Across Australia power bills are going up and the climate is clearly changing. So you would think that our mainstream media would be  bringing us good news stories about how we can cut our power bills and reduce carbon emissions, with a fast payback on investment.

But no. The focus is doom and gloom.The reporting I see is about how reducing carbon emissions is expensive, about how programs to reduce carbon emissions push up prices.

Have you ever picked up The Australian, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Courier Mail, the Australian Financial Review or any of our major papers and seen a good news story about how much money someone has saved from energy efficiency? I haven’t.

Have you ever seen a TV program that shows how different businesses are saving money and reducing carbon emissions through energy efficiency? I haven’t (but I admit I hardly ever watch TV).

Want a bit of cheer from your mainstream media. Sorry, you have to go to other side of the world.  Such as to the NY Times.

Why aren’t we seeing a lot of article like this in Australia? Believe me, there are lots of good news stories from energy efficiency if you want to look. Check out the good news interviews on our website for some of them.

Today’s Financial Review front page news was about the desperate need for more power stations in Australia. The article stated that according to the Australian Energy Market Operator electricity consumption is increasing at 2.5% per year, and we need between 700 and 900 MWh of extra generating capacity per year. And that to cope with increased demand and a carbon price, Australian power generators will have to invest up to $120 billion in new electricity assets over the next 20 years.

These comments, and the failure of the article to mention energy efficiency, clearly show that by and large most people just don’t “get” energy efficiency. Because if as a society we really got energy efficiency, we wouldn’t need any new power stations.

So if you “get” energy efficiency, tell someone. Let me give you some examples of what energy efficiency means:

• A local government client has cut electricity consumption in its office complex by 32% (2010 vs 2006). The office complex contains three major buildings, two of which are over one hundred years old and subject to heritage constraints.
• 

  Local government electricity consumption

• One of our earliest clients, Westernport Secondary college, used 31% less electricity in 2010 than it did in 2004. Roughly same number of students. Maximum peak demand at the college has also dropped, by39%.
• 

  WPSC electricity consumption

• The all-electric CarbonetiX office uses 35 kWh/m2/year – that’s everything – light, power, heating, cooling. Most comparable offices would use over 100 kWh/m2/year. We are certainly using much less than the previous tenant.

All these examples show what energy efficiency can do to reduce the demand for energy – and cut carbon emissions -whether a building be old or new, owned or leased. And the energy efficiency measures implemented at the local government office,  Westernport Secondary College and the CarbonetiX office haven’t been particularly complex or used leading edge technology. In fact some of the savings come not from technology, but from choice. Choosing to switch off, to only switch on when necessary, choosing to change the air conditioner temperature settings, choosing to be conscious of energy usage.

The example of Westernport Secondary College is particularly interesting. If every household and organisation that uses electricity could do what Westernport Secondary College has done we would need about 39% fewer power stations, not more.

I’m not the only one who “gets” it. New Scientist has recently reported on a study by Cambridge University which found that energy efficiency could cut world energy usage by over 70%.

Energy efficiency has multiple benefits:

• It reduces carbon emissions
• It saves money for the energy consumer
• It reduces peak demand
• It reduces upward pressure on electricity prices

So, if you “get” energy efficiency tell someone!

Reports recently published in newspapers indicate that the government’s mandatory energy star rating schemes of homes is rather inaccurate. The scheme has been heavily-criticised by the building industry (HIA and MBA) and they are calling on scientists and the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency to review the way the star rating is calculated for new houses.

Applying the same software to the whole continent is not the right approach either. Most importantly there is another fundamental issue that relates to the way a home is used –which has more to do with the occupants than the actual construction of the house itself.

The main problem cited by the building industry involves the three government-approved tools used to award the star six star rating. Basically it means that there are unacceptable differences between the star ratings produced by the various software tools when assessing the same house. The flaws in the star rating system were discovered after industry representatives, private companies and scientists commissioned independent studies to test the software tools on identical houses. For example the independent testing showed that the same Brisbane house had a variation of 3.2 stars when different software tools were used to audit it. In addition the software tools are easy to manipulate to get the desired results. A side issue is the under-qualified assessors who don’t operate under any quality programs.

The second issue relates to the fact the same software tools are used Australia-wide. Since the software tools mainly deal with heating and cooling to deliver a star rating they don’t take into consideration the varying climates found in Australia. In each part of Australia there will be different contributions of heating and cooling and we have little real data to help us in our understanding of by how much, or whether at all, star ratings will help reduce consumption. A respected scientist explained that the star rating doesn’t actually measure the electricity demand in a given house. So basically there is no correlation between the stars and GHG emissions.

It has been suggested that end-use metering study should be commissioned to determine overall home energy use, energy use by home appliances and the assessment of the thermal performance of the building shell for different housing types. Also, the overall performance of the recently-built six star homes should be assessed to create a valid database to establish if the star rating scheme has in fact helped reduce energy consumption.

The third observation was expressed by a university professor who explained that in reality the behaviour of the occupants of a house dictate the energy consumption. It doesn’t matter how many stars a home has if the occupants don’t use it responsibly. It could be stacked with electrical appliances like LCD screens, fridges or with inefficient halogen lighting. The software tools merely calculate the potential savings based on the fabric of the house, insulation, wall materials and of course the likely heating and cooling. Therefore, it is really up to the individual to act responsibly and to have an interest in reducing greenhouse emissions and of course their electricity bills.

For more detailed information and pdf file go to this site: https://carbonetix.com.au/why_your_5_star_energy_efficient_home_isnt.php

(Ref: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/eco-threat-to-house-prices/story-e6frg6z6-1225904124270 and
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/investigations/energy-star-ratings-in-disarray/story-fn6tcs23-1225899270215 )

Last week I caught up with Raj Maniher of Baw Baw shire council in their Smith Street Community Development office that council is renting in Warragul. Raj has implemented a number of measures to cut energy use in the office, and has achieved a 30% electricity saving.

Some of the measures implemented include:

Insulating the ceiling

Double glazing using “magnetite” on some of the windows.

Getting internal reflective blinds made up by a local blind maker. Very ingeneous!

Voltage reduction on the lights

Blanking off light fittings with a clear Perspex sheet to prevent air leakage into the ceiling cavity.

Disconnecting inefficient lights and replacing with fluorescent

Upgrading to a 5 star fridge

Only switching on when needed – for example the airconditioner, and kitchen equipment is turned off at the wall when not in use.

Delamping

How would you save energy in your rented office?

On the weekend I attended the opening of the new Venny, an adventure playground for children from the ages of 5 to 16 in Kensington near the public housing estate.

The new Venny replaces an older building, and from an energy perspective has outstanding, passive-solar design.  I’d encourage other local governments to learn from the Venny with any new community facilities they are building. The key principles being:

• High levels of insulation, properly installed
• A well sealed building
• Lots of thermal mass, and a night purge system, to harness diurnal temperature swings rather than fighting them as is done in conventional building design.
• Good solar orientation.
• Solar PV to provide building energy needs.

Project architect Ralph Webster, from the City of Melbourne, summarises the building design

Ralph Weber talks about the Venny (video, 5:40)

Key energy efficient features of the building design are:

• The green roof.
  

  Venny green roof

  Coupled with the foam “sandwich panel” ceiling, the R rating of the roof is estimated to be around 11 – or nearly 3 times that of most roofs. Foam sandwich panel construction has a key advantage over batts in that its much less likely to be poorly installed, reducing insulation effectiveness.

• A 5.5 kW solar PV system
• The 50 mm foam insulation on the inside of the shipping containers around the building, including sandwich panel on the roof to improve its strength and ability to take the load of the green roof.
  

  insulating board lines the containers

• The high quality windows, with an aluminium weather proof external finish, but the rest timber (so the frame provides a good thermal break). Glazing is double, low-e, with argon fill.
• High thermal mass in the concrete floor. The floor is spectacular, a key feature of the building, incorporating children’s art, building plans, etc, encapsulated in the floor with a clear resin coating. (I’m not sure how the coating influences the performance of the thermal mass)
  

  Venny floor

• Use of a phase change material (PCM) in the plaster. A 10mm plaster thickness essentially has the same thermal mass as a 90mm brick. The PCM is a BASF product called Micronel, that is encapsulated in the plaster. At 26 degrees it changes phase from a solid to a liquid, absorbing a lot of energy as it does so (just like making ice requires a lot of energy).
• Sensor controlled lighting, which is a combination of metal halide and T5.
• Aggressive occupancy sensor timing settings on the toilet lights and fan, with a 5 minute timeout.
• A night purge. This is used to “recharge” the PCM in the plaster. So for example on a hot summer’s day the PCM may have all melted. By having cool air pass through the building at night it “recharges” (ie solidifies) the PCM. The night purge consists of a couple of windows that open at ground level and a ceiling vent that opens at night. There is provision to install a fan if necessary. The use of a night purge has been the single best feature of Council House 2.
  

  phase change material (PCM) in plaster ceiling

• Ceiling fans to provide cooling via air movement if necessary
• High efficiency gas wall heater with a balanced flue.
• Exact due North orientation, minimal use of east and west glazing.
• Focus on recycling materials (such as shipping containers) for low embodied energy.

CarbonetiX has been involved with the Venny with the provision of a real time monitoring system to track site electricity consumption and solar electricity production, and also to monitor performance of the green roof. Three different substrates have been used in the green roof on a trial basis. We have put temperature sensors in the substrates and are also measuring water use to each section of the roof. This will be used to help evaluate the performance of the different substrates, which is a research project being undertaken by the University  of Melbourne.

The hope is that the building will be a net exporter of energy. What I particularly like about the Venny is its sensible passive solar design, and reliance on simple control (just using the fire panel). Its easier to keep energy use low in a building where the controls are simple and easy to understand.

I would like to install some more sensors to monitor and understand the Venny’s thermal and energy performance in more detail, and Ralph is happy for us to do this, with the University of Melbourne probably available to assist with installation and data analysis. This will help us better understand the effect of the various factors that interact to determine the whole building performance, of use when looking at retrofit options for existing buildings.

If you know of anyone who might have research funding available for this let me know!

And if you are building a new community facility, please get us involved. I have a great personal interest in zero energy buildings, which I believe are possible with today’s technology. With good design believe a zero net energy building can be cost competitive with more conventional, energy inefficient, construction.