Page 10 - Climate Control News Oct 2021

News
Sustainable HVAC design
ENROLMENTS ARE OPEN for Australia’s first professional diploma in sustainable HVAC de- sign and operation.
The ARBS Foundation provided a grant to the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Condi- tioning and Heating (AIRAH) to develop the di- ploma to help HVAC professionals keep their skills up-to-date.
The professional diploma has been in develop- ment for more than a year.
However, due to COVID-19 the program will be delivered online.
It has four modules including: principles of sustainable HVAC design; codes, standards and rating tools; design of sustainable HVAC sys- tems; maximising sustainability in operation.
The new online education and training pro- gram explores all elements of energy efficiency of building HVAC, focusing on those design ele- ments that affect the operational energy efficien- cy of HVAC as well as the importance of facilitat- ing good commissioning, maintenance and ongoing management of HVAC through appro- priate design choices.
Better outcomes for the industry and clients in terms of increased energy efficient operation of buildings; reduced HVAC energy usage; im- proved IEQ outcomes and improved sustainabil- ity aspects will be achieved when appropriately trained people undertake the work.
ABOVE: The focus is on maximising sustainability when making design choices.
Council pilot to slash emissions
AUSTRALIA’S FIRST PILOT program to help councils slash emissions has been launched by the Cities Power Partnership and Ironbark Sus- tainability.
They have joined forces to launch a program that will enable local governments to make evi- dence-based decisions when investing in emis- sions reduction projects.
The pilot program uses the Cities Activity Database (CAD), Ironbark Sustainability’s tool, that categorises data from about 13,000 cli- mate activities from more than 800 cities worldwide, and helps users find the most popu- lar, cost-effective or highest impact solutions for their council area.
Ironbark Sustainability business manager, Alexi Lynch said the database was a game- changer for Australian councils.
“Councils manage a huge amount of infra- structure, transport and other sectors that con- sume a lot of energy and produce a lot of emis- sions,” Lynch said.
“As councils ramp up their emissions reduc- tion ambitions, CAD takes the guesswork out of which projects to invest in for the highest im-
pact - saving councils time and money.
“It is a powerful way for councils to ensure their climate action planning is the most im-
pactful for the communities they serve.” Director of the Cities Power Partnership, Dr Portia Odell said the pilot program presented an exciting opportunity for Australian cities and towns to supercharge their climate action by drawing on the learning of hundreds of glob-
al cities and towns.
“Local governments are a critical part of Aus-
tralia’s climate solution and we hope the highly individualised and data-
driven information pro-
vided through our new
partnership with Iron- bark will further acceler- ate our members’ local emission reduction ef- forts,” Dr Odell said.
Councils that join the Cities Power Partnership by 31 October, 2021 can participate in the pilot program and will be pro-
vided with a report on emissions reduction pro- jects for their council area.
The report insights will be based on actions that similar cities and towns have taken, as well as the effectiveness, carbon reduction poten- tial, probability of success, and costs of poten- tial projects.
Participating councils will be asked to pro- vide feedback to enable the Cities Power Part- nership and Ironbark to further develop and scale similar tools for the benefit of councils throughout Australia.
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