Laura Timberlake

January 30, 2020

Passive House hits prime time

Features

As Australians struggle through another sweltering summer, more families are trying to lower their power bills through better energy efficiency in their homes. A recent report on ABC’s 7.30 delved into exactly how much Australians could be saving if they had Passive House homes. Passive House (also known as Passivhaus) is a low-energy and high-comfort […]

January 24, 2020

R32 expanding rapidly in EU

News

The Building Services Research & Information Association (BSRIA) has predicted the R32 market share for split systems in Europe will exceed 80 per cent by 2023. According to its research, R32 accounted for approximately 37 per cent of the market in 2019. R32 has a lower global warming potential (GWP) than other refrigerants (of 675), […]

January 23, 2020

Moving beyond sustainability

Events and conferences

The Sustainable Building Innovation Laboratory (SBiLab) at RMIT University is holding an event called “Architecture of Goodness: Moving Beyond Sustainability” in Melbourne on Wednesday, February 5. The event will feature: Shirish Beri | Shirish Beri and AssociatesBeri is the founder of Shirish Beri and Associates in Kolhapur, India. Beri’s works reflect his values and concerns […]

January 17, 2020

24ºC new AC default in India

News

The Indian government has announced that 24ºC will be the new default temperature for air conditioners (AC). This includes all air conditioners that are labelled under the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)-star program. The default setting is the setting at which a machine comes from the factory. Gadgets Now reports that very few people in India […]

January 16, 2020

ASHRAE upgrades its global HQ

News

ASHRAE (the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) has commenced construction on its new global headquarters renovation project. ASHRAE marked the occasion with a launch event on January 10. The building is a two-story, 66,700 square-foot building in Georgia, USA, and will include features such as: Energy-efficient HVAC and lighting systems Water-efficient plumbing […]

January 9, 2020

Chemours suspends supply of R404A and R507A

BusinessRegulations

Chemours has suspended the supply of refrigerants with a high global warming potential (GWP) in the European Union, including R404A (GWP 3,922) and R507A (GWP 3,985). The move supports the European Union F-Gas Regulation to lower-GWP alternatives and prepare for the next quota phase-down in 2021. On January 1, 2020, a prohibition came into effect in […]

January 9, 2020

The top dog in trade

Events and conferencesNews

Forty-year-old Queensland apprentice Troy Connors has been awarded the Refrigeration and Air conditioning Apprentice of the Year award, at the second annual TAFE Queensland – SkillsTech Apprentice Awards evening. Connors says he was honoured to be recognised and wasn’t expecting to win. “To be awarded Apprentice of the Year feels pretty surreal,” he says. “It was very […]

January 6, 2020

Solving Sydney’s urban heat dilemma

Events and conferences

Penrith City Council is hosting a Masterclass event in 2020 to try and tackle Sydney’s urban heat dilemma. The event will bring key stakeholders and leading professionals together at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre on February 18.  Penrith Mayor Ross Fowler says that the Cooling the City Masterclass was developed as a result of councillor concerns arising from […]

January 2, 2020

AIRAH announces 2020 Industry Nights

Events and conferences

The Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) has announced the schedule for the 2020 Industry Nights. The 15 Industry Nights will take place across Australia, and give attendees the opportunity for networking and to see the HVAC&R industry’s latest innovations. Industry Nights are free to attend. AIRAH chief executive Tony Gleeson, M.AIRAH, […]

December 26, 2019

Closing the energy performance gap

Events and conferencesNews

The Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) and the Australian Department of the Environment and Energy have partnered to produce a research report about building energy performance. The report was commissioned as part of the IEA’s Building Energy Efficiency Taskforce (BEET). Building energy efficiency has been identified as a cost-effective opportunity to reduce energy consumption […]