RMIT launches Sustainable Urban Precincts Project

RMIT University has announced the Sustainable Urban Precincts Project (SUPP) - a $98 million plan to slash energy and water use in 90 buildings across three campuses.

RMIT is working with Siemens Australia and Honeywell Building Solutions over two years to identify opportunities for energy and water savings in its buildings located in Melbourne, Bundoora and Brunswick. It is said to be the largest project of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

The project aims to reduce electricity use over eight years by an estimated 239 million kW - enough electricity to power 7000 houses for six years. This will lead to a 30,000-tonne reduction in greenhouse gas emissions - equivalent to planting an area the size of Melbourne CBD with 128,000 trees each year.

By replacing 2000 fixtures, water use will also be cut by an estimated 68 million litres. That’s equivalent to 425 million cups of coffee - 50% of Australia’s annual coffee consumption.

RMIT’s Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Margaret Gardner AO, said the university is committed to turning its vision of being a leader in urban sustainability into reality.

“RMIT will not only contribute to the global striving for sustainability,” she said, “we will also integrate this project into our education and research so that our students and staff can contribute to the process and learn from it.”

RMIT will upgrade its infrastructure to reduce electricity demand for heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Wayne Kent, Pacific General Manager of Honeywell, said the company’s solutions for RMIT include “upgrades to its mechanical equipment, more energy-efficient lighting and water-harvesting technology”.

Feasibility studies are underway to install cogeneration and trigeneration technologies which will allow RMIT to generate part of its electricity demand on site. Honeywell believes a trigeneration plant would reduce the university’s greenhouse gas emissions by 7000 tonnes annually by using the waste heat from electricity production in both heating and cooling.

Siemens Australia CEO Jeff Connolly said his team “looked at all areas of the campus to see where our technology could maximise savings across water, lighting and the building management system, to create a highly efficient campus, both environmentally and economically”.

He said an energy-efficiency upgrade of this scale is a great step towards the sustainable future of Australia and underlines RMIT’s leadership in this area.

Source