Monday 21 April, 2008

Tuesday 22nd April, 2008

 Wednesday 23 April, 2008

To register for the Seminar program you must first register to visit ARBS 2008 – CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW

If you have already registered to attend ARBS 2008 and want to update your registration to include one or more of the seminars please CLICK HERE

Monday 21st April – 2:00 pm

Working gases and greenhouse gases - emissions and reporting in the age of carbon – Michael McCann - Business Development Manager, Energy Strategies - Level One, Melbourne Exhibition Centre

Synthetic Greenhouse Gases (SGG) (HCFCs, HFCs, PFCs and SF6) are potent greenhouse gases and are used in a number of industrial applications and refrigerating systems, or are emitted in the process of industrial activity.  As well as providing the essential working gas in refrigerant systems they are also used and emitted in the process of foam blowing, as propellants in aerosols, fire extinguishing systems and solvents among other uses.

At ARBS 2008, Michael McCann from Energy Strategies will present the findings of a recent investigation into all uses and emissions of SGGs in Australia.

He will also discuss the implications of direct emissions of working gases for major corporations, many of whom will be liable to report all sources of emissions as of 1 July 2008 under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act. The reporting system is expected to cover around 700 medium and large companies who are compelled to report annually, but will be open for second tier organisations to report into as part of their environmental improvement programs.

Michael will also explore what these new reporting liabilities could mean for maintenance and monitoring regimes for major air conditioning and refrigeration plant.

"The emergence of reporting requirements of direct SGG emissions will increase expectations for best practice gas handling and reclamation of refrigerant gases," McCann said.

Michael McCann is the Business Development Manager at Energy Strategies. He has a long-standing involvement in the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy in Australia and research into the economic and industrial changes required to transition to a low carbon economy.
(approx 45 mins)

Tuesday 22nd April – 9:00 am

Measuring the real performance of buildings – the new wave – Associate Professor Dr. Mark B. Luther, Consortium Director MABEL, Deakin University - Level One, Melbourne Exhibition Centre

Everywhere we look, the demand for greener building design and operation is evident. Industry, government, developers and users are scrambling to keep pace, and considerable progress has been made in implementing new design guidelines and ensuring best practice. The next big hurdle, however. Is ensuring that the end product is genuinely performing as planned -- that is, monitoring the “by design” vs “as built” performance.

While we have rating systems that endorse innovative environmental design solutions, we often don’t know if buildings are operating as they were rated, or as they were calculated or simulated to perform during the design period.

Mark Luther will explain how the Mobile Architecture and Built Environment Laboratory (MABEL) provides the first means of integrated, on-site measurement of the key aspects of internal built environments, including energy, lighting, air quality, ventilation, acoustics and comfort using state-of-the-art technology and instrumentation.

Using real case studies, he will discuss how MABEL employs an extended approach of a total Building Performance Evaluation (BPE). This ensures that a building and its service systems provide the required results to the building occupants, and that its operational parameters comply with required design and performance standards and objectives. He will explain why evaluating occupant satisfaction and productivity is just as important as other factors including energy consumption and operation, and interior environmental performance.

Finally, Mark will explain why it is essential that the results of such an evaluation are fed back into the design process – an essential part of the feedback loop that will help improve the sustainability of our buildings into the future.

Dr Luther is the Consortium Director of MABEL at Deakin University, Geelong Australia..He is a registered architect in Michigan (U.S.A.) and Victoria (Australia). He lectures in graduate and undergraduate courses on lighting, acoustics and building services as well as a course in R.A.R.E architecture.
(approx 45 mins)

Tuesday 22nd April – 10:00 am

Energy and Exergy Performance of Integrated Systems of Energy transformation devices – David P Solberg, President HVAC Systems Technology (USA)- Level One, Melbourne Exhibition Centre

Buildings are a large user of energy. It is estimated that around one third of primary energy is consumed in non-industrial buildings such as homes, offices, hospitals and schools, where it is utilised for space heating and cooling, lighting and operation of appliances.

According to David Solberg, P.E., President of US based firm HVAC Systems Technology, traditional designs of facility heating/cooling systems can be extremely wasteful, because they treat electric heating, cooling, lighting, indoor air quality, water treatment, compressed air, transport and other energy systems as separate entities rather than as single an integrated energy system. Energy performance of HVAC systems is usually evaluated based on the first law of thermodynamics; that is, the performance of energy transformation systems based on quantity of energy.

It fails to address the issue of the quality of energy, which is defined in the second law of thermodynamics. This is called exergy (or availability) performance which measures the true thermodynamic performance of any integrated energy system.

Solberg is an outspoken advocate of exergy rather than energy analysis to evaluate potential energy savings, identify opportunities for improvements in system design and to establish a cost-effective maintenance system.

Solberg believes it is inevitable that both the first and second law of thermodynamics will be used as a standard for the rest of life on earth. It may take a decade to get there, but there is no other way to determine the minimum carbon footprint of a city, a building, an apartment block a factory or a transportation system.

Exergy performance is the subject of an International Energy Agency research project, Annex 49, titled “Low Energy Systems for High Performance Buildings and Communities”. Dave Solberg is the US participant. Solberg is hopeful his visit to Australia for ARBS will raise awareness of exergy and the work being done internationally.
(approx 1.5 hours)

Tuesday 22nd April – 2:00 pm

Sustainable building solutions: a review of lessons from the natural world – Prof. Derek J Clements-Croome, School of Construction Management and Engineering at Reading University in the UK - Level One, Melbourne Exhibition Centre

The realisation that much of conventional, modern architecture is not sustainable over the long term is not new. Typical approaches are aimed at using energy and materials more efficiently. However, by clearly understanding the natural processes and their interactions with human needs in view, designers can create buildings that are delightful, functional, productive and regenerative by design.

This session aims to review the biomimetics literature that is relevant to building materials and design. Biomimetics is the abstraction of good design from Nature, and provides ideas relevant to: graded functionality of materials (nano-scale), adaptive response (nano-, micro-, and macro-scales), integrated intelligence (sensing and actuation at all scales), architecture and additional functionality.

There are many examples in biology where emergent response of plants and animals to temperature, humidity and other changes in their physical environments is based on relatively simple physical principles. However, the implementation of design solutions which exploit these principles is where inspiration for man-made structures should be. Specific examples of sustainability from Nature and the benefits or value that these solutions have brought to different creatures will be analysed. By doing this, we appreciate how the natural world fits into the world of sustainable buildings and how as building engineers we can value its true application in delivering sustainable building solutions.

Prof. Derek J Clements-Croome is Director of Research for the School of Construction Management and Engineering at Reading University in the UK.
(approx 45 mins)

Wednesday 23rd April – 9:00 am

End Use Energy Efficiency - Where to from here? – Department of Environment, Water, Heritage & Arts - Level One, Melbourne Exhibition Centre

Appliance energy efficiency labelling has been a part of the Australian air conditioning industry for over 20 years, with some products labelled since the late 1980's. As technology moves on so must the label. A new algorithm and label for air conditioners is planned for late 2009, which will allow consumers to more easily identify those products which are more energy efficient. Moving further into the future, additional HVAC products will also be subject to mandatory Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS), including commercial building chillers and computer room air conditioners.
(Approx 45 mins)

To register for the Seminar program you must first register to visit ARBS 2008 – CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW

If you have already registered to attend ARBS 2008 and want to update your registration to include one or more of the seminars please CLICK HERE