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Coates launches HVAC hire service
Australian equipment hire and solutions provider Coates has expanded its offering with the launch of Coates Power & HVAC. Coates says it is responding to customer demand by providing “smart, innovative and seamless temporary air, power, climate and process cooling solutions for myriad uses to companies across Australia”. “Coates Power & HVAC will help keep an organisation’s operations […]
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Time to close the natural ventilation loophole
How to improve indoor air quality in Australia’s public spaces? Experts from diverse disciplines have put forward various answers to this question. One solution, flagged by mechanical engineers long before the pandemic, remains frustratingly obvious for those in the HVAC&R industry: revisiting the provisions for natural ventilation in the National Construction Code (NCC). According to […]
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Pathway for procurement in green construction
The Australian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC) has published a best practice guide for procurement to support more sustainable construction. The Pathway to Green Construction Procurement sets out the documentation and decision-making processes required by government officials to realise green construction of government infrastructure assets. It includes the full range of environmental sustainability impact factors […]
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Big names gather to ‘change the air’
The Change the Air Foundation in the US is holding its first annual summit on Monday, September 18, with high-profile speakers including Gwyneth Paltrow, Dr Deepak Chopra and Dr Will Cole. The goal of the event is to raise awareness around the importance of indoor air quality and provide actionable ideas and suggestions that will […]
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Daikin opens high-tech centre in Adelaide
Daikin Australia has officially opened a new state-of-the-art facility in Adelaide, South Australia. The opening ceremony was attended by Daikin dealers and key business partners involved in the development of the site. Daikin’s South Australia State Manager Matthew Tonkin; Daikin Australia Director – HR, Corporate Affairs and Service, Ian Hurley, Affil.AIRAH; and General Manager – […]
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Master Plumbers condemns gas bans
The Master Plumbers Association (MPA) of New South Wales has criticised the City of Sydney, the City of Parramatta and other local government areas (LGAs) proposing a ban on implementing gas in new builds in the state. “This move demonstrates a clear lack of consideration for its impact on essential services, such as heating, hot […]
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Reimagining a climate resilient built environment
Cundall is holding an online panel discussion on Monday, September 11 to mark World Green Building Week 2023. The discussion, titled Reimagining a Climate Resilient Built Environment, is Cundall’s response to the urgent calls in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Synthesis report released in April 2023, and will focus on how to […]
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Infrastructure and the path to net zero
Ten industry bodies have joined forced to co-ordinate, collaborate and report on Australian infrastructure’s pathway to net zero. The Infrastructure Net Zero collaboration will share the responsibility of decarbonisation, and look at methods to combine the time, effort and expertise to develop initiatives to drive change. It will be led by a steering committee with […]
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Shipping container opens doors for cooling
Researchers from Washington State University (WSU) have created a test chamber within a shipping container to trial passive cooling systems. The project aims to help researchers and builders test carbon-free systems in a controlled environment, such as using wind towers or water evaporation instead of electricity to cool spaces. Lead author of the study and […]
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On butterfly wings: new nanofilms reflect light
Researchers from Shenzhen University in China have created a new nanofilm inspired by the structures in butterfly wings that could significantly reduce the energy needed for cooling buildings or vehicles. In a recent paper published in Science Daily, researchers explained how the new films avoid the heating effect usually experienced by coloured objects absorbing light on […]
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Winners are grinners at WorldSkills Nationals
The WorldSkills Australia National Championships were held in Melbourne over the weekend, with 470 competitors from around Australia vying for medals in different areas of vocational education and training (VET). The aim of the event is to get young Australians excited about skills and trades and growing Australia’s skills culture. It’s also about building the […]
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CO2 scholarship program open for applications
The Kirby Apprentice Fund has opened applications for the CO2 Training Scholarship program to fourth-year HVAC&R industry apprentices. The scholarship includes a two-day CO2 systems training experience, including: CO2 safety and CO2 repair and service systems training (held at the Sydney-based Beijer Ref Training Academy) Australian Refrigeration Council Green Scheme Accreditation, upon successful completion of […]
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Engineers Australia embarks on European tour
Engineers Australia’s CEO Romilly Madew and Board Chair Nick Fleming are travelling to Europe in August and September with the goal of strengthening international relations. The pair will begin the tour in Denmark, then travel on to London and Dublin. The purpose of the trip is to strengthen their post-COVID relationships and connect with overseas […]
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MECLA Spotlight on Scope 3 emissions
The Materials & Embodied Carbon Leaders’ Alliance (MECLA) is holding a Spotlight on Mapping Scope 3 Emissions in the Built Environment on Thursday, August 24. “The Greenhouse Gas Protocol provides standards, guidance, tools and training for businesses and government to measure and manage emissions across all parts of an organisation’s greenhouse footprint,” says MECLA. “However, […]
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International Passive House Conference calls for papers
Slated for April 2024 in Innsbruck in Austria, the 27th International Passive House Conference is calling for papers. Recognising the role of existing buildings in the world’s attempts to limit the impacts of climate change, the conference’s theme is, “Retrofit. Have an impact”. The conference is slated for April 5–6 at the Campus Technik of […]
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Students design a sustainable future
ASHRAE has announced the winners of the 2023 Student Design Competition and the Setty Family Foundation Applied Engineering Challenge. Students were challenged to design the HVAC system for a laboratory facility located in Cairo, Egypt, for the 2023 Student Design Competition. This consisted of a large single-story building with a rooftop penthouse equalling about 2,515m2. The teams were […]
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NABERS talks emissions factors for embodied carbon
NABERS is holding a webinar about emission factors for its much-anticipated embodied carbon tool on Wednesday, August 30. Australia currently has no consistent method of measurement for embodied emissions. NABERS has worked in partnership with the Green Building Council of Australia and collaborated with industry and governments across Australia to understand the appetite for a […]
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High hopes for freeze ray technology
An unusual discovery by a University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science professor is being developed as an on-demand cooling solution for high-flying military electronics. Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Patrick Hopkins wants to create on-demand surface cooling for electronics inside spacecraft and high-altitude jets because “a lot of electronics on board heat […]
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States move ahead on road to registration
It may have taken some time since the recommendations originally appeared at the top of the priority list in the 2018 Building Confidence report, but professional registration schemes are now spreading quickly across the country, and establishing new rules to lift standards in Australia’s building and construction industry. Practice Standard in New South Wales This […]
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Highlighting the ‘health’ in OH&S
Although the concept of occupational health and safety (OH&S) is enshrined in our laws and even our culture, how much of the focus is on immediate safety issues, rather than health and wellbeing? This question is at the heart of a new book by Helen Lingard and Michelle Turner, both professors at The Centre for […]