Page 18 - Climate Control News Magazine Feb 2020

In Focus
The Innovation Hub for Affordable Heating and Cooling (i-Hub) is designed to facilitate the industry’s transition to a low- emissions future.
Innovation Hub to reduce HVACR energy use
energy production and increase the fraction of building energy that can be economically pro- vided by onsite renewable energy.”
The i-Hub will develop capability for the HVACR industry to continue to innovate, be- yond the project’s three-year lifespan.
It will do this through the establishment of Living Laboratory facilities; a Data Clearing House digital platform; and an integrated De- sign Process that has renewable energy and building efficiency at its core.
The Living Laboratory facilities will serve as hosts for validating emerging products in front of major building portfolio owners. The Data Clearing House is designed to enable data-driv- en renewable energy optimisation analytics and control applications.
I-HUB WILL REDUCE ENERGY USE AND FACILITATE INDUSTRY’S TRANSITION TO A LOW EMISSIONS FUTURE.” – AIRAH CEO, TONY GLEESON.
The Integrated Design Process will allow de- sign consultants and building owners to manage the risk of delivering innovative building and system design solutions, that have renewable en- ergy and building efficiency at their core.
Substantial contributions from the property industry reflect a strong desire to progress with onsite renewable energy integration.
With rising electricity costs putting further pressure on consumers and businesses, Gleeson said the i-Hub vision is to help make a positive impact by supporting Australian innovation.
“This will deliver superior comfort, better en- ergy efficiency – and therefore lower running costs – and minimise peak demand,” he said.
In total, this project will deliver a multi-di- mensional pilot demonstration program and business case evaluation, for guiding National Electricity Market (NEM) planners on where to find and how to implement HVACR demand re- sponse across the National Electricity Market, and unlock hundreds of megawatts of previously untapped flexible load.
i-Hub is open to applications from industry par- ticipants who have suitable demonstration projects that require co-funding.
UNIVERSITIES, INDUSTRY GROUPS and the CSIRO have joined forces and created an initiative to address the energy intensive nature of HVACR and to examine ways to reduce emissions.
Known as the Innovation Hub for Affordable Heating and Cooling (i-Hub), the new initiative is led by the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) in conjunc- tion with CSIRO, Queensland University of Tech- nology (QUT), the University of Melbourne and the University of Wollongong and supported by Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
AIRAH CEO, Tony Gleeson, said the purpose of i-Hub is to reduce energy use and facilitate the HVACR industry’s transition to a low-emis- sions future.
The three-year project’s budget of $18 million includes cash and in-kind contributions of nearly $12 million from the participating institutions.
“The Innovation Hub for Affordable Heating and Cooling (i-Hub) is designed to facilitate the industry’s transition to a low-emissions future, stimulate jobs growth, and showcase HVACR in- novation in buildings,” Gleeson said.
“The objective of i-Hub is to support the broad- er HVACR industry with knowledge dissemina- tion, skills development and capacity building.
“By facilitating a collaborative approach to inno- vation, i-Hub brings together leading universities, researchers, consultants, building owners and equipment manufacturers to create a connected re- search and development community in Australia.”
The i-Hub will focus on a series of projects in the area of healthcare, education and data centre sectors that have the potential to deliver hun- dreds of megawatts of demand response – from the i-Hub project’s building owner participants – at a fraction of the cost of other approaches.
“The i-Hub project brings a uniquely concert- ed effort from the HVACR and property indus- tries to use the design and operation of air condi- tioning services as a tool for supporting onsite and local grid renewables,” Gleeson said.
“Through the deferral of HVACR loads – dur- ing renewable energy supply shortages – and the use of HVACR loads as a ‘productive source of de- mand’ during periods of excess supply, this pro- ject will increase the value of onsite renewable
Proposals will be consid- ered under one of three ac- tivity streams: Living Labo- ratories, Integrated Design Studios and a Buildings to Grid Data Clearing House.
For further information or to submit a proposal for funding, visit i-Hub.org.au
AIRAH CEO, Tony Gleeson
CLIMATECONTROLNEWS.COM.AU
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