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The classic pitfalls(and how to avoid them).

EcolibriumTHE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF AIRAH

ECOLIBRIUM • MAY 201714

T H E B R I E F I N G

In early April the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services issued an alert in relation to six confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease. Those infected had all visited the Melbourne CBD in the weeks before they became ill.

The department’s alert advised doctors to carefully consider Legionnaires’ disease when reviewing pneumonia patients who have visited the CBD since late March.

Cooling towers associated with the outbreak were disinfected within days of the alert being issued, with the department confirming 92 cooling towers identified in its investigation were cleaned.

“The alert emphasised the importance of careful testing of patients and the vital role of notification to enable more investigation by public health of all cases,” a department spokesman said.

“There are six confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease associated with the Melbourne central business district outbreak.

“The latest case was in the east end of the CBD at the end of March. They were hospitalised and now recovering. Four people previously under investigation have been found to have no links to the CBD outbreak.” z

Up close

Australasian channel manager

for Optergy, Nicholas Heydon,

M.AIRAH, is also a member

of AIRAH’s NSW division

committee.

Joining the NSW division committee

Over the past five years I have attended

numerous AIRAH events such as the

Pre-loved Building Conference and the

Future of HVAC. It was great to share

ideas with industry leaders and to hear

the practical applications and outcomes

that were being achieved, not only from

success but from failures and lessons

learnt. I was excited to join the committee

for two reasons. I wanted to be part of

a body that helps shape the industry that

I work in, and to gain more experience

and a more granular insight from other

like-minded people.

Impact and influence

Control and energy management

systems are typically silos sharing

limited information. With a background

in contracting for controls and energy-

management solutions, I hope to be

able to bring together key industry

figures on both these topics to democratise

the controls industry. We need to integrate

and share information to enable analytical

solutions and workflows to solve

real-world problems for the customers

of our industry. After all, this is why

we exist as an industry body and

as businesses.

AIRAH and the industry

I have always perceived AIRAH as

a forum for industry experts to collaborate

and share insights that help drive policy

and change. For the folks on the ground,

this can been seen through the resources

made available like the AIRAH Technical

Handbook and Best Practice Guides

that help steer the industry in the right

direction. z

Towers turn sourLegionnaires’ disease broke out in Melbourne’s CBD last month.

Much more than a search engineGoogle has filed a patent for a bladeless air conditioner.

Google has plans to develop a bladeless air conditioner that it says offers an improved seal, and is transparent to boot.

Google’s proposed fan-less air conditioner will endeavour to be quieter, non-obstructive, and refrigerant-free. The company says the unit will work in a similar manner to the popular Dyson’s bladeless fan designs.

By utilising that concept along with a large section of insulated glass, the air conditioner will potentially allow light in from outside, thereby reducing the obstruction to the exterior created by some traditional window-mounted air conditioning units. z

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Control Central

Sydney Central on Pitt Street has significantly reduced its energy consumption off the back of a condenser water loop optimisation project led by Optergy.

The building originally had a traditional tenant condenser water system powered by the base building’s power supply that was consuming large amounts of energy.

BMS contractor Alerton Australia quantified and costed the opportunity to reconfigure the tenant condenser water system, which would in turn reduce energy consumption, increase the star rating, increase the building’s capital value, and ultimately increase return on its investment.

Condenser water shut-off valves were supplied and installed, and work to isolate whole floors or individual packaged air conditioning units when not required. This reduced demand on the base-building condenser water system.

Supply and install of variable-speed drives (VSDs) on pumps and fans allowed speed modulation and turn-down in low-load scenarios.

The condenser water system was fine-tuned to ensure minimal electrical consumption without affecting tenant comfort or critical air conditioning for the building’s computer rooms.

The building’s HVAC systems are controlled by an Alerton building management system (BMS). Energy use is managed by an Aurora by Optergy energy management system (EMS). A central energy plant located on the roof of the 32-storey tower feeds chilled and heating hot water down the building to traditional air-handling units serving variable air volume (VAV) boxes. Tenants are supplied with heating and cooling from the base building’s air handling units and VAV boxes located on each floor. Any additional cooling or heating requirements are provided to the tenants by local condenser water package units.

The EMS has collected considerable energy consumption data. Alerton says the energy consumption from the base building tenant condenser water system was reduced by 69 per cent and yielded a total of 250 MWh energy savings, or the equivalent of $50,000 at 0.2c per kWh.

Go to www.optergy.com z

Sean’s Disney adventure

Former AIRAH president Sean Treweek, F.AIRAH, has signed on to Norman Disney & Young (NDY) in the newly created role of director – residential, hotels and entertainment.

Boasting 20 years’ experience, Treweek most recently spent eight years at WSP in senior roles.

“I commenced my career at NDY, and have always held the business in very high regard,” Treweek says. “As NDY continues to focus on client needs, an opportunity presented itself to drive these key markets globally, in a business with a strong cultural alignment with my own values. The focus on client relationships and stakeholder engagement is a distinguishing feature of NDY when compared to many larger competitors.”

Treweek says the benefits of big data and “the internet of things” offers huge potential to add value in the residential, hotels and entertainment sectors.

Go to www.ndy.com z

Rinnai’s Special purchaseRinnai Australia has acquired Perth-based commercial and industrial air conditioning product manufacturer Specialized Engineering Pty Ltd (SE).

With backing from Rinnai Japan, Rinnai Australia’s SE acquisition follows a pattern of recent growth.

The acquisition will see Rinnai supplying a fuller range of heating and cooling products.

Director and founder of Specialized Engineering Chris Miller has joined the Rinnai’s commercial team in an executive position.

“I am very pleased to announce this acquisition and welcome Chris Miller to the commercial team,” says Rinnai managing director Greg Ellis. “We look forward to further building Rinnai’s offer for the Australian and international commercial HVAC markets. Our aim is to foster and leverage SE’s

Sean Treweek,

F.AIRAH.