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Category: News
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NSW offers preview of incoming fire safety schedule
The NSW government has shared an advance copy of the fire safety schedule template, due to start on August 1, 2023. The new schedule is one of a raft of reforms that respond to recommendations in the report on improving fire safety in new and existing buildings, developed by the Office of the Building Commissioner. […]
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ATO advises employers to check super obligations
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is encouraging employers in the construction industry to check they are up to date with their super obligations by the next quarterly due date to avoid additional costs and penalties. When employers don’t meet their super guarantee obligations, by paying late, not paying in full or paying to the wrong […]
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Danfoss opens ‘future supermarket’ in Denmark
Danfoss has announced the opening of a new flagship supermarket that it expects to be about 50 per cent more energy efficient compared to a typical supermarket, with a first-generation CO2 refrigeration system. The new “Smart Store” in Nordborg, Denmark, will work as a functioning supermarket and a development test centre for energy efficiency technology. […]
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Inaugural Women in Cooling competition winner named
Léana Khaled Payan, a refrigeration engineer with Axima Refrigeration in France, has been named as the winner of the first European Women in Cooling Video Competition. The competition, organised by European contractors group AREA and World Refrigeration Day, was designed to highlight women exhibiting best practice and innovative thinking in their work. The organisers asked that entrants […]
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ASHRAE approves infectious aerosol control standard
ASHRAE has announced the approval for publication of its airborne infection risk mitigation standard for buildings. ASHRAE Standard 241 Control of Infectious Aerosols establishes minimum requirements to reduce the risk of disease transmission by exposure to infectious aerosols in new buildings, existing buildings, and major renovations. The standard has been developed to reduce exposure to […]
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New nationally recognised training on fire safety
Superior Training Centre (STC) and AIRAH have launched a new nationally recognised training program on fire safety. Inspect, Test, and Repair Fire and Smoke Control Features of Mechanical Services Systems (UEERA0098) is aimed at fire safety professionals working in the HVAC&R industry. “Fire and smoke control features are critical components of building safety,” says AIRAH […]
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Southern hemisphere clocks warmest month on record
April 2023 was the southern hemisphere’s hottest month on record, beating the previous record set in March 2016 by 0.06°C. The record passed almost without comment or substantial media coverage, such is the level of desensitisation of a rapidly heating planet. April also happened to be the fourth hottest April globally since modern recordkeeping began […]
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Earthquake raises questions about seismic resilience
The recent earthquake in Melbourne, measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale, did not cause major structural damage. But it did raise questions about whether our building services are equipped to handle such events. A fortunate outcome According to Victoria’s SES State Commander David Baker, his crew received only three calls for help following the quake. […]
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Elastocaloric cooling a system for the future
University of Maryland researchers in the US have developed a high-performance elastocaloric cooling system they say could herald the next generation of cooling devices. Eight years in the making, the prototype system relies on pushing and pulling pieces of metal to create cooling, rather than using a refrigerant circuit containing a working fluid. Caloric materials […]
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Victoria delays energy efficiency provisions
The Victorian government has confirmed that it will delay the adoption of key provisions in the National Construction Code until May 2024. Victoria has extended the transitional arrangements for updated energy efficiency, condensation mitigation requirements, and liveable housing requirements. This includes the lifting of minimum energy efficiency requirements for new homes from 6 to 7 […]
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Federal funding for community energy upgrades
The federal government has announced $100 million in funding to deliver energy upgrades for community facilities such as local pools, sporting clubs and community centres. The assistance is aimed at helping councils cut their emissions and reduce their energy bills. “The new $100 million Community Energy Upgrades Fund will co-fund upgrades with councils and has […]
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Governments eye crucial decade for energy efficiency
Australia is among 45 countries to have endorsed the goal of doubling the average global rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030. In a ministerial statement released after the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 8th Global Conference on Energy Efficiency in Versailles, France, governments from across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe highlighted the critical role […]
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Australia to ban high-GWP refrigerants in small AC
The Australian federal government intends to implement restrictions on small air conditioning equipment with high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerant. From July 1, 2024, Australia will ban the import and manufacture of small air conditioning equipment using refrigerant with a GWP over 750. This ban will apply to equipment with up to 2.6kg refrigerant charge […]
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Free vehicle registration for Victorian apprentices
The Victorian government has announced it will make vehicle registration free for eligible apprentices from July 2023. The $10 million initiative, included in the Victorian Budget 2023/24, will provide free registration to apprentices if their employer can verify that their vehicle is an essential part of their work. Apprentices who need their car for work […]
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Professor Morawska wins Women in Science award
The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has announced that world-leading air quality expert and Distinguished Professor Lidia Morawska has received the prestigious 2023 L’Oréal–UNESCO for Women in Science Award for Asia and the Pacific. An Australian Laureate Fellow, Australian Academy of Science Fellow, and Director of the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Prof. Morawska is one […]
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Daikin cuts ribbon on Melbourne warehousing facility
Daikin Australia has officially opened its new Daikin Park Melbourne facility in Truganina with a ceremony attended by Daikin dealers and key business partners involved in the development of the site. The warehouse facility of 13,603m2 has been built as a comprehensive logistics solution for Daikin Australia to optimise fulfilment and dispatch operations for finished […]
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Pushing the private sector on sustainable cooling
The Environmental Investigation Agency US (EIA US) has released a new report calling for private sector commitments on cooling to be meaningful enough to tackle the climate crisis. EIA US says the suite of government contributions to curb greenhouse gas emissions alone are not enough to put the world on a path to limit warming to […]
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Vale Graham Boyle
Graham Boyle, L.AIRAH, a highly respected educator and advocate for Australia’s HVAC&R industry, has passed away after a battle with illness. WA-based Boyle began teaching refrigeration and air conditioning at Perth Technical College in 1980 and eventually became Portfolio Manager at South Metropolitan TAFE (previously Polytechnic West) in 2009. He was the author of the […]
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NCC energy efficiency improvements put on hold?
The Victorian government has announced that some requirements in the National Construction Code that were due to come into effect in October 2023 may be delayed, including those around energy efficiency. In 2022, industry stakeholders advocated strongly to lift the minimum energy efficiency requirements for new homes from 6 to 7 NatHERS stars – the […]
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Dyson offers personal air purification
Dyson has released a new product, the Dyson Zone, which combines noise-cancelling headphones with personal air purification. Inventor of the bagless vacuum, a fanless fan and efficient hand dryers, Dyson described the evolution of the product as the biggest challenge its engineers have ever tackled. “The Dyson Zone is a set of noise-cancelling, high-fidelity over-ear […]