Seeing green at ARBS 2016

ARBS 2016, the international air-conditioning, refrigeration and building services trade exhibition, will be held from 17–19 May 2016 at the Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre.

The event offers a focus on innovation and emerging trends in the built environment, with the exhibition and seminar program to host an array of topics and management issues of interest to sustainability industry professionals. Attendees will be able to see all the latest products, talk to manufacturers and distributors, connect with peers and enjoy many social activities, including the awards presentation dinner.

The seminar program will see a range of high-profile and respected individuals discuss the topics of importance to the industry. Of particular interest will be the seminar ‘Is Wellness the Next Green?’, presented by Romilly Madew, Tony Armstrong and Mark McKenna and moderated by Tony Arnel. This session will provide a nuts-and-bolts explanation of the WELL Building Standard (which uses evidence-based medical and scientific research to harness the built environment as a vehicle to support human health and wellbeing), explore opportunities and obstacles to its take-up in Australia, and investigate why healthy buildings are becoming the ‘next big thing’.

The seminar on the Australian Leadership in Geothermal Technology for Residential Projects, by Dr Martin Larisch of the University of Queensland, will discuss the installation of one of the largest geothermal installations in the world — a 950-house estate in Western Sydney. Forming part of this project has been the development of an Australian-designed and -manufactured geothermal system. All houses will be connected to a ground source heat pump (GSHP), which will reduce household heating and cooling related energy costs by approximately 60%. The system will deliver 10,000 kW of thermal energy, making it the largest generator of geothermal energy in Australia.

Warrick Stannus of AG Coombs will be presenting on ‘BIM to Prefabrication — Designing to get the Prefab Benefits’, with prefabrication a hot topic in building construction. Substantial quality, safety, system performance and construction program benefits that the off-site manufacture of HVAC system components offers are beginning to be realised. However, even more significant HVAC system prefab benefits are limited because we do not design buildings and building services systems with off-site manufacturing of systems in mind. This session will present the opportunities and methodologies for designing for off-site manufacturing of HVAC and other building services systems.

Patrick McInerney, director, Ozone and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Policy – Department of the Environment, will be presenting on the ‘HFC phase-down in Australia’. With a proposed 85% phase-down of HFCs, this seminar will provide an update of the progress towards a global HFC phase-down agreement through the Montreal Protocol and discuss the independent action Australia can take ahead of a global agreement through the review of the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas legislation.

These are just some of the panels and seminars that will be showcased over the event. To register for free entry across all three days, visit www.arbs.com.au.