the australian building services journal 2010_2

3 National Report

4 State News

5 Harbour Master

15 Regulation Update

17 The next big frontier for buildings

23 Specifying Cooling Towers for Commercial Buildings

30 Mitigating disaster with accurate data

32 Integration of Building

Engineering Services

35 Case Study:

Chiller Performance Test Rig

37 Preventative Maintenance and Modernisation of Lifts

38 Melbourne Building Retrofit Programme… A Model for Global Environmental Responsibility

41 A productive day at the office?

42 Decontaminating Foul Air in Garbage Chutes and other Closed Air Spaces

44 Natural solutions the answer to rising energy consumption

47 Product News

AdbourneP U B L I S H I N G

DISCLAIMER Adbourne Publishing cannot ensure that the advertisements appearing in The Building Services Journal comply absolutely with the Trade Practices Act and other consumer legislation. The responsibility is therefore on the person, company or advertising agency submitting the advertisement(s) for publication.

Adbourne Publishing and The Institute of Plant Engineers of Australasia reserves the right to refuse any advertisement without stating the reason. No responsibility is accepted for incorrect information contained in advertisements or editorial. The editor reserves the right to edit, abridge or otherwise alter articles for publication.

All original material produced in this magazine remains the property of the publisher and cannot be reproduced without authority. The views of the contributors are not necessarily those of The Institute of Plant Engineers of Australasia or the publisher.

Adbourne Publishing seeks to provide a forum for expression of ideas and opinions from companies and individuals. By presenting these articles the publisher in no way endorses any particular ideology but gives the reader the opportunity to access a variety of different views.

contents

Melbourne OfficeNeil MuirPh: (03) 9758 1433Fax: (03) 9758 1432Email: [email protected]

Adelaide OfficeRobert SpowartPh: 0488 390 039Email: [email protected]

ProductionClaire HenryTel: (03) 9758 1436Email: [email protected]

AdministrationRobyn FantinTel: (03) 9758 1431Email: [email protected]

MarketingTania LamannaTel: (03) 9500 0285Email: [email protected]

17

42

38

5

INSTITUTE

ENGINEERS

PLANT

of

AUSTRALASIA

www.adbourne.com18/69 Acacia Road

Ferntree Gully, VIC 3156PO Box 735, Belgrave, VIC 3160

www.ipea.org.au

2 | Volume 2 – 2010 | The Australian Building Services Journal

IPEA Office Bearers

NATIONAL EXECUTIVE C/- PO Box 81 Dry Creek SA 5094

TITLE NAME PHONE FAX

President Michael Josephs 0412 978 548 (08) 8161 0910 [email protected]

Vice President Ian Patterson 0439 030 140 (08) 8305 8828 [email protected]

Secretary Barry Wilding (03) 9553 1011 (03) 9553 1387 [email protected]

Treasurer Roz White 0428 830 436 (08) 8376 7336 [email protected]

MELBOURNE EXECUTIVE PO Box 4182 Knox City Centre VIC 3152President Position vacant

Vice President Miron Krzywinski 0407 558 499 (03) 9751 4100

Secretary Barry Wilding (03) 9553 1011 (03) 9553 1387 [email protected]

Treasurer Jeff Fraser (03) 9837 5774

ADELAIDE EXECUTIVE PO BOX 8053, Station Arcade SA 5000President Craig White 0422 150 090 (08) 8376 7336 [email protected]

Secretary Les Gurney 0413 151 763 (08) 8360 5253 [email protected]

Treasurer Roz White 0428 830 436 (08) 8376 7336 [email protected]

Membership Ian Patterson Officer [email protected]

Meetings Peter Otten 0413 027 675 Coordinator [email protected]

PERTH EXECUTIVE C/O 113 Mickleham Rd Morley WA 6062President Lynn Callcott 0409 335 408 (08) 9213 3501 [email protected]

SYDNEY EXECUTIVE PO Box A 720 Sydney South NSW 2000Treasurer Cliff Harper (02) 9931 9959 (02) 9931 9995

Journal Editor for IPEA IncDouglas Lee – [email protected]

Contact Ph: (03) 9666 2868 Fax: (03) 9666 2872

Web MasterLes Gurney – [email protected]

Contact Ph: 0413 151 763 Fax: (08) 8360 5253

Application for MembershipYou are cordially invited to become a member of the Institute by completing the details below.

This form will be passed to the respective division and following acceptance the Secretary will contact you. Current Membership fee is $84.00 and includes certificate, and 4 copies of the Institute Journal. I agree to abide by the current rules of the Institute.

Please provide the following contact information:

First Name .............................................................................................................................................

Last Name .............................................................................................................................................

Title ........................................................................................................................................................................

Occupation ..........................................................................................................................................

Street Address .............................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................

City .........................................................................................................................................................................

State ...................................................................................................................................................................

Postcode ...................................................................................................................................................

Country .........................................................................................................................................................

Work Phone ...................................................................................................................................

Home Phone ...................................................................................................................................

Fax ......................................................................................................................................................................

E-mail ................................................................................................................................................................

Forward form to:

The National Secretary IPEA C/- PO Box 81 Dry Creek SA 5094

Greetings to all Members and readers,

Firstly a sincere thank you to all members, for your support in my executive re election recently at the 2009 National AGM.

Amongst the troubled global issues surrounding Australia currently, the forecast for our industry within the Building Services Engineering sector has never looked so bright. Together with the housing and accommodation sectors showing signs of positive growth, the major commercial entities are continuing to provide steady future planning and construction. This is providing growth into the future for the crucial building services for which a majority of our members represent; reassuring signs for us all.

Another long term positive injection is the increase of apprentices within our industry. This valuable resource had until recently, sadly diminished over the previous 15 years. Let’s hope that this resurgence will bring with it the numbers of quality trades people that we all depend upon in supporting our businesses.

A growing number of our members including myself have been involved with market leading projects delivering Green star, ABGR (NABERS) and Energy solutions within the industry. The depth of expertise that these members possess, not only in theory but in delivery, is a very impressive; hence I encourage you all to come along to site visits and committee meetings to meet and gain exposure to our evolving industry and the services we deliver.

National Report

Feel free to contact me for an update, chat or visit our web site for the latest events as they come to hand.

www.ipea.org.au

Michael Josephs National President IPEA


State News

South Australia

Welcome all new members’ local and interstate & corporate sponsors since

our last publication.

Congratulations must go to Adbourne Publishing for their production of our Australian Building Services Journal. The quality & content has been excellent.

Our National AGM will be held in Adelaide this year & I encourage all members to attend. Please see our web site www.ipea.org.au for details. We are also planning a tour of the Barossa for our interstate guests. If any local members are interested in attending this tour please advise me as soon as possible.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our National President Mr Michael Josephs for his ongoing commitment.

Locally there have been some outstanding tours & presentations on:

The Royal Adelaide Show Grounds PV •Power Station

The new University of Adelaide •Engineering Building

Energy efficient cooling towers•The Whyalla Parabolic Solar Energy •Plant

Adelaide’s Desalination Plant at Port •Stanvac

Cooling Tower & Warm Water System •Registration & Annual Auditing

Until next time keep warm utilising clean green solar energy.

Kind Regards,

Craig White

Western Australia

We are endeavouring to get the WA Division up and functioning once again as

there has been little happening with the IPEA in WA recently.

Both Steve Cairns and myself have been canvassing past members and prospective new members over the last few months

and it appears to be a good amount of encouraging feedback in regards to the division being able to get up and running.

We will be conducting an Expression of Interest (EOI) with as many people as we can to get their interest and hopefully get the division functioning again, as we where a very strong division in WA in the 90’s with over 100 members.

Movements

Lynn Callcott has moved from the •CFSP portfolio to the Bankwest Tower at 108 St Georges Terrace.

Steve Cairns in now involved with MDW •Environmental Services as Building Compliance Consultant.

Brett Madalena has moved from the •CFSP portfolio to the Central Law Courts.

Rod Finlan has moved from CFSP •portfolio to the Pluto project in the Pilbara.

Ian Amen has moved from the CBRE •role to the new “Alluvian Building”.

IPEA stalwart Bob Kean has been •spotted at the Royal Perth Hospital.

Tim Kelly has moved from Murdoch •University to Colliers.

John Pirovich has returned from •overseas to Colliers as Sustainability Manager.

General

Western Australia is in the boom phase once again and the opportunities are enormous both in the minerals and petroleum industries and this leads into opportunities for the infrastructure industries to grow and create jobs etc for Engineering and Facilities roles.

There has been a large amount of new building being constructed in the CBD with several large ones about to be opened over the next two years.

We hope to take advantage of this to attract new and former members to the IPEA and become a strong division once again.

Lynn Callcott 0409 335 408

Victoria

We are now in the middle of 2010 and also into another financial year. We all know it

comes around fast.

There has not a great deal of IPEA activity in Victoria over the past few months but it looks brighter for the next period with new member enquiries and renewed interest in what IPEA is all about and what we have to offer members.

The committee is currently looking at a number of submissions for visits to attend and also some presentations.

We hope it will be an exciting time for our division this year and you can also participate in supporting your fellow members and prospective new members. The committee will be happy to welcome any new members who would consider sitting on the committee to help in the growth of IPEA and also support the members.

All industries ensure that all information is available and up to date for those interested so that the technical information the recipient may pass on is correct. IPEA assists and supports with promoting training programs and seminars that will benefit our members and readers.

Please view our web site for National IPEA information. Our web master Les Gurney (SA branch) has done a very good job with the site.

If you require any state information, please do not hesitate to contact me on my mobile 0419 306 963.

Best regards,

Barry Wilding Secretary – IPEA Victorian Division

The Australian Building Services Journal | Volume 2 – 2010 | 5


As Sydney’s first 6 Green Star

As Built building and winner of

the 2009 AIRAH Excellence in

Sustainability Award, the GPT

Group’s Workplace6 has set a new

benchmark in sustainable design.

Sean McGowan reports.

Designed to reduce greenhouse emissions by 70 per cent and cut potable water use by almost

90 per cent, Workplace6 set lofty goals for itself when the project became a key component of the third stage of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority’s

(SHFA) Darling Harbour Masterplan.

The project, which began as a competition for a benchmark building in ecological design and construction initiated by the SHFA, was subsequently awarded to a consortium made up of the GPT Group (GPT) Citta Group, Buildcorp and Waterman, among others.

500 Collins St

The winning five-storey design would ultimately deliver a 6 star Green Star building made up of 18,000 sq m of prime commercial space for up to 1,800 office workers, as well as a mix of retail and eating spaces.

Buildcorp appointed Waterman as building services engineers, related ESD design engineers and ESD modelling consultant on the landmark project.

“The brief for Workplace6 was for a minimum 5 Star ABGR (now known as NABERS Energy) base building,” says Scott Brown, Waterman’s director of mechanical services and sustainability.

“The project team saw this as an opportunity for improvement, and aimed much higher so that the building could further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Achieving the ultimate on a budgetOne of the more interesting elements to the story of Workplace6’s design and ultimately its efficient operation is that budget and market pressures meant that, despite being short on the bells and whistles consistently

found in similar green buildings, ended up outperforming its highly specified peers.

According to Brown, the building was designed on a speculative basis (with no prospective tenants until it was partially complete), meaning it was imperative to marketing that it look and operate like any other premium-grade building. Strict budgetary constraints meant HVAC design had to be both highly efficient and cleverly designed.

“This meant that each services subcontractor also had a competitive fixed lump sum that was based on a brief before the design was carried out,” Brown says.

“Therefore Waterman needed to not only design for Sydney’s first 6 Star building – we needed to design it to suit numerous assumptions that were being made by the tenderers. In some cases, assumptions were made that limited the design Waterman could do.”

Working within these constraints, the designers of Workplace6 put to work well-known, proven HVAC technologies in combinations intended to complement each other, to deliver a robust and highly efficient

Workplace6 uses harbour water in its heat rejection system, which saves eight million litres of water per year

Harbour master


system while maintaining superior indoor environmental quality.

The sum of all partsEntering Workplace6, there are no hallmarks to indicate this building is more efficient than any other. Yet those lucky to be working within it have come to appreciate the indoor air quality delivered by the sum of all its parts.

This includes the use of chilled beams, high fresh air rates, CO2 sensors and operable facades.

For the design delivered by Waterman, outside air is supplied from central air handling units to each floor at a rate 50 per cent greater than that required by Australian Standards. The separation and distribution of outlets for the air distribution system are designed to provide efficient and effective air change, while CO2 levels are monitored to ensure normal levels are not exceeded.

Chilled beams are employed in two variations: passive for central zone areas and active in perimeter zones where demand for cooling is higher due to facade loads.

“The combination of air supply via swirl diffusers and convective air movement from the passive chilled beams provides enough cooling for comfortable conditions, while modulating the chilled water flow to the passive chilled beams controls the temperature,” explains Brown.

The air supplied to the active beams is primary air, with the system based on the same principle as induction units, which were popular in the 1970s. In this case the systems chosen run at low air pressure, with more nozzle surface area to reduce the “hiss” generated by venturi nozzles. Like the passive beams, modulating the chilled water flow also controls the temperature.

In addition to allowing tenants control over their specific space, the operable facade allows for the installation of open and fresh-air winter gardens within tenancies at various levels.

Perimeter lighting is automatically dimmed as daylight levels rise, while automation switches lights on only when spaces are occupied.

Trigenerational successWorkplace6 features a gas-fired trigeneration system to provide power for use during

peak building operation, by supplying base building mechanical services loads.

The heat from the generator engine cooling system, which would typically be rejected to the atmosphere, is instead diverted through a heat recovery system. Further heat is also recovered from the generator exhaust flue before it is discharged outside.

“The main use of the recovered heat is to run a hot water absorption chiller that provides up to 400kW of cooling capacity for the base building air conditioning systems,” Brown explains. “The hot water recovered effectively powers a water-based refrigeration system instead of using a standard compressor with a large electric motor.”

The only electrical power required by this type of chiller is used to run the control panel and small pump.

A secondary use of this recovered heat is for space heating in winter months, with a gas-fired boiler system also installed to provide back-up and any additional heat required for space heating and/or cooling.

According to Brown, the trigeneration system is designed to reduce base building peak electrical load by a third – reducing incoming base building electricity sourced from the grid from 1325kVA to 875kVA.

“Selected loads being fed from the gas generator are able to switch over to the incoming mains supply to enable after-hours and low-load use of the building

The onsite black-water treatment facility reduces reliance on

drinking water.


without the need to run the gas generator,” Brown says. “The electrical output from the gas generator is also backed-up by the building’s diesel generator in the event of major service or breakdown.”

Along with reducing utility supplied electricity, predicted greenhouse gas emissions have also been reduced.

Despite the project’s successful implementation of trigeneration, Brown believes that capital costs and the design of rating requirements have impacted on the adoption of the technology.

“In theory, the best way to design trigeneration would be for a combination of base-building and fit-out loads,” he says. “Unfortunately Green Star addresses base building and fit-out in two separate tools, making it not cost effective for base building to be sized for fit-out loads when building a speculative base building..

“The other issue is that electrical supply authorities will not pay for any power from small generators, such as trigeneration plant. There is therefore no incentive to run a trigeneration system at or near full load at times when the building load is low. If these barriers were removed, trigeneration would be a far more effective proposal.”

Harnessing the harbourOne of the other key efficiencies achieved by the HVAC design of Workplace6 is through the use of a Sydney Harbour

water heat-rejection system, connected via titanium plate heat exchangers to the building’s condenser water systems.

Not only does this system allow for the use of water-cooled chillers, which offer a significantly higher COP compared to similar sized air-cooled chillers, but the condenser water design temperatures of 26-33°C were designed as a hybrid of two proven energy-saving measures that became available due to the use of harbour water heat rejection.

Firstly, the lower temperatures used, compared to the industry norm of 29.5⁰C-35°C, allows all water-cooled equipment,

including the base building electric chillers and any tenant-installed packaged units, to use less compressor energy in the refrigeration cycle, a reduction of about 10 per cent.

Secondly, the larger temperature difference of 7°C compared to the industry norm of 5.5°C reduces condenser water flow, and hence associated pump power, by an estimated 20 per cent.

Water managementAn original requirement by the SHFA was that the Workplace6 building provides recycled water to two adjacent off-site parks for irrigation. Though Waterman’s design included typical water-efficient hydraulic services fittings and fixtures, major reductions in potable water demand have been delivered from the harbour water heat rejection system and an onsite black-water treatment facility.

While the harbour water heat rejection system saves eight million litres of water per year by removing any need for cooling towers; the requirement to install an onsite black-water recycling plant has also seen reliance on drinking water reduce by 11.68 million litres per year.

Remarkably, the design of the plant ensures that it not only has the ability to turn the building’s waste water into usable recycled water, but if the building isn’t producing enough waste, the plant is able to draw on the local sewer to convert that into usable water.

The trigenerational system reduces peak electrical load.

Titanium plate heat exchangers are connected to the building’s condenser water systems.


Sewage is extracted from an adjacent Sydney Water sewer main and passed through a screen, eliminating solids. This then passes a biological reactor tank where microbes clean up much of the organic waste before then entering a structure of fine membranes with microscopic pores, which allow only clean water to permeate through. Finally, a carbon filter removes any lasting particles, before the water is sanitized by UV treatment and chlorine.

According to Brown, the plant produces up to 40,000 litres per day, about five times more than the building uses, with the remainder used to irrigate adjacent parks and gardens as specified in the brief.

“Being the first blackwater treatment plant in a commercial office building in New South Wales, Waterman in conjunction with subcontractors conducted extensive consultation with Sydney Water and the City of Sydney council,” Brown explains. “They themselves had not approved a plant like this before, so the team engaged a specialist who facilitated meetings to develop an approval process, which is now in place for future projects.

“This is considered to be one of the most innovative elements of the project in relation to the building’s legacy.”

The black-water treatment plant has been installed external to the building, and is on full display to the public, with two LCD screens providing an educational presentation on its operation and the importance of water conservation.

BMS and ModellingA comprehensive building management system (BMS) based on the BACnet protocol was designed by Waterman for Workplace6 to ensure premium space conditions and achieve optimum efficiency.

In addition, a sub-metering system features 23 electricity meters, five gas meters and 11 water meters strategically located around the building and monitored by the BMS to enable building management personnel to see where and when energy and water is used.

This system, along with the various HVAC design elements, were modelled and tested using an optimisation loop and IES Virtual Environment software.

This loop began at designing the key performance parameters into concept, with these designs modelled and tested. They were then tested for potential improvement in conjunction with the design team, with further research into options carried out.

Feedback from testing then influenced design development, before the loop was repeated until it appeared no further improvement could be made to sustainable outcomes, design, cost or performance.

According to Brown, the key parameters for which modelling and testing were carried out were energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, thermal comfort and glazing selection.

“In addition, we ensured laboratory testing of specific chilled beam parameters based on actual selected perforated ceilings, lighting, chilled beams, internal loads and swirl diffusers,” Brown explains. “This was carried out at [a] test facility in Finland.”

Waterman also participated in an extensive commissioning program that was undertaken early in the construction process in accordance with CIBSE standards to ensure the complex systems performed as designed.

“Often a neglected component of building construction, an independent commissioning agent formed part of the project team to verify all systems,” adds Brown.

Workplace6 at a glanceThe professionalsArchitect: Nettleton Tribe

Builder: Buildcorp

Building services engineers, ESD design engineers, ESD modelling consultants: Waterman

Developer: Citta Property Group

Independent Commissioning Agent: Thwaite Consulting

Mechanical sub-contractor: JL Williams

Owner: GPT Wholesale Office Fund

The equipmentAbsorption chiller: Thermax

Air handling units: G.J. Walker

BMS: Automated Logic

Chilled beams, active: Dadanco

Chilled beams, passive: Halton

CO2 sensors/controls: Automated Logic

Electric chillers: Powerpax

Fans: Fantech

Gas-fired boiler: Simons Boilers

Heat exchangers: Alfa Laval

Pumps: Malcolm Thompson Pumps

Swirl diffusers: Halton

Trigeneration: Deutz (gas generator)

HVAC design elements were modified and tested using an optimised loop.


Exceeding expectationsAs well as meeting the minimum project objectives defined by the various stakeholders of the project, there are a number of areas where the design of Workplace6 has exceeded these requirements and added value to both the building and its surrounds.

Despite the initial brief being for a minimum 5 Star Green Star rating (which required a minimum number of weighted points of 60), this benchmark was increased to 6 Stars by Citta/GTP. This increased the minimum points to 75.

Brown and other project team members committed to meeting this objective, with the final number of weighted points awarded by the Green Building Council of Australia being 83 – exceeding the minimum required by eight.

If higher ratings were available and half star possible, Workplace6 would achieve 6.5 stars.

Two areas the building design scored particularly well in were the energy and water categories, where it scored 21 out of 24, and 13 out of 13 respectively.

Brown says the fact that Workplace6 was speculatively designed and constructed at a cost of approximately $53 million sets a new benchmark in ecologically sustainable design.

“This was a different approach to green buildings, and very much unlike many of the green buildings before it, built for a pre-defined user,” he says. “This factor played a large part in the final designs, which needed to remain flexible right through the final stages to ensure adaptability for the end user once they were signed to take space in the building.”

This article was published in Ecolibrium, February 2010. Reprinted with permission. Copyright remains with AIRAH, and the article may not be reproduced without the express permission of AIRAH. Visit www.airah.org.au

This, it appears, could not have been achieved without the coordinated approach taken by the team involved.

In order to deliver a 6 Star Green Star building, it was felt that all team members would need to have a unique understanding of sustainability and green buildings.

As such, Buildcorp held private Green Star training for all key project members. Waterman accredited engineers in all disciplines for the delivery of Workplace6.

“The effect of having key members in all engineering disciplines trained in Green Star was that it became a relatively smooth and simple process – just like any other day-to-day engineering tasks,” explains Brown, adding that it meant team members better understood the project goals, and removed the likelihood of suggestions that could throw the project off-track.

“The need for integrated practice was drummed into the entire design team from the beginning by Buildcorp,” Brown says. “So it didn’t take long for all the design team to be working together for common goals.”

Furthermore, Buildcorp as contractor adapted its standard project management practice to ensure a Green Star As Built rating and modelled energy efficiencies could be realised.

This spirit of collaboration, knowledge sharing and integration were key factors in the building also being award four innovation points under the As Built certification.

Workplace6 was completed ahead of schedule in November 2008, with its office space fully leased to tenants Google and Accenture. n

Wor

kpla

ce6

The benchmarkWorkplace6 won the 2009 Excellence in Sustainability Award at the AIRAH presentation dinner held late last year at Crown Casino.


VIC: Public Health and Wellbeing

Regulations

On 1 January 2010, the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2009 came into effect. Included in the new regulations are important changes concerning the regulation of cooling towers and warm water systems for the control of Legionella. The Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (PHWA) was passed by the Victorian Parliament in 2008. The PHWA commenced on 1 January 2010 and supersedes the Health Act 1958. A single set of regulations, the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2009 came into effect on 1 January 2010 and replaces ten sets of regulations. The Regulations also include some aspects that relate to the regulation and management of cooling tower systems as currently regulated via the Building (Legionella Risk Management) Regulations 2001 and the Building Regulations 2006. For further information, go to the Plumbing Industry Website at www.pic.vic.gov.au

NSW: Exemption from Fire Safe Standards

Engineers and Managers intending to alter their building should have an awareness of possible exemptions for compliance may wish to be considered. If any Category 3 fire safety provision is considered to be unreasonable or unnecessary in the particular circumstances of a proposed development, application may be made to the Commissioner (fire brigade) for an exemption from certain fire safety

schedules. (Category 3 examples are fire hydrants, fire hose reels, portable fire extinguishers etc)

If any Category 3 fire safety provision is considered to be unreasonable or unnecessary in the particular circumstances of a proposed development, application may be made to the Commissioner for an exemption from certain fire safety standards.

There are two situations when this may apply:

A Development Application is in effect •for an existing building that does not seek any alteration, enlargement or extension of the building;

An application for a construction •certificate for building work, other than building work associated with a change of building use.

There is no timeframe specified in the legislation. It must be noted, however, that the fire safety assessment is made on the basis of documents and plans submitted. If the documentation is not complete, the NSW fire brigade cannot proceed and the application will be rejected.

AUST: Protection of enclosed electrical Equipment

Engineers and Managers whose buildings are to undergo alterations should be aware that AS/NZS 3000 requires live parts of electrical systems to be inside a protective enclosure that is protected to a minimum IP standard. Clause 1.5.4.4 of AS/NZS 3000 specified this level of protection to be provided as follows;

Building Services Regulation UpdateBy DEREK HENDRY

IPXXB or IP2X, and•

IP4X for horizontal surfaces that are •readily accessible

The IP4X requirement can also apply to an enclosure provided by a floor and other components of a structure that when moved, could displace the electrical object. This means that barriers and enclosures must be firmly secured in place with adequate stability and strength to withstand any appreciable dislodgement. The degree of protection is expressed as an IP (international protection) rating in accordance with AS 60529. AS 60529 details how an IP rating is established for an electrical enclosure required to protect a person against hazardous electrical parts, protection of the equipment against solid foreign objects and against the ingress of water.

WA: Occupiers Liability Act

A little known Act of the Western Australian State Parliament can present some significant consequences for Engineers, Managers, building occupiers and landlords should a building occupant be injured or killed whilst within a building under the control of someone else.

The Occupiers Liability Act 1985 carries with it several far-reaching obligations for the occupier of property with regard to the safety of persons entering a building, or part, either legally or illegally. For further information, go to www.essentialmatters.com.au Issue 70 – WA April 10.

continues next page >


About the Hendry Group

Derek Hendry is the Managing Director of the Hendry Group of Consulting companies, including Essential Property Services. Derek pioneered the ‘private certification’ system of building

approvals in Australia, and his nationally based consultancy offices assist clients in all facets of building control and essential safety measure audits. The Hendry Group publish an e-newsletter entitled ‘essential matters’, available online at www.emau.com.au, and their new service, BCA Illustrated (at www.bcai.com.au), offers 3000 illustrations explaining and interpreting the BCA as it applies to your building.

QLD: Are Your Buildings A Nuisance?

Engineers and Managers must include acoustic attenuation in all mechanical plant upgrades to avoid the possibility of being an “Environmental Nuisance” as defined by the Queenland Environmental Protection Act 1994. Recent amendments to the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EPA) have included a reduction in acceptable noise levels and the adoption of the Environmental Protection (Noise) Policy 2008 (EPNP).

The EPA does not discriminate between residential areas and commercial areas therefore many existing CBD buildings can be affected by a complaint from an occupier of an adjacent or nearby building. Obviously an investigation officer will need to take into consideration the age of the buildings involved and whether a building is either producing the noise or contains the receptor (complainant).

Where a complaint is made against noise from an existing building it is important that any recent upgrades to plant and/or equipment can demonstrate that noise levels have not been increased.

AUST: Building Clearance for Fire Appliances

Commercial building owners and managers are being held accountable by Fire Authorities for not ensuring “open space” requirements around large isolated buildings. (This certainly will affect insurance payouts in the case of a major claim.)

The Building Code of Australia defines a large isolated building having an area over 18,000m2. Open space must be provided around the building of at least 6m wide and not be obstructed to allow fire appliances to enter the site. Many sites containing large isolated buildings have their perimeters partially or fully blocked with debris or storage. A recipe for disaster.

WA: New Asbestos Removal Licensing

Engineers and Managers contemplating alterations to their building’s must be aware that Worksafe WA claims new occupational safety and health laws, which ensure only workers with the proper skills and knowledge can remove asbestos, will soon come into operation. From 1 June 2010, business operators removing more than

ten square metres of bonded asbestos, including asbestos cement material, in a workplace will need to have completed an approved training course and hold an asbestos license. Inadequate licensing by staff or contractors will certainly be a show stopper for any building works when you are caught out.

NSW: Council Accredited Certifiers

From the 1 March 2010, the Building Professionals Board (BPS) has introduced a framework for accreditation of NSW Council Building Surveyors who carry out building certification work on behalf of a council. Once accredited by the BPB, Council employees will be known as “council accredited certifiers” whose certificate of accreditation will allow the certifier to carry out certification work only as an employee of a council.

VIC: Safety Alert for Insulation Installers

WorkSafe Victoria has issued a Safety Alert titled “Electrical Risks to Insulation Installers”. This alert highlights the risks when installing insulation and working near electrical equipment in ceilings and provides guidance about how to identify and control all hazards. Facility/Property Managers must be alert to the fact that this is a general alert and appliers to all classes and types of buildings eg hotels, offices, factories, schools etc. n

Building Services Regulation Update(continued)

Commercial building owners and managers are being held accountable by Fire Authorities for not ensuring “open space” requirements around large isolated buildings.


Building energy performance

reporting is the next big frontier

for buildings.

In June 2010, the Senate passed new

mandatory disclosure legislation which requires building owners and lessors in all states and territories

across Australia to disclose an up-to-date Building Energy Efficiency Certificate when they sell, lease or sub-lease office space of more than 2,000 square metres.

Disclosing this rating will ensure companies have access to consistent and meaningful information about a building’s performance, making it easier for them to purchase or rent more energy-efficient office space.

These measures will also provide strong market-based incentives for owners to improve their properties with cost-effective energy-efficient upgrades, which will in turn increase their return on investment. And these measures represent a significant step towards more environmentally AND economically sustainable commercial office premises.

Retrofitting Australia’s existing buildings is by far the most effective way to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated

The next big frontier for buildingsBy ROMILLY MADEW Chief Executive, Green Building Council of Australia

500 Collins St


with the built environment. Of Australia’s 21 million square metres of existing office stock, 81 per cent is more than ten years old. Research by Davis Langdon has confirmed that 1.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions could be saved every year by retrofitting office stock more than 20 years old to achieve NABERS 4.5 Star ratings. This 38 per cent improvement in energy efficiency would be equal to removing at least a quarter of a million cars from Australian roads.

Research by the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) and the Centre for International Economics has found that the base building load for the residential and commercial sector alone is responsible for 23 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has stated in its 2009 report that “no other sector has such a high potential for drastic emission reductions”.

UNEP’s findings have been supported by a report released by the ClimateWorks Australia ‘think tank’ early in 2010. The Low Carbon Growth Plan argues that Australia can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 25 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020 at an average annual cost of AUD$185 per household, and that this reduction can be achieved using technologies that are available today.

The most cost-effective abatement opportunity, ClimateWorks found, was retrofitting commercial buildings such as offices, shopping centres, schools, public buildings and hospitals. The

500 Collins St

easiest ‘win’ would be removing, replacing or downsizing inefficient equipment to reduce energy waste. This was followed by retrofitting heating, ventilation and cooling systems, appliances, lighting, water heating and improving insulation. According to ClimateWorks, around three quarters of the emissions reduction opportunities identified are profitable to investors, even without a carbon price.

The Green Star environmental rating system for buildings is supporting green retrofits around the country. One of the first projects to achieve a Green Star rating in Australia, 500 Collins Street in Melbourne, remains an iconic green retrofit.

Originally built in 1970, 500 Collins Street was the first refurbishment of a CBD commercial building to achieve a Green Star certification. The Kador Group commenced the progressive green renovation in 2006, earning a 5 Star Green Star – Office v1 rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. Particularly impressive is the fact that the building’s occupancy did not fall below 70 per cent during the entire renovation process.

A host of environmental features were incorporated into the renovation, including chilled beam air cooling, energy-efficient T5 light fittings and solar panels. As a result, the retrofit has delivered a 30 per cent saving in air-conditioning energy, a 50 per cent saving in energy from lighting systems and a further 15 per cent saving in energy from hot water systems.

A productivity study commissioned by Sustainability Victoria found that the refurbished office delivered a 39 per cent reduction in average sick leave and a 44 per cent reduction in the monthly average cost of sick leave. Even more surprising, the new green office boosted typing speeds of secretaries by 9 per cent and lawyers’ billing ratios by 7 per cent, despite a 12 per cent decline in the average monthly hours worked.

One of the tenants at 500 Collins Street, legal firm Oakley Thompson, reported significant reductions in the frequency of staff headaches, sore throats, sore eyes, colds and flu, and workers feeling ‘off colour’. 40 per cent of the surveyed staff found their new offices to be ‘invigorating’.

The federal government’s new mandatory disclosure laws highlight the old adage, ‘what gets measured gets managed’. The new laws will encourage building owners to start benchmarking their buildings’ energy performance so that they can establish what needs to be done to meet the new certification requirements.

Of course, energy efficiency is only one aspect of environmental performance. The GBCA’s Green Star rating tool incorporates a number of aspects of environmental performance, in addition to energy efficiency: water efficiency, indoor environment quality and emissions, as well as management, transport, materials, land use and ecology, and innovation.

Our next task will be to work closely with the Australian Government to ensure other building types and metrics are introduced into the scheme over time. And the GBCA will continue to work with members and industry stakeholders to develop the Green Star Communities tool, using the learning outcomes from individual buildings to inform a tool which can evaluate more of our built environment. n

The next big frontier for buildings(continued)


Chiller Electrical Energy Waste with an Undersized Cooling Tower

In recent times the growing concern for natural resources and how they are affected by commercial building activities

has prompted the Green Star rating system. A key part of the challenge is to minimize energy consumed and engineers will apply stringent scrutiny to the performance and efficiency of chiller sets in particular, often to the point of insisting on expensive proof testing of the as-built product. The cooling tower on the other hand, being a cheaper, “simpler” device and requiring only about one tenth of the electrical power is often given very little respect and purchased purely at the lowest price. The fact is that the expensive, carefully selected and tested chiller will not be able to meet its guaranteed efficiency and capability in the final installation unless the cooling tower delivers the water at the correct temperature. As a guideline, a cooling tower which is 15% undersize will lead to an increase in condensing temperature of 1ºC which in rough terms can lead to a chiller motor power consumption increase of 4%. Without scrutiny, it is possible for a cooling tower installation to be 30% undersize and to escape detection until it is too late. This can represent a chiller energy penalty to the project of 8% or more for the rest of its installed life. The extra cost for the correctly sized cooling tower would have been paid back in reduced energy bills in a very short time indeed.

Present Situation

The commonly accepted practice when specifying cooling towers for commercial air conditioning is to declare the total heat rejection and temperatures at the critical time when the load is greatest and when the ambient has the highest wet bulb temperature. This seems to be an entirely appropriate description of the requirement. On the other hand when the high wet bulb is specified in this way it is a rare event that does not facilitate checking once the cooling tower is installed. The cooling tower will still be required to perform on those infrequent peak occasions, so there is a need to be satisfied that the tower will be able to do the job well ahead of time. Once contractors have left site it is very difficult to recapture their interest and deal with an undersized cooling tower installation. Designers have been aware for many years how uncertain they are that cooling towers will be correctly sized. Rather than provide a preference for suppliers they know and trust, it has been commonplace to increase the specified design wet bulb as a safety margin. Unfortunately this higher wet bulb increases the size for all of the cooling tower suppliers. The inflated wet bulb now makes thermal verification harder because it occurs more rarely, if at all. This paper deals with this issue and provides options to help protect owners from the energy loss that will result from an undersized cooling tower.

Specifying Cooling Towers for Commercial Buildings

CTI Certification, An Option

In the USA in particular the dilemma described above has been overcome with most

cooling tower manufacturers receiving certification from an independent body which verifies the performance claims within literature and selection software. This process is called CTI Certification. Worldwide there are over 70 cooling tower lines making available more than 6,500 certified models to choose from.To obtain certification, the independent body tests a sample of the product line and compares the results to published claims. Every year, a re-verification test is performed on another model within the product line by the independent body to confirm that the as-built product is faithful to the original expectations. The confidence given to the industry has allowed specifications to include more factual design wet bulbs. Cooling towers can be sized neatly for

By JOhn E. RUlE


a particular project without false safety margins. There is no need to test the cooling tower beyond inspections for adequate ventilation, appropriately connected plumbing, shipping damage, checking of power supply, fan rotation etc...

Field Testing of As-Built Product

Within Australia, the specification of towers with CTI credentials has been spasmodic due to the limited availability of certified cooling tower manufacturers or distributors. The alternative is to ensure that cooling towers are evaluated at the time of installation to verify that they are going to perform satisfactorily on the hot day. The trouble is that the specified wet bulb is usually too high for comparison and the mathematics of linking the observed thermal performance on an ordinary day with precision to what is expected to happen on a hot day is fairly complicated. CTI certified testing agencies can do these tests and perform precise calculations but they are still reliant on the manufacturer to provide data which may itself beg scrutiny.

Frequency of Wet Bulb

Chart A shows a plot of the number of hours that wet bulbs occur throughout the year for Sydney, Australia.This data has been extracted from Reference 1. Reference 2 for Sydney suggests a design wet bulb temperature for comfort cooling applications of 22.7ºC. The data in Reference 1 suggests that this wet bulb is exceeded only 120 hours per year, or 1.4% of the time. The common practice in Sydney is to specify a 24ºC wet bulb which is exceeded for approximately 20 hours per year or 0.2% of the time. These brief periods do not represent the bulk operating time of the plant nor do they offer a time period where commissioning can take

place. The reality is that a refrigeration plant in Sydney will spend over 80% of its life operating at wet bulb temperatures cooler than 20ºC as plotted on Chart A. This paper argues that it would be more meaningful for a cooling tower to be specified to meet these more ordinary conditions and would allow it to be scrutinized during the commissioning process. This could only be satisfactory if there is knowledge that when specified and tested at these conditions, the cooling tower will perform satisfactorily on the hot(peak) day.

But All Cooling Towers Perform Differently - Don’t They?

It is true that a counterflow cooling tower academically has to be modeled differently to a crossflow cooling tower because the waterflow patterns are different. It is also true that a cooling tower selected using a small airflow is going to respond differently to one with a high airflow. And a different type of fill media will behave differently as air and waterflows change. So it is not evident how much these differences make and how various towers might perform over the variety of operating conditions. If there were major differences, one would think that after so many years of cooling tower applications in comfort cooling, a designer would firstly select a variety of cooling towers which meet the critical design duty. Then he/she would compare and favor the tower brand or type that also provides the coolest water during the conditions at which the chiller will be operating longest. In the author’s experience this line of inquiry has never been pursued which suggests that cooling towers in practice do not behave all that differently to each other as wet bulb temperatures change throughout their operating range.

Performance Comparisons

To compare how different cooling towers perform for a typical project let us consider how they might be configured to satisfy a total heat of rejection of approx 1500kW by cooling 65L/s of water from 35ºC(EWT) to 29.5ºC(LWT) with an entering wet bulb of 24ºC(EWB). This duty is abbreviated to 65L/s@35/29.5/24 requiring a cooling tower with a footprint say 3 metres by 4 metres. The two main geometries of cooling tower are crossflow and counterflow. For each of these geometries, a cooling tower

can be selected with say, a small airflow, a medium airflow or a large airflow. Obviously, a tower designed for a small airflow would require a large surface area and/or a high heat transfer rate. Likewise, a cooling tower with a high airflow could do the job with a smaller, less efficient fill pack. In view of this, an evaluation of six different cooling tower configurations as listed in Table 1 would cover a wide range of solutions available.

TABlE 1 - Evaluated Cooling Tower Configurations

CT Type Airflow Fill Bundle

1 Counterflow Low Large

2 Counterflow Medium Medium

3 Counterflow High Small

4 Crossflow Low Large

5 Crossflow Medium Medium

6 Crossflow High Small

Theoretical Evaluation Method of Cooling Tower Configurations

For each cooling tower, once the airflow is chosen, a matching overall ‘KA’ value can be determined which will satisfy the duty. The KA value is the product of the surface area and the mass transfer coefficient. This is similar to the UA factor sometimes used in analyzing sensible heat transfer heat exchangers. However, because the driving force is an enthalpy difference not a temperature difference, the use of algebra cannot be used to create simple formulae as is the case for sensible heat exchangers.

Instead, the author has employed the concept of finite element analysis.This is similar to those described in reference 3. Each cooling tower configuration under consideration is broken up into many, smaller heat transfer elements and the local heat transfer for each element is evaluated using the formula:

dQ= dA x K x (hw-ha)

Where:

dQ = small amount of heat transfer •over the element (kW) >

dA = small amount of surface area in •the element (m2)

K = Coefficient of mass transfer (kW/•(m2.kJ/kg)


Hw=Enthalpy of air using the element •water film temperature(kJ/kg)

Ha= Enthalpy of air using the element •air temperature (kJ/kg)

The overall performance is the accumulation of all of the smaller steps of heat transfer. To analyze a crossflow arrangement, a two dimensional accumulated analysis is required. For a counterflow arrangement, only a single dimensional accumulated analysis is required. Computers are essential to deal with the amount of calculations.

For the six cooling tower configurations under consideration, Table 2 shows the airflows assumed so as to cover the typical range. Crossflow cooling towers have higher airflows than counterflow towers. The KA value is determined by iteration so that it satisfies the example duty of 65L/s 35(EWT)/29.5(LWT)/24(EWB) with the airflow. The last column shows what the leaving water temperature would be for the same heat load, air flow, water flow and KA value but at entering wet bulbs of 16ºC.

It can be seen that the leaving water temperatures are different for each type of tower as the wet bulb falls. However, the difference between each is not as great as one would imagine. At a 16ºC entering wet bulb, the typical leaving water temperature is 24.2ºC (+/- 0.1ºC). This suggests that if the specification for the cooling tower were written to cool 65L/s of water from say 29.7ºC to 24.2ºC with a wet bulb of 16ºC, the tower should go close to satisfying the required 65L/s of water from 35ºC to 29.5ºC with a wet bulb of 24ºC.

Actual Cooling Towers

The above theory is encouraging, but there is a need to consider what happens with real cooling towers. The mass transfer rates can vary with temperature and the fans will perform differently according to whether they are in the wet or the dry air stream or hot or cold air. There are likely to be other factors which also come into play. To evaluate how real cooling towers perform, the author has referred to the CTI performance ratings of 600+ cooling

towers made by BAC’s principle in the USA and which have been extensively laboratory tested as part of the CTI program. The information is proprietory so individual models are not discussed. To test the variation between cooling towers, each model was evaluated to determine how much water it could cool at the example design temperatures of 35.0ºC/29.5ºC/24.0ºC. There were four styles of cooling tower in the range. For each style of cooling tower, the water temperatures for a 16ºC wet bulb were adjusted so as to minimize the average deviation from the original flows at 35.0ºC/29.5ºC/24.0ºC.

Table 3, shows that the leaving water temperature falls between say 23.7ºC and 24.1ºC with a wet bulb of 16ºC. The variation is wider than the theory but is still reasonably small. The figures suggest that a reasonably close matching cooling tower would always be selected if the new temperatures were 29.38ºC/23.88ºC/16ºC.

What About the Design Day?

Before we could adopt new temperatures in a specification relating to milder conditions, we need to check that once a cooling tower is selected what temperatures that tower would achieve on a design wet bulb day. To perform this analysis, the average temperature from Table 3 (29.38ºC/23.88ºC/16ºC) was used to establish what the flow rate capability was for each of the 654 models of cooling tower. The entering wet bulb was then changed to 24ºC and the deviation from the target leaving water temperature of 29.5ºC determined. During the analysis the author calculated the standard deviation for the whole group as 0.09K. The actual variations are grouped in Table 4.

The maximum variation of +/-0.3K is consistent with statistical theory that virtually all leaving water temperatures should be within 3 standard deviations of the average (3*0.09=0.27 K). Note that only twelve (2%) of towers would have a leaving water temperature warmer than 0.2ºC above the targeted 29.5ºC.

Other Design Conditions

The concept of focusing a specification on duties at lower wet bulb temperatures

TABlE 2 - Theoretical leaving Water Temperatures for the Same heat load and Air flow

CT Type Airflow KA (l/s) kW(kJ/kg) lWT @ 24ºC EWB lWT @ 16ºC EWB

1 Counterflow 30,000 77.0

29.5ºC

24.33ºC

2 Counterflow 35,000 66.2 24.25ºC

3 Counterflow 40,000 60.3 24.20ºC

4 Crossflow 35,000 63.9 24.23ºC

5 Crossflow 40,000 58.0 24.19ºC

6 Crossflow 45,000 54.3 24.17ºC

TABlE 3 - Actual leaving Water Temperatures for the Same heat load and Air flow

Cooling Tower Type no. of Models

Avg. Temp. (ºC) Max. Deviation

Counterflow - Induced Draft 214 29.51 / 24.01 / 16EWB 2% of flow

Counterflow - Forced Draft 215 29.24 / 23.74 / 16EWB 2% of flow

Crossflow - Induced Draft 175 29.39 / 23.89 / 16EWB 1% of flow

Crossflow - Forced Draft 50 29.39 / 23.89 / 16EWB 1% of flow

Total of Evaluated Cooling Tower Models 654 29.38 / 23.88 / 16EWB Average

TABlE 4 - Actual Variations (K) of leaving Water Temperatures

no. of Models

Water is Cooler than 29.5ºC by between 0.2 and 0.3K 51



Water is Warmer than 29.5ºC by between 0.0 and 0.1K 345




would be incomplete unless it were evaluated for designs having other peak design wet bulbs. For example, in Darwin the typical peak duty might be specified at a wet bulb of 28ºC and for New Zealand as low as 19ºC.

The author has analyzed the ratings of the above group of certified cooling towers to determine design, entering and leaving water temperatures at typically 8ºC below a variety of design wet bulb temperatures. These are shown in Table 5 together with the expected water temperatures at an intermediate wet bulb. The target (peak)

design day water temperatures are all 35ºC/29.5ºC but could be developed around various design conditions.

To allow the uncertainty to be evaluated, the standard deviation is given as zero for the base value at the coldest wet bulb temperature, and then evaluated as the wet bulb increases to the intermediate temperature and to the design wet bulb. It would be expected that 95% of cooling towers would be within two standard deviations and virtually all cooling towers would perform within 3 standard deviations.

Example:

Consider a location (Brisbane) requiring target water temperatures of 35ºC/29.5ºC with a design wet bulb day of 25.5ºC. By referring to Table 5, the specification should also specify base (cold day) conditions of 28.96ºC/23.46ºC/17.5ºC, as well as the intermediate conditions of 31.93ºC/26.43ºC/21.5ºC. If the cooling tower were field evaluated and shown to perform at the 17.5ºC wet bulb condition day it could also be expected to cool close to 35ºC/29.5ºC/25.5ºC. The author has calculated the standard deviation at the

TABlE 5 - Examples of Design Temperatures to Include in Specifications

Location Day Temp. Range EWT (ºC) LWT (ºC) EWT (ºC)

Hobart Cold Day (base)

5.5

31.56 26.06 13.00

Intermediate Day 33.25 27.75 16.00

Peak Day 35.00 29.50 19.00

Adelaide Cold Day (base)

5.5

31.27 25.77 15.00


Peak Day 35.00 29.50 21.00

Cold Day (base)

5.5

30.48 24.98 15.00


Peak Day 35.00 29.50 22.00

Melbourne Cold Day (base)

5.5

29.63 24.13 15.00


Peak Day 35.00 29.50 22.00

Sydney / Perth Cold Day (base)

5.5

29.38 23.88 16.00


Peak Day 35.00 29.50 24.00

Northern NSW (Coastal Area) Cold Day (base)

5.5

29.10 23.60 17.00


Peak Day 35.00 29.50 25.00

Brisbane Cold Day (base) 5.5 28.96 23.46 17.50


Peak Day 35.00 29.50 25.50

Central QLD (Coastal Area) Cold Day (base)

5.5

28.80 23.30 18.00


Peak Day 35.00 29.50 26.00

Darwin (1) Cold Day (base)

5.5

28.13 22.63 20.00


Peak Day 35.00 29.50 28.00

Darwin (2) Cold Day (base)

5.0

30.96 25.96 20.00


Peak Day 37.00 32.00 28.00


peak wet bulb condition for the 654 models to be 0.09K. Statistically 99.7% of all cooling towers should be within 3 standard deviations or say 0.3ºC of the target. Half of the cooling towers would cool better than desired which means that there is little chance that any cooling tower would only cool to 29.8ºC instead of 29.5ºC.

Conclusions

The analyses presented in this paper offer tools which allow buyers to take more control when choosing an appropriate cooling tower and maximize energy efficiency. This is a far better approach than trying to recover from a failed system which only becomes evident when it is needed most. The specific approaches that should be taken are:

1. With CTI certified towers available to the market, there is every reason to specify that the cooling tower be CTI certified. Utilizing CTI certified cooling towers provides certainty that the manufactured product possesses thermal integrity and obviates the need for testing. The owner has confidence that the overall system will consume electrical energy at the rate originally envisaged.

2. Whether CTI certified product is available or not, the inclusion of lower wet bulb duties (as shown in Table 5

of this paper) within the specification allows the installer to confirm tower capability during commissioning and without having to wait for an elusive wet bulb day. The analyses in this paper show that inclusion of predetermined appropriate values for performance at low wet bulbs gives reasonable confidence that the tower will be adequate for the peak duty day.

3. A focus on selection of cooling tower duties at milder conditions results in a choice of cooling tower that would be best for the chiller during the bulk of the operating time. The performance on a hotday would be regarded as the exception instead of the key duty as is the present case.

References:1. Design temperature data for Australia,

The Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air conditioning and Heating.1987

2. Mechanical Engineering Services Design aids, Australian Construction Services. DA9a, 1982

3. ASHRAE Handbook, 1983 Equipment

About the Author

John E. Rule graduated from the University of Sydney as a Mechanical Engineer in 1968. After two years National Service in the Artillery and serving in Vietnam,

John joined F. Muller as a Research Engineer. The work at F. Muller combined product design with pure research into areas of heat transfer and mass transfer, wind tunnel testing of fans and acoustics. After 10 years in both engineering and field sales with F. Muller, John relocated he and his family to the Central Coast of NSW. John then joined Baltimore Aircoil Australia on the NSW Central Coast as the Marketing Manager. John is presently the Engineering Manager and has worked for B.A.C. for the past 30+ years.

ChART A - Frequency of Wet Bulb Temperatures - Sydney

Specifying Cooling Towers for Commercial Buildings (cont’d)


Mitigating disaster with accurate data

Facility Management without

data is like taking a trip on the

Titanic in 1912 - full of risk without

an adequate understanding of

what that risk might be or the

consequences that may occur.

An error prone management

approach (through lack of

accurate data) leads to poor

decision making, which in turn

inevitably results in disaster.

Think back to the events on the

Western Front in France during

World War 1, where arrogant

management and poor decision

making went hand in hand to

deliver disastrous consequences

for most involved in the events of

that time.

In both these situations the forces of change outside the knowledge base of the managing

participants produced results that were not thought possible before the events occurred. The unfolding circumstances changed the operational situation beyond the control of the managers in both cases and meant the management team was beyond its capability and left with little chance to change the eventual outcome. In some ways, particularly with the Generals in the field in France, they didn’t have the data, or the understanding that they were lacking the data, to make smart decisions. As in the words of Donald Rumsfeld in 2002:

“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know.

There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know.

But there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we do not know we don’t know”.

These leaders thought they knew all the things they needed to know, but did not acknowledge that there are unknowns that need to be prepared for and managed. With a little risk assessment and control they could have been prepared for the unknowns and at the very least, lessened the extent of the disaster.

A 21st century Facility Manager has few excuses he can justifiably use in a disaster that may embroil his facility portfolio - unlike

the captain of the Titanic and the generals in the war. They at least could argue that; had they had the right data at the time they would have made better decisions. This may in fact not be true but the fact is communications were primitive and less reliable than today, and their access to relevant and important data about their situation was not immediately available. This is not the case for the Facility Manager today. In almost every situation they have access to a vast amount of data but probably lack:

the time to properly review it•

the knowledge to correctly interpret it•

the context to understand it•

the resources to address it•

the skills to manage it.•

They may indeed have some of the above, but rarely all of them at the right time. Data and its timely availability has the power to change these situations immediately and irrevocably. Its accuracy and precision is an absolute necessity in today’s world of litigation, terrorism, climate change, new technology and the many and varied social impacts our building infrastructure has on the people and their lives.

In order to make sense of this data, systems and protocols are used to ensure that it can be presented in the format that meets the decision makers need. Facility Managers need to have the right information in order to the make the right decision at the right time.

The right time, what is the right time? For a Facility Manager it is often before an adverse event occurs, or after an event in

By KRIS GREENWOOD

order to make remedial repairs and actions. The right time will depend on the event, the resources available, and the criticality of the impact. So in fact, the right time is each minute of the day. Thus high availability of data at all times is critical for effective and better decision making.

The right decision, what is the right decision? This always is impacted and driven by what information the Facility Manager has available to them in order to address the issue or task. Poor or inaccurate data will probably affect the decision quality (and correctness) but the lack of data due to a lack of process to collect it, amounts to negligence. A decision in this instance may not be made because the event is not foreseen until it is too late.

The right information, what is the right information? In the case of the Facility manager the right information is that which will help him make the decisions at the time he needs to assess it. This means that the data collected needs to be presented to the decision maker in the form they need it. The prevailing contextual data and constraints are needed to paint an accurate information source upon which precise decisions can be made. In this case even if all the data wasn’t always available in a timely fashion, if enough supporting data from other sources were accumulated then the likelihood of better perception and asking the right questions would be much higher. The end result will be better decision making.

The effects of data and its use could be seen in action when the Australian General Monash brought to bear all the data he had on the enemy. This insight enabled him to understand the battlefield and the weather conditions, and allowed him to make meticulous battle plans in order to win. In every case he won decisive victories where for many years others had failed to make any significant advance. If the captain of the Titanic had had radar or modern satellite data the accident may never had occurred, the assumption being though that he (or his crew) would have used and acted upon this data in a timely fashion.

Those who do not learn the lessons of the past are destined to repeat the failures in the future. So we at FMI advocate the effective use of data to provide effective information to the decision makers at all levels from the facility management team and beyond. As well as the use of data as decision making information, it also has to be maintained to be valuable and credible, so the FM processes must also interact with the data in such away as to add value to the operational information. The facility management system that is employed must allow simple FM process integration and external system integration in order to deliver its main function - that of providing an effective business management tool to deliver information in the right way, at the right time, to the right people. n

For more information on FMI and our FM suite of software, please contact: [email protected] or call 03 9600 1646.


Integration of Building Engineering Services

Integration often evokes

terms such as teamwork, all

encompassing, turn-key package.

Entering the construction and

engineering design environment,

co-ordination, efficiency of design,

consistency of delivery could also

be added.

The need for integrated delivery on engineering projects particularly within the building

sector is becoming more prevalent. This delivery methodology is celebrate for minimising time and costs normally associated with coordinating multiple design firms, while helping manage design risk through centralisation.

A number of leading Australia architecture and engineering firms promote the this capability, offering tight delivery through a flexible design offering from projects across the Property and Buildings sector

In addition to the aforementioned benefits of the integrated design methodology, it also provides a Client Relationship Manager (CRM) as a single point of contact for all matters related to the

project. Multi-disciplinary architecture and engineering firms often offer separate and distinct technical services as independent commissions. The CRM manages all points of brand contact with the client, maximising communication efficiency providing opportunity for more competitive pricing through internal systems.

Sustainability-in-design and environmentally sensitive outcomes across the building sector have heightened the necessity for integration across project delivery. Today’s energy efficiency targets are being met with innovative alternative energy solutions in building design.

These alternative energy initiatives encompass the electrical, mechanical/HVAC, hydraulic and fire services engineering solutions. To accurately model

By MICHAEL A VASSILIOU Service Group Manager – Building Services

aspects of the thermal fluid flows through buildings, daylight scenarios and other engineering modelling programs for example, larger firms now tend to have capability in-house. In addition to providing this aspect of the project, resident environmental and sustainability engineers are also involved through concept stages to help shape the base engineering services design.

Clients often lament the gap between integrated design rhetoric and seamless multi-disciplinary delivery. In general terms, intra-discipline coordination does not occur to the extent it should, and this feeds a perception that the integrated concept is largely inferior to a situation where there are a number of different firms providing single discipline services.

A major limitation here is that multi-firm coordination can lead to gaps in scope – every firm delivers on its individual scope parameters, but no incentive exists to go one step further and coordinate input and effort. The glue, that grey area between the individual scopes of work is missing. This can become problematic for the client. The multi-disciplinary one firm integrate delivery model help mitigate this risk.

It’s worth noting that the stability of a firm marketing integrated design should be investigated by clients. Although the scope gaps may be offset, the appointment of one consultancy for all architectural and engineering services requires the client to rely on the soundness of one firm. The client’s outcome is therefore

inextricably linked to the good management of that firm, reiterating the importance of selection of a financially sound and technically respected organisation.

The Way Forward:The trend, it seems, is that clients, particularly developers, larger building operators and owners, are searching for a multi-discipline engineering firm for many of their larger projects. This could be due, in part, to the risks associated with scope-gap, human resourcing, investment and financial returns.

However, the integrated model should not be dismissed for smaller projects. In Western Australia, the resurrection of the public-private partnership (PPP) procurement model by the State Government is presenting opportunities for integrated delivery across a range of projects.

PPP initiatives, particularly in the buildings sector, require input from specialised disciplines like Facilities Management (FM) through the concept and development stage, and then later through the lifetime of the asset.

The kernel of successful projects remains integrated delivery. It is therefore incumbent on multi-discipline architectural and engineering firms to align their delivery methodologies with client project targets, thereby mitigating risk, streamlining communication and delivering mutually beneficial outcomes. n

Visit www.adbourne.com

and click on ‘The Building Services

Journal’

INSTITUTE

ENGINEERS

PLANT

of

AUSTRALASIAView

online now!


PowerPax, an oil-free chiller

manufacturer located in

Melbourne, has added added a

new chiller performance test rig

to its manufacturing facility. The

company had previously been

required to ship its chillers

overseas for engineering and

certification tests. Now that

it has constructed its own

local facility, engineering and

certification processes are no

longer hindered by the tyranny

of shipping time and overseas

testing costs.

The test facility in Melbourne provides PowerPax with the tool to verify performance of any

chiller, and assist in the development of future products. The facility is also used to batch test manufactured chillers to ensure that all of the build and test procedures applied by PowerPax are sufficient in delivering a quality product satisfying the stringent customer requirements.

The PowerPax service department also uses the test facility to perform service testing and reliability studies.

As Australia has implemented a Minimum Energy Performance Standard (MEPS) for

Case Study: Chiller Performance Test Rig

chiller products, the likelihood of having to witness test water chillers has increased, as has the demand for the use of an AHRI certified test facility in Australia.

This new test facility is up and running and is able to test Water Cooled Chillers ranging from 200KW to 3500KW. AHRI is certifying the facility shortly, and it also complies with Eurovent requirements. It is also capable of performing operational tests on Air Cooled Chiller products ranging from 200KW to 850KW within the trimmed limits of ambient temperature fluctuations.

The facility can accurately display, using NATA certified instruments, not only the performance on the chiller being tested but

By JOhn WISDOM


also the compressor performance and the operating conditions on the test facility itself.

It has two chilled water pumps to cover the complete range of chilled water flow required. The combination of running either a single pump or both pumps can deliver flows up to as high as 180l/s.

The intent is to vary the chilled water flow across the required range using a combination of pumps and pump speed to reflect specific operational requirements.

There are also two condenser water pumps to cover the complete range of condenser water flow required. The combination of running either a single pump or both pumps delivers flows up to as high as 190l/s.

The intent is to vary the condenser water flow across the required range using a combination of pumps and pump speed to reflect specific operational requirements.

A mixing pump injects condenser water into the chilled water circuit. This pump is able to deliver sufficient water from the condenser to the evaporator circuit to simulate up to 3800KW of load, and it assists in controlling cooler water temperatures. It creates a false load on the chilled water circuit by injecting condenser water into the chilled water.

The mixing tank pump assists in maintaining condenser water temperatures; it is sized so as to be able to deliver water into the condenser water circuit therefore reducing condenser water temperatures.

As an example, the pump can assist in the rejection of up to 630KW if conducting a test on a 3500KW chiller. The function of this pump is to remove the excess condenser KW’s that are not being injected into the chilled water circuit by the condenser water to chilled water mix pump. This pump maintains condenser water temperatures.

The cooling tower water pump circulates cooling tower and mix tank water to assist in maintaining the temperature of the water at a predetermined set point. This pump should be sized for a cooling tower heat rejection of at least 1000KW.

The facility has a cooling tower that can reject 1000KW at Melbourne design conditions. The tower has a VFD that can be controlled by an external signal to assist in maintaining cooling tower and mix tank water temperatures.

There are two NATA certified flow meters that are able to measure water flows from 10l/s to 200l/s and they provide a signal to a controller that will maintain a programmed flow. The meters are used to measure cooler and condenser water flow.

Two NATA certified differential pressure transmitters measure the water pressure drop in KPA directly across the cooler and condenser vessels.

The facility has eight temperature sensors measuring the the range of chilled and condenser water temperatures.

The temperature sensors are NATA certified and are permanently fitted into the cooler and condenser pipe work.

All of the temperature sensors required are of the 4 wire RTD type at 1000ohms

The mix tank holds a volume of water to enable the cooling tower water to mix with the condenser water.

An 1100 KW boiler is included to provide a heat load for the operational testing of air cooled chillers up to 1100KW. The Boiler is piped into the rig and provides enough water volume to provide stable operation of the air cooled chillers.

The entire Testing Facility will be ARI Certified to test Water Cooled Chillers at 50HZ. Certification is expected to be finalized towards the end of 2010.

The test rig is the new jewel at the PowerPax facility and is attracting enormous attention and demand, even before the paint has dried on it ! It adds weight to PowerPax status as Australia’s leading chiller supplier and is a positive step to the company’s future aspirations. n

www.powerpax.com.au

Case Study: Chiller Performance Test Rig


Creative multi-level building

designs demand a creative

approach to moving people

throughout their space. Liftronic

Pty Limited, an Australian owned

and operated vertical transport

supplier uses its 25 years of

experience in the market to supply

a range of vertical transport

options for its clients.

Liftronic not only offers a large range of standard and customised lift and escalator

products but also provides high quality modernisation and service products.

Fine examples of Liftronic’s product range may be seen in many major shopping centres, bulky goods developments, museums, and railways stations across Australia.

These products are cost effective, technically diverse and made to withstand the rigours of public use.

Liftronic Preventative MaintenanceProperty owners and managers are aware that the quality, presentation and reliable operation of lifts and escalators in high-rise buildings have a direct impact on the overall value of their investment. They are equally mindful that the safety of their passengers requires critical attention and that it is their obligation to ensure that lifts and escalators comply with code requirements.

Liftronic’s experienced service team performs preventative maintenance at regular intervals to ensure that lifts under its maintenance program are both safe and reliable.

Preventative Maintenance and Modernisation of Lifts

Excellence in Customer service is Liftronic’s principal priority backed by high quality spare parts and industry experience. Liftronic’s service team is a sound choice for your vertical transport maintenance.

Modernisation OptionsLifts are a vital part of your building’s infrastructure. After your existing installation has reliably serviced you for many years, you may wish to modernise it to meet your changing needs and/or government regulations.

Liftronic provides you with a variety of options to upgrade your lift installation from car refurbishment to a full control system modernisation.

Your building is a valuable asset, which requires ongoing maintenance and refurbishment. Liftronic offers you cost-effective solutions to upgrade or replace your lift. Liftronic have the ability to successfully carry out major or minor upgrades and modernisations of lifts/escalators that have been installed by

Liftronic Pty Limited as well as those installed by other companies.

At Liftronic, we are always aiming to provide you with the most advanced technology available to monitor lift operations. We do this by using the latest supervisory systems to suit the lift loads and speeds that are most appropriate to your building needs, the benefits include:

Easier maintenance. •

Greater energy efficiency. •

Less wear and tear on machinery, and •

Reliable operation. •

Compliance to “new” Disability (access •to premises – Building ) standard 2010

A D V E R T O R I A L

For more information on Liftronic products and services contact the Liftronic offices on 1800 663 922

“Elevate your expectations for reliable lift service solutions”


Hybrid vehicles, biofuels, solar-

powered cars — while transportation

often receives the most attention

in regard to energy use and

environmental impact, it’s not the

largest conservation target.

Buildings are responsible for 40% of all emissions, making them the single biggest emitter of carbon emissions.

When the manufacture of building products and construction industry emissions are included this goes up to over 50%, which is more than all forms of transport combined. The EU reports that Europe’s 190 million buildings waste on average 20% of the energy they consume and this equates to 270 billion a year.

Given that, it’s no surprise that large urban areas with the densest and most mature building stock are among the biggest targets to reduce emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases. Added incentives to act are the rising cost of energy and increasing scarcity of potable water.

This reality spurred Melbourne to launch a comprehensive programme to make its buildings more energy and water efficient. In Melbourne alone, the commercial building sector contributes a startling 48 percent of the city’s total emissions. So efforts to curb their output have the potential to make a significant impact.

Melbourne’s building retrofit programme is being carried out in partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) and the C40 Cities — a group of the world’s largest cities dedicated to tackling climate change. Led by Geoff Lawler, the city’s sustainability director, and supported by Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and the City Council, the Melbourne programme will make a difference, not just by cutting emissions, but by making important savings in energy and water consumption resulting in reduced bills.

Melbourne Building Retrofit Programme… A Model for Global Environmental Responsibility

In May 2007, President Clinton announced the creation of CCI’s Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Programme. This programme brings together many of the world’s largest energy service companies (ESCOs), financial institutions and cities in a landmark effort to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings across the municipal, private, commercial, educational and public housing sectors. The initiative’s merging of governmental, environmental and business concerns to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome on an international level is an unprecedented effort.

Melbourne is one of the first C40 cities to initiate a retrofit programme. The Melbourne Council has set a goal to reduce carbon emissions by at least 50 percent. This is against the backdrop of the Mayor’s ambitious target to reach zero net emissions city-wide by 2020 through low carbon, renewable energy and other initiatives.

The retrofit programme is designed to act as a model for the city’s 1200 Buildings project, which is designed to expand facility retrofits beyond the public sector to business and industry in an effort to conserve natural resources and reduce costs. The first phase of the programme with CCI is for 13 buildings, will cost AU$2.4M to implement and will pay for itself, via the energy savings, in 15 years. The resulting savings are guaranteed by the ESCO — Honeywell, in this case. So if the project fails to perform as designed, the company will make up the difference to ensure the city carries no economic risk.

A few of the buildings included in this phase are Melbourne Town Hall, the City Baths, Queen Victoria Markets, several aquatic centers, public libraries and car park facilities. The conservation measures include HVAC systems and building controls, lighting retrofits, solar pool heating system, low flow plumbing fixtures, rainwater harvesting technologies and gas, water & electricity metering using a wide area network computer system. They will result in not only more efficient buildings but significant infrastructure investments that will not adversely impact operating budgets or require additional ratepayer funding — a boon for the city, its residents and the environment.

By MIKE TAYLOR, Vice President, Honeywell Building Solutions


The second phase of the project includes a significant renovation of Council House 1, a key commercial office block for city operations, which will likely include significant HVAC upgrades, lighting retrofits, new building controls and the installation of a cogeneration system to provide less GHG intensive power to the property.

Performance Power Energy savings guaranteed in a performance contract will help finance efficiency improvements in the buildings. Under performance contracts, ESCOs conduct energy audits, make a variety of facility upgrades based on the audit findings and guarantee the resulting energy savings. The projects are engineered so the savings cover the financing payments over a period of 10 or more years. The result is a more efficient, environmentally friendly facility, and the project is effectively cost neutral over the term.

Along with the environmental benefits of the work, performance contracts help cities better manage costs, address any deferred maintenance and upgrade buildings without having to increase operating budgets. These contracts are used extensively throughout the United States, and awareness and implementation in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world are growing. In these areas, public sector budget constraints combined with the lengthy payback of large-scale investments, such as new chillers and boilers, is often less appealing than the quicker return on smaller, more immediate projects.

Performance contracts, however, allow organizations to strike a balance, and combine conservation measures with short and long paybacks to create a comprehensive programme. Overall, this model helps make wide-ranging projects — work with a significant environmental return — more accessible and economically feasible.

Another benefit: these contracts help stimulate the local employment market by creating a variety of capital improvement projects. These new projects need engineers, technicians and project managers, which means job creation in the community. According to the National Association of Energy Services Companies, for example, a $10-million energy retrofit project has the potential to create or sustain approximately 95 high-paying jobs.

The Efficiency GapMelbourne carried out a competitive procurement process, and selected Honeywell based on the company’s preliminary assessments and proposals for facility retrofits. Some of the areas identified for energy-efficiency improvements at the outset included facility management, lighting, and heating and cooling systems, along with the building fabric.

As part of the overall programme, the company will address deferred plant replacement projects, upgrade building equipment and improve

building operating efficiency without having to increase operating budgets — all while reducing the buildings’ greenhouse gas emissions.

Specifically, the programme was developed in three distinct steps:

Preliminary Audits

The program started with an initial review of 14 City of Melbourne council buildings to identify areas for carbon reduction and efficiency improvements, examining HVAC, mechanical, lighting and building automation systems. For these audits, Honeywell personnel evaluated each building and its systems in order to get a clear sense of each building’s operating efficiency, as well as any comfort concerns.

The audit process used a targeting system to determine efficiency opportunities. It involved reviewing utility bills for each building, and comparing the usage data to similar facilities to determine energy intensities and pinpoint areas for potential upgrades. This process also included verifying building equipment and system operations. In addition, Honeywell used a detailed benchmarking tool to analyze building performance.

Investment-Grade Proposals

After reviewing Honeywell’s recommendations, City officials determined which buildings required a more in-depth analysis, called an investment-grade proposal.

While the preliminary audits revealed what was possible within the buildings, the investment grade proposal looked in greater detail at exactly what the company could deliver based on the energy reduction and payback criteria.

The proposal Honeywell delivered to the City in November 2009 was the output of a multi-day review of each facility with teams of specialist engineers and contractors. In addition to defining the specific energy-saving and maintenance opportunities, the company also outlined service requirements, and identified available grants and rebates. Finally, the proposal established the measurement and verification protocols to ensure proper delivery of the retrofit work — and to establish the various performance contract guarantees.

Performance Contracts

Once the investment grade proposal was agreed upon, they formed the basis of performance contract between Melbourne and Honeywell, which includes performance requirements, to ensure the facility improvements will meet the targets.

In addition to the energy and water savings, the work will have a significant ecological impact. Honeywell estimates that the potential carbon emission savings from the project will be around 1,560 metric tons, equivalent to taking more than 348 cars off the road. Likewise, the water saved will be enough to fill 52 Olympic-sized swimming pools each year.

Future ImplementationsThe Melbourne programme is an example of how cities and other organizations can reverse the trend of climate change and become environmental stewards while making sound financial decisions. And along with the facility retrofit work, Melbourne is seeking to boost the low carbon economy and tackle climate change on many fronts, including promoting decentralized energy and setting tough targets for on-site building renewable energy efforts as part of its drive to zero net emissions.

Concurrently, Honeywell is following the same process in London, Seoul, Johannesburg and other participating C40 cities.

Through these efforts, more organizations are realizing the promise of collaboration and energy-efficient technologies to drive local sustainability and financial payback while slowing global climate change. n

About the Author: Mike Taylor is the Vice President, Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) Programmes, Honeywell. The company joined CCI at the outset of the initiative to help the world’s largest cities reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, an effort that has extended to colleges, universities and schools. And Mike is the main liaison between Honeywell and the C40 cities and other CCI participants.

Prior to this role, Mike served as vice president of Americas marketing for Honeywell Building Solutions, where he managed strategy, marketing, product management and training for service offerings to the commercial buildings industry in North and South America. Mike has been with Honeywell for more than 25 years, and has held a variety of sales, marketing and management positions. He has a bachelor’s degree in industrial distribution from Texas A&M University and has served on the Minneapolis Downtown Council Board of Directors and currently sits on the City Council of Minnetonka Beach, Minn.


Most Australian office employees

spend more than 80% of their

time indoors. Green buildings,

therefore, also need to cater to

their occupants – both in terms of

their health and their productivity

as acknowledged in the Green

Building Council of Australia’s

Green Star rating system.

After 30 years of research into the effects of Indoor Environment on occupants,

there is now intensive research and assessment of the effects of Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) on occupant productivity and payback cost analysis. Furthermore, from this, a predictive model can be generated to manage office design to maximise productivity.

IEQ is the measurement of the key parameters affecting the comfort and wellbeing of occupants, which include indoor air quality (IAQ), lighting, acoustics, interior design, and occupant satisfaction, among others. A building’s IEQ has significant potential to impact workers, presenting a serious business case in today’s climate.

The focus of the interior design industry has primarily been on public and office buildings, where the occupants are typically office workers. ‘Facility Ecology’, which focuses on the measurable interaction of the occupants with the interior of a building, creates a scientific framework based on measured data that demonstrates whether a building can – or is – delivering its primary function of improving the occupant’s performance.

Why the fuss?Most working Australians now spend more than 70% of their working lives indoors (Environment Australia, 2001) with office workers overall, exceeding this amount. Building design, its use and management, influences their comfort, wellbeing and productivity. In addition, tenants are increasingly demanding and specifying

A productive day at the office?

improved environmental quality. This significantly affects the design, construction and ongoing management and maintenance of a facility. This is reflected in the incorporation of IEQ elements in various Australian rating tools and publications.

With about 80% of the annual cost of an office building going to staff salaries and benefits, small changes in occupant productivity (caused by inadequate IEQ) can have a significant cost impact. The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE, 1999) has shown that per office building, staff costs are 100-200 times the energy cost for the building. Therefore, these staff costs can be offset by a corresponding 0.5-1% increase in staff productivity. Staff costs are also 20-44 times the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) running cost, and so a productivity increase of 2-5% can offset this entirely.

Productivity by the metre There is now a European Protocol which now measures how organisations can financially benefit from improved IEQ. This work has shown that a 2% office productivity gain can be worth as much as $270 per m2, over the lifetime of the building and involves integrating productivity into the lifecycle cost analysis of building services. Savings of $2,000-$5,000 per employee per annum are possible!

In recent productivity studies conducted by CETEC, a productivity gain of 13% was measured at Umow Lai, a leading Engineering Consultancy. Based on CETEC measurement, the organisation

By DR. VYT GARNYS


was predicted to have a 13% improvement potential, prior to their relocation; but ultimately this was validated as 12.5% - translating to $5,000 per person gain per annum or a payback of lease four times over. Significant positive gains have also been shown at a range of government entities including Sydney Water with their recent office relocation to Parramatta. CETEC has now conducted more than a dozen predictive productivity outcomes using pre and post-occupancy IEQ studies.

Internationally, the task of quantifying productivity has focused on arriving at an agreed and specific methodology for assessing office productivity. The European Protocol is based upon internationally accepted research on the relationships between indoor climate and productivity. For example, graphical and mathematical relationships exist between ventilation rate, temperature and the change in

personal performance. Lifecycle cost analysis, based on annuity costing, can thereafter evaluate the magnitude of investment able to be amortised by Facility Ecology initiatives.

Critical elementsA productivity study and IEQ study encompassing Facility Ecology principles would comprise the following components:

Perform a pre-occupancy study, 1. comprising an occupant satisfaction survey and IEQ measurements;

Perform a post-occupancy study, 2. again comprising an occupant satisfaction survey and IEQ measurements; and

Establish productivity metrics, 3. data collection and modelling for productivity outcomes.

This approach is practical and cost-effective, yet sufficiently robust to provide correlation between IEQ and productivity and the resultant financial outcomes. It is essential for the architect to design an office building, or public facility, so that a facility manager can effectively and efficiently control the critical IEQ elements affecting occupant wellbeing and productivity. These IEQ elements and their impact on occupants must be understood, recognised and managed (preferably during design and construction) in a logical, factual and scientific manner. Due to the rapid introduction of new materials, information and rating tools, the inclusion of experienced building scientists in the design team can prevent expensive and embarrassing corrective measures, or deficiencies in the final facility delivery.

Working in your spacePost-occupancy Facility Ecology studies are the only way for rational and factual confirmation of the satisfactory delivery of the facility, and thus allow for effective business improvement. Tenants can, and do at times, negatively influence the Facility Ecology of their own environment. The design and construction teams, as well as the facility managers, need to advise and educate tenants about how they can improve the performance of their occupied space.

With its advances in rating tools, such as NABERS and Green Star, and the understanding of their benefit to

productivity, Australia is well placed to capitalise on the potential $1.2 billion for every 1% increase in office worker productivity. If the benefits realised in the previously mentioned CETEC studies were achieved, ie up to 10%, this would raise national productivity in office workers by $12 billion per annum. There is an opportunity for your business to participate in this productivity opportunity. Furthermore you can benchmark your operation for sustainable performance. It is not often realised that 1% equates to less than 5 minutes a day! n

Article by Dr Vyt Garnys, Managing Director, CETEC Pty Ltd. Dr Garnys is the Chairman of the Standards Australia

Committee for IAQ Measurement. He is also a National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) signatory, Chairman of NATA’s Chemical Testing Accreditation Advisory Committee and both a Green Star Assessor, Green Star Associate, Independent Chair of Green Star Assessors.

For more information, visit: www.cetec-foray.com.au


Summer time is just around the corner, and one thing that comes with summer is an increasing awareness of those foul odours that stem from areas like garbage chutes, storage areas and grease traps that can cause residents and patrons to complain. These odours can stem from hazardous bacteria, fungi, and viruses, such as Salmonella, E-coli, Legionnaires, Meningococcal and Staphylococci – you have a fiduciary responsibility to address this issue.

One means of doing so is by attacking the root cause of the odours by killing the bacteria,

viruses and fungi by using controlled amounts of ozone. Many readers may be broadly familiar with ozone as you may have one or more portable units that housekeeping staff use to ozonate hotel rooms on an as-needed basis when, for example, a patron smoked in a room where they were not supposed to. The room is emptied of people, the unit turned on and allowed to run for an hour or two, then doors and/or windows are opened, and the offending odours are gone. The same principle can be applied to more demanding applications that require regular de-odorizing.

Decontaminating Foul Air in Garbage Chutes and other Closed Air Spaces

Ozonating closed air spaces is more common than many building managers think. I am aware of well over 200 installed units, including in high profile sites like Conrad Jupiter’s Casino (Gold Coast) and World Tower (Sydney). Unfortunately there is still confusion surrounding the efficacy of this technology that I will endeavor to dispel. Let me do so by providing an introduction to the two broad approaches to creating and applying ozone. The two common ways of producing ozone are by either using UVC lighting or a corona discharge reactor. Let’s start with UVC lighting because it has a longer history.

Conceptually units incorporating UVC lighting are very simple, sometimes referred to as a “bulb in a box”. In fairness, they are more complex than that and good units will incorporate additional methods to break-down bacteria and fungi; but the crux of the system is still the UVC ultraviolet germicidal light. There are two critical issues to consider with UVC based systems: First, the sanitization process requires that the contaminated air pass through the system (in front of the UVC light). These systems work exceedingly well killing the bacteria in the air that is exposed to the UVC light (some independent tests report a 99% bacteria kill rate), but has no effect on air that does not circulate through the system. It is therefore appropriate to think of this as a “local biocide”. For a metaphor, think of a medicinal skin cream that is very good at killing bacteria where it is applied, but has no effect anywhere else. A very relevant question therefore is: can the air in the space being considered for ozonating be circulated regularly through the system? As

By MARK SPENCE

a tangent, but relevant for clarifying this issue, in a swimming pool filters do not run 24/7 and often there are areas in the pool where the water does not circulate well, hence ozone systems for pools are combined with other forms of biocides. Returning to closed air space applications where the purpose is to not use other biocides, our view is that UVC-based products should be relegated to places where the air can be circulated well, for example, in reception areas and public toilets, and the air’s “starting start” is not laden with heavy particulates (e.g., airborne oils and dirt that will dirty the bulb and therefore lower its effectiveness).

The second issue to consider with UVC systems is that although the life of the UVC bulb may very well be thousands of hours, the spectral output or wavelength emanating from the bulb actually degrades much earlier – yet, you could not tell by looking at the bulb. As it degrades, ozone output falls thereby reducing the effectiveness. Thus, if users opt to use this technology, be sure your provider regularly cleans the bulb, monitors the spectral output and replaces the bulb if necessary.

A second approach to producing ozone is via a corona discharge reactor. Readers might be familiar with that fresh air smell immediately following a thunderstorm. In fact, that is ozone you are breathing that has been created through a corona reaction, the principle of which can now be replicated in a low voltage, safe environment. This technology has come a long way in the last decade and is now a very reliable means of producing ozone. Filtered, ambient air is forced through a corona discharge reactor (not much larger than a bulky pen), which causes the oxygen molecules to break down and recombine into highly unstable ozone (see diagram). Ozone wants nothing more than to revert back to oxygen, which it does so within minutes; but in their short lived, activated state, ozone is one of the most powerful biocides publicly available, again killing 99% of bacteria. Importantly, this approach disperses ozone gas into places where getting the air to circulate in front of a UVC light is impractical. To use a medical metaphor again, this approach is therefore more akin to a “broad spectrum biocide” – think of how a shot of penicillin disperses throughout your body. Thus, for example, our PuraAir units inject small amounts of filtered, dry ozone into the bottom of the garbage/refuse chute which disperses, travelling up the chute from the natural draft; in many cases fitted exhaust fans on the roof of the building leave the patrons and staff free of any airborne bacteria or viruses.

An issue to acknowledge with corona discharge reactor technology is that the cost of the unit is going to be more expensive than UVC based systems (maintenance costs will be similar). Units such as ours would include as standard features sensors to monitor ozone output, our built-in patented COPS (Controlled Ozone Production System) as well as filters to remove unintended gas bi-products thereby ensuring there is no chemical residual. Our view is that these units are better suited for “hostile environments”: warm, high moisture areas with lots of airborne particulate matter in hard-to-reach areas – high rise garbage chutes and grease traps are a perfect example. Like UVC based systems, these systems should be checked regularly, in this case to clean the filter and verify ozone output.

For both approaches technology has come a long ways. If you have heard individuals relay stories about bad experiences

with ozone, odds are that the stories are dated. Firms such as ours, PuraAir Australia, represent both technologies, and fully acknowledge that both approaches have appropriate applications. For either approach, there are dependable units available on the market as well as reputable installers – be leery of firms that claim otherwise. Regardless of what approach you use – we do not subscribe to a “one size fits all” solution – be sure it includes an on-going system maintenance contract. Like anything: be comfortable with, and monitor the performance of, your supplier; and get the right tool for the job. The benefits of ozone are many – and particularly so when compared to either ignoring those nasty smells or addressing the issue with liquid chemical alternatives. n

Mark SpencePuraAir Australia A subsidiary of Ozone1 Pty Ltdwww.puraair.com.au


RISING energy costs and

increasingly stringent regulations

governing carbon emissions has

resulted in growing demand for

renewable energy and greater

efficiency within the commercial

built environment.

In order to comply with ever changing regulations and ensure a building remains energy efficient and

cost effective throughout its lifespan, a forward thinking approach to design and implementation of energy solutions is required.

Energy consumption in commercial buildings, particularly hotels, is a major contributor to the world’s carbon equation in both construction and operation.

For many businesses reducing carbon is not the main driver however significantly reducing financial running costs can be highly motivating.

Those who fail to seek out and embrace more efficient energy solutions will eventually fall behind their competitors and find it increasingly difficult to meet industry and government standards and keep costs to a manageable level.

Innovative new systems that deliver viable energy solutions capable of minimising cost while maintaining comfortable internal environments are essential in both new projects and the refurbishment of older buildings.

Air conditioning is one of the major contributors to energy consumption and emissions output in the built environment with as much as 40 per cent of total energy use in commercial buildings attributed to artificial temperature control.

Existing buildings are generally very uncomfortable with overheating in summer

Natural solutions the answer to rising energy consumption

and under heating in winter due to poor design which results in constant mechanical control to maintain a comfortable work or living environment.

All buildings have an inherent level of inefficiency and this applies to many brand new buildings as well and to address poor comfort levels the answer is often to simply install powerful air-conditioning, artificial lighting and other stop-gap measures.

Sustainability is about efficiency and if you are intending to do something about your rising power costs and maintenance bills it is important that the decision is made at the highest level of management that something is to be done about improving comfort and efficiency.

Once that decision is made and supported by senior management one of the most important steps is completed. The direction is clear and staff know they have to follow that direction.

After that we suggest a building inspection that will include an energy audit and building design review.

The two major areas where a building owner can save money is in reducing electrical costs and in improving the comfort of the building through improved shading or ventilation options, increased insulation and general building operational management improvements.

If you combine these initiatives electrical and maintenance costs will reduce significantly.

A detailed AS level 2 energy audit, (a level of diagnostic audit defined under the

By JOHN BRODIE


Australian Standards) using an accredited auditor, has an accuracy of around +/- 20%.

These audits also look at a range of ROI and paybacks that will generally provide impressive short term financial benefits for the business.

The main energy consumers in a hotel are lighting and electricity. In addition, in many facilities we visit and diagnose, adding natural daylighting systems, improving the glazing or shading of the windows or maximising air flow/ventilation through the building can significantly reduce the heating and cooling loads of the air conditioning and improve the comfort levels of the occupants.

There is a range of day-lighting and natural ventilation options available that will reduce running costs significantly both new and old buildings.

Retro fitting these systems into old buildings is simple and cost effective and paybacks can be as little as three years in the case of natural day-lighting and around five years in the case of natural ventilation systems.

In new buildings these systems will deliver lower energy costs and minimise carbon output with the added benefits of significantly reduced maintenance costs and a healthier and more comfortable internal environment from day one.

The concept of natural ventilation using prevailing wind, temperature and pressure caused by the difference in height between the building roof and floor has been in use for centuries as it helps maintain premium oxygen and temperature levels with a constant flow of fresh air.

VIM Sustainability recently secured sole Australian distribution rights to Monodraught Windcatcher systems, which have been in successfully used in more than 7000 installations in Europe.

Monodraught units are fully automatic, programmable and individually engineered to function optimally for each installation by distributing fresh air throughout a building when the carbon dioxide levels become too high and ensuring hot air is removed.

There is nothing else like this on the market in Australasia and the increasing

demand for renewable energy systems that can lower running costs has created demand for sustainable solutions such as the Monodraught range.

Natural Ventilation and other low energy output systems such as natural day-lighting is no silver bullet – they will not cure all energy issues in one hit but when combined with other strategies they will save money and lower energy consumption and carbon output.

Sometimes there are only small increments across a range of savings but added up they can become significant and save operators substantial amounts in the long-term. Reinstalling superior energy efficient lighting, or adding sensors to the system, improving monitoring will all make measurable savings and result in less waste.

If we can promote the financial benefits of improving efficiencies across your facility there will be greater appeal as not only are you reducing running costs and keeping money in your business, you are also improving the building’s internal comfort for inhabitants while at the same time improving the environment for the future of us all. n

About John Brodie

John is a construction professional with more than 30 years experience in a variety of contracting disciplines covering project management, design management, architecture and building.

John is passionate about practical sustainability in the built environment and has promoted sustainable building since the 1970’s to architects, clients and authorities.

Focusing on providing sustainable yet practical concept design, construction and operational management strategies, John offers solutions for all components of the built environment. This includes building thermal and energy assessments using the latest software packages and providing detailed sustainable design science solutions.

www.vim.net.au


BAXX is an advanced development discovered out of investigating methods of combating germ warfare by the British Ministry of Defence who had a remit to assess

the risk of bacterial attack on the British Isles in the 60/70’s. This in turn had been initiated by observations over a hundred years prior by Louis Pasteur who had documented that the atmosphere in high altitudes and sunny days reduced the incidence of infection and effectively killed bacteria and viruses.

The answer lay in the natural occurrence of airborne Hydroxyl Clusters.

Modern technology and electronics allows the BAXX to achieve the aim of eliminating airborne pathogens by using cold plasma to strip a hydrogen atom from some of the natural water molecules (H20) contained in the air around us, leaving them as unbalanced hydroxyl clusters (-OH). These clusters seek and attach to airborne bacteria and virus cells and recover their missing hydrogen atom from the cells wall to return to a natural water molecule again (H2O).

In that instant, the bacteria/virus metabolism and cell wall is disrupted and the cell dies.

Thus nature’s way of eliminating airborne pathogens has been reproduced.

Hydroxyl clusters will also land on surfaces and kill surface contamination by the same method.

These same Hydroxyl Clusters can reduce and eliminate odours as well – particularly so on odours based on ammonia compounds or ethylene or waste decomposition.

The use of stripping away hydrogen atoms from airborne water molecules to form hydroxyl clusters is unique to the BAXX cold plasma technology which naturally kills all airborne pathogens including MRSA, C.Diff(Spore Form), Norovirus and Bacteria.

BAXX introduces several technological breakthroughs and advantages –

It doesn’t require any consumables other than electricity. No filters to •clean, no chemicals or liquids to replenish, no service required. Install it and leave it to do its work. Electrical consumption is a mere 120watts – the equivalent of two 60watt light-globes.

The case of the Baxx is in 316 stainless steel which makes it ideal for •food manufacturing plants, health care facilities, hospitals, doctors surgeries and waiting rooms, retail outlets, and any other moist environments where a germ free environment is paramount.

The only moving part is a resin-packed motor attached to a fan. These •type motors can cope with dry & dusty conditions to wet and clammy environments and so the Baxx can be employed in steamy kitchens or cold wet chillers just as easily as dry powder mixing rooms and anything in-between.

Such is the confidence in the construction and reliability of the Baxx unit that it is guaranteed for 3 years of non-stop 24/7 running.

The ceiling is the preferred mounting position for a Baxx unit – usually, but not essentially, central to the room. Brackets on the Baxx unit also facilitate wall mounting as an alternative where suitable. It’s usual to hard wire the Baxx unit to a continuous power circuit as the Baxx unit should never be

turned off. Not overnight, not for weekends, not for holidays – it’s always working for you to eliminate pathogen contamination in that room.

Each room to be covered should have its own Baxx unit(s).

A single Baxx unit is capable of covering up to a 360 cubic metre room, although if there are other fans causing opposing or cross currents in the room then two or more units may be preferable to maximise air circulation and surface coverage.

The 800-S unit is the largest unit of 1 metre long.

It also has the highest treated air output and so is ideal for production areas.

The smaller S600 unit has been recently released for quieter locations such as doctor’s surgeries, hospital wards, office buildings, schools, children’s nurseries and aged care facilities.

Booster units will shortly become available to supplement rooms with lots of existing airflow such as cool rooms. In these circumstances, a single 800-S Baxx unit can be installed to run continuously, while the booster units are positioned in front of the existing fans and wired to them so as to only be active when the fan is blowing over them. This reduces the initial purchase price of installing BAXX to large plants.

In the near future, 12 and 24volt units will become available for refrigerated trucks, coaches and similar such applications.

Applications encountered so far include –

Hospital wards – particularly to combat Norovirus.•

Retail fruit and vegetable displays – reduced banana browning by up •to 4 days by inhibiting ethylene production.

Commercial Kitchens and Cafeterias.•

Cold storage rooms.•

Pet shops and accommodations.•

Backpackers hotels to deodorise rooms.•

Gym lockers for deodorising.•

Flour mill storage rooms to eliminate flour moulds – 40% to 92% •measured reduction.

Packaging company clean rooms for food packaging materials.•

Smallgoods manufacturing.•

Yogurt cooking and rapid cooling rooms.•

Meat wholesalers.•

Chicken meat processing plants – 90% measured reduction.•

Seafood processing plants.•

Several large industry users of BAXX here and overseas have also noted a reduction in sick leave by staff working in the areas covered by the Baxx units. After all, BAXX is killing flu and cold virus just as efficiently and effectively as any other pathogen.

The BMB booster units are being introduced to the model range for mass air conditioning units and ducted systems in office buildings, shopping malls, medial facilities etc for this reason, as well as supplementing the existing models in processing areas and cool rooms as described above.

Baxx Australiawww.baxx.com.auPh: (02) 9939-4900Fx: (02) [email protected]

See ad on page 3 of this issue.


The Safety Cooling Tower

The locally designed and locally manufactured new Superchill cooling tower type MPCT (Modular pulltruded cooling tower) is the latest and safest addition to the high quality Superchill

cooling tower range, which includes the German designed Modupol range and the low noise and super low noise fibreglass forced draft towers.

The MPCT tower is a modular tower, with an extremely strong and durable pulltruded fibreglass frame. The basin and fan cowling are made in traditional high quality marine grade fibreglass. The full size removable side panels are made from preformed plastic and are designed for easy removal and handling to allow entire access for cleaning and maintenance.

The panels are very light and small enough for one person to handle without the risk of any injury.

The tower is designed to fully comply with the Australian standards and has the best and most efficient drift eliminators and air intake louvers available on the market.

The air intake lovers are double the thickness compared with most currently offered local cooling towers. This reduces light ingress into the tower basin and helps prevent algae and bacteria

growth. It also reduces water splashing outside the tower and reduces noise level.

The best fill for this tower is the high quality 2H plastics cooling tower fill called Sanipacking. (see www.sanipacking.com for more information) This fill is arguably the safest cooling tower fill available. It is made from moulded polypropylene (PP) and treated to prevent bacteria growing on it’s surface. To distinguish this high quality fill from normal fill the colour of the fill is blue. The polypropylene fill is also extremely long lasting and can withstand temperatures up to 80 degrees.

Superchill is working closely together with 2H plastics and we are the local distributor and manufacturer for the number one European fill producer GEA 2H Water Technologies (former 2H Kunststoff).

For further information please contact Superchill Australia or 2H plastics Australia

www.superchill.com or www.2h.com.au or 1300667 018 and 03 9793 6166

Fast, Hygienic and Saves You Money... It’s a Hand Dryer

The Ultra High Speed Hand Dryer, JET DRYER is now available in Australia.

Currently sold all over Korea, UK, France, Vietnam, Russia and Israel, the JET DRYER is the

latest hand dryer to upgrade to in your bathroom.

“Paper towels have become an expensive and environmentally unfriendly option for drying hands,” said Jeremy Kronk, Managing Director of JET DRYER. “Alternatively the older hand dryers are noisy and unhygienic i.e. they don’t filter the air they blow onto your hands, basically adding bacteria back onto your hands during the drying process”.

“There’s no better time for businesses to consider these issues and find a better solution, like JET DRYER.”

The JET DRYER dries the hands fast, hygienically and saves money and the environment.

Fast – Because it dries your hands in less than 10 Seconds

Hygienic – The Jet Dryer uses antibacterial filters to clean the air for a healthier drying experience, plus the surfaces of the units are specially coated to eliminate bacteria build up.

Savings – Both the environment and costs savings of up to 90% compared to Paper Towels, or lower power usage than most of all the other hand dryers…

For the price of 1 paper towel, the JET DRYER can dry 10 pairs of hands.

Added Bonus Features – Noise Absorption Module keeps noise down to 65dba considerably less than other hand dryers, plus the unit can have an aromatic fragrance added to enhance the whole experience.

Call 1 300 071 041 or visit www.jetdryer.com.au or email: [email protected]

the australian building services journal 2010_2

Documents

adelaide executive po

president craig white

president ian patterson

secretary barry wilding

knox city centre vic

commercial buildings

roz white

station arcade sa