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Tag: Slider
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Positive signs on World Ozone Day
Australia has marked World Ozone Day with encouraging news about the shrinking bank of ozone-depleting refrigerants in the country. According to the Australian Refrigeration Council (ARC), ozone-depleting gases now make up less than 5 per cent of Australia’s refrigerant bank. World Ozone Day on September 16 celebrates the anniversary of the Montreal Protocol. The theme […]
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Time to prepare cooling centres in Australia?
Heatwaves with record-setting peaks, duration, and timing are becoming more and more familiar around the world. Last week, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service declared that June–August – the northern hemisphere summer – was the hottest such period since records began in 1940, topping the previous record by a significant margin. In Phoenix, Arizona, […]
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Pilot program for women in construction
The Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), with assistance from the NSW government’s Women in Construction Industry Innovation Program (IIP) grant, has launched the ASBEC Women in Construction Future Leaders Pilot. The pilot seeks to promote gender diversity within the construction sector to create lasting transformative change. “Increasing leadership and participation of women in Australia’s […]
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R U OK?Day 2023
The R U OK? foundation is calling on tradespeople to support their workmates and loved ones on Thursday, September 14, by letting them know: “I’m here to hear”. R U OK? has a dedicated resource called “Tradies Tools to Talk” that provides practical tools and tips for family, friends, and workmates. It can help people […]
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ARBS seeks speakers for 2024 seminar program
Speaker nominations are currently open for ARBS 2024, Australia largest exhibition for the HVAC&R and building services industry. The event is set to take place at the ICC Sydney from May 28––30, 2024. The seminar program will focus on providing industry-wide updates and fostering discussions on a wide array of topics, from best practices and […]
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Winners shine at WA Awards
Western Australia celebrated the achievements in the refrigeration and air conditioning industry on Wednesday, August 30. Hosted by AIRAH, South Metropolitan TAFE and the Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Industry Association of WA (RACIAWA), the two-hour cocktail event was held at the Novotel Langley in Perth. Over 80 attendees gathered to celebrate the future talent of the […]
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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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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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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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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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Supermarkets hold the key to a cool future
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is working with Enel X to launch “Unlocking Flexible Demand in the Commercial Refrigeration Sector”, a program that will assist with integrating renewable energy sources into electricity networks. ARENA has granted Enel X $3.7 million in funding to demonstrate how the flexible demand systems can work in the commercial […]
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Getting warmer on solid-state heat pumps
Scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics (IAF) have made a breakthrough in refrigerant-free heating and cooling technology: a circuit topology for voltage converters with an electrical efficiency of 99.74 per cent. According to the AIF, the technology could considerably raise the coefficient of performance for electrocaloric heat pumps and the scientists […]
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Government survey on pair coil issues
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is conducting a survey to investigate issues with pair coil. There have been reports of ant nesting and corrosion problems with pair coils, resulting in the leaking of refrigerant. DCCEEW notes that under consumer guarantee law this issue could be costing businesses time and […]
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Momentum building on IAQ
The push for improving indoor air quality in Australia appears to be gaining traction. At recent industry conferences, within large Australian research projects, and this week at a roundtable event at Parliament House, leaders from a wide range of sectors are joining forces to advocate for action. At AIRAH’s recent IAQ Conference held over two […]
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Victoria bans gas in new homes from 2024
The Victorian government has added major momentum to the electrification movement with the announcement that it is banning gas connections to new homes from next year. New homes and residential subdivisions that require a planning permit cannot connect to the gas network from January 2024. This will apply to new planning permit applications submitted from […]
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Melbourne brewery completes heat pump upgrade
Melbourne brewer 3 Ravens has completed an award-winning energy upgrade to its Thornbury brewing facility that will enable it to ramp up production by up to four times current levels without increasing its energy consumption. In addition to upgrading the building fabric and installing 74kW of solar panels and a “cool roof”, the brewery has installed a […]
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Queensland NCC stance highlights ‘patchwork’ problem
Queensland has confirmed that it will maintain the original timetable for adopting improved energy efficiency, condensation management and livable housing provisions in NCC 2022. Although industry stakeholders have applauded the decision, they have also raised concerns about delays in other jurisdictions, and the inconsistent implementation of what is intended to be a national code to […]
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Net zero plan for Australia’s built environment
The federal government has confirmed that it will develop decarbonisation plans for different sectors – including a specific plan for the built environment. In its issues paper on setting, tracking and achieving Australia’s emissions reduction targets, the Climate Change Authority proposed focusing on sectors as set out in Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: electricity, stationary […]