There was an impressive line-up of speakers featured in the ARBS seminar program this year, which explains why so many sessions were completely booked out. When it came to the more controversial topics such as the refrigerant levy it was standing room only. Following are highlights from day one.
The first consultation report into Australia’s National Occupational Licensing System (NOLS) will be released later this month for public feedback.
Industry groups such as the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Contractors Association (RACCA) are keen to see the release of the regulatory impact statement (RIS) which will provide a draft framework for the implementation of NOLS on July 1, 2013.
NOLS was initially set to begin next month but the complexities of establishing a national licensing scheme has led to a 12-month delay.
An updated timeline for NOLS was presented at ARBS by Julie Yeend, senior executive of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and assistant secretary of the COAG national licensing taskforce.
The National Occupational Licensing Authority (NOLA), which will oversee the implementation of NOLS, is fully operational. Yeend confirmed that Sydney headquarters are currently being established.
With the release of the RIS, Yeend said NOLA can commence its national consultation program in each capital city in the second half of 2012.
She said this will form the basis for the release of a draft framework by the end of the year.
“The bill will go before Parliament in early 2013,” she said.
Yeend admitted that licensing is a “heavy handed and blunt instrument” compared to industry self-regulation but said it was necessary for a national system to be effective.
“A key concern is the quality of training from one state to another and ensuring that standards are being met,” she said.
“The method of delivery for training and how the license will be structured is also being debated.”
All license holders will be placed on a public register but NOLA is yet to announce who will be responsible for the database.
Yeend said consumers will be better protected under the new system because disciplinary action taken against a licence holder will be recorded on the register.
She said each state and territory will be responsible for providing information for the register and keeping it up to date.
In addition to keeping participants abreast of the latest industry developments, the ARBS program featured a number of case studies including a solar-powered absorption chiller cooling system at Ipswich Hospital in Queensland.
Presented by Harry Barron, technical services coordinator of the West Moreton health services district, the project is the first of its kind in Australia using solar radiation as its primary source of energy.
On the subject of heat collection, Barron said the system uses an open primary circuit that uses hot oil as the heat transfer medium.
The solar field, which is located on the roof of a fully operational car park, covers an area of 920m2, has a 255kW thermal capacity with temperatures reaching up to 175°C.
For heat distribution there is a 160m oil pipe, 450m hot water pipe, 60m chilled water pipe and 75m condenser water pipe. It is supported by a 5000-litre hot water storage tank and an absorption chiller with a 290kWr output rating. Barron measured the performance of the system over 143 days and found that over a period of 6.2 hours, the average daily heat collected is 559.4 kWh and the thermal collection is 92.8 MWh per annum or 36.3 MWh over five months.
He said energy savings over traditional chillers is 4500 kWh (47 per cent) in five months.
“The cooling system used about half the electrical energy of a conventional chiller,” Barron said.