The latest in indoor air quality research was also released on day two by Ashak Nathwani of the University of Sydney’s faculty of architecture, design and planning.
His research dealt with how to reduce energy use without negatively affecting comfort.
“While designers of sustainable buildings need to minimise energy use, they should be wary of compromising on indoor air quality and other factors that affect occupant comfort,” Nathwani said.
For the first time at ARBS there was a panel on the subject of building information modelling (BIM), which is the process of generating and managing building data during its lifecycle.
Beyond 2D blueprints, today there is software that allows 3D modelling of buildings for designers, builders, facilities managers and everyone in between.
The panel presented the benefits of BIM and the pressing need for the development of Australian standards.
Another popular panel session dealt with the introduction of cogeneration and trigeneration systems in commercial buildings.
Cogeneration systems use gas to produce electrical power and heat, while trigeneration systems use gas to produce electrical power, heat and cooling.
These systems offer major economic and environmental benefits by turning otherwise wasted heat into a useful energy source.
However, designing and installing cogeneration/trigeneration systems is a complex area surrounded by legislation, public health and safety requirements and protection of the existing power grid.
With so many parties involved, from building owners, designers, specifiers to equipment manufacturers and installers, clear lines of communication is critical, the panel said.
In addition to green buildings, there were sessions dealing with the development of standards for geothermal heat pumps, MEPS for fans, and a seminar on newer technologies for tradies.
The session for tradies was presented by Stephen Smith of TAFE NSW, who is a former refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic with over 25 years’ teaching experience.
He has supervised the installation, servicing and commissioning of cool rooms and freezer rooms, supermarket merchandising cabinets, milk bar display cabinets and high wall splits and ducted systems.
Not surprisingly, trends in refrigeration was another popular area
of interest for seminar participants, especially the session on risks around hydrocarbons.
Michael Englebright of Danfoss presented a seminar on global CO2 trends and in a separate session, discussed the use of new electronic expansion valves which are starting to make headway in the industry.
Steve Anderson of AREMA presented his viewpoint on the refrigeration levy, which was aptly named Not Learning from History.
Day two ended with a presentation on current trends in clean energy as well as the move from high emission coal power generation to lower emission gas power generation as a result of the new carbon pricing framework.
Decarbonising the grid and the feasibility of distributed energy systems were covered in the session, which was jointly presented by Kriston Symons and Jack Kerlin of AECOM.