A Zero-Carbon Buildings Plan for 2020

Experts in the field of building energy efficiency met in Melbourne last Tuesday at a Buildings Retrofit Workshop co-hosted by Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) and the University of Melbourne Energy Research Institute.

Among the many distinguished participants were RMIT Adjunct Professor Alan Pears, John Macdonald from DesignInc, Shane Esmore from Umow Lai, John Duffin from ARUP, and academics Dr Dominique Hes and Dr Sara Wilkinson. Participants pooled their collective expertise to devise retrofit strategies for non-residential buildings that would achieve maximum energy demand reduction for Australia's existing building stock.

Heidi Lee, Project Manager for the Zero Carbon Australia 2020 Buildings Plan, said that the day had been a great success. 'It was a priceless opportunity to gather years of experience and knowledge in one room. The pro bono contributions of these experts has made an invaluable contribution to the Plan.'

The workshop concentrated on a set of building typologies which had been identified by a team of building researchers headed by architectural historian Louise Honman.

In keeping with Zero Carbon Australia guiding principles, all strategies had to employ proven, reliable and commercially available technology and practices. The proposed upgrades now stand to be refined and worked into a draft Plan. In the final stages of the Plan, engineers will model energy reduction figures for the upgrades and finance experts will cost their roll out and implementation.

In the meantime, BZE have just announced a further workshop to investigate upgrading of building HVAC and mechanical systems. The date for that workshop will be finalised soon, and anyone interested in attending is encouraged to contact Trent Hawkins at trent@beyondzeroemissions.org.

The Zero Carbon Australia 2020 Buildings Plan is due for release later this year. To find out more, visit www.beyondzeroemissions.org/buildings.