Tony Brittain of Solar Lights Pty Ltd has recently installed a number of solar powered street lights for use in remote areas with no mains power. A number were recently installed along a local government walking trail, as shown in the photo.
VIDEO: AGIC National Sustainability Rating System
AGIC is soon to announce the first draft of the National Sustainability Rating System for government infrastructure. The scheme is designed to provide a national framework for sustainability assessment of infrastructure in the development, construction and operation stages.
Organisations who submitted an expression of interest are already being selected for trials of the program. Those who have not submitted an EOI can still be part of the round 2 trials.
Participating in a pilot trial is an excellent way for your organisation to gain familiarity with the new rating tool; to promote its use within your organisation; and to help shape the final rating tool.
[youtube_video id=n6w_7eP9sGg width="560" height="349"]
For more information or to participate in the trial visit: http://www.agic.net.au
CarbonetiX joins Energy Performance Contractor Panel
CarbonetiX has now been accepted onto the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance’s Energy Performance Contractor Panel, joining a select group of companies such as Siemens and Honeywell.
We are rapt that CarbonetiX is now recognised for its potential to deliver guaranteed energy savings through energy performance contracts.
This is a vote of confidence in our ability to deliver guaranteed energy savings, and also coincides with the launch of our new, guaranteed energy savings offer.
VIDEO: Al Gore is back
VIDEO: AL GORE IS BACK. The following is a video introducing “24 Hours of Reality”, an event that will focus the world’s attention on the full truth, scope, scale and impact of the climate crisis. To remove the doubt. Reveal the deniers. And catalyze urgency around an issue that affects every one of us.
The event will be broadcast September 15th, 7PM (Queensland) local time via the web and possibly by one of the major networks (here’s hoping). The website currently features a Queensland event, with more likely to be announces globally.
[youtube_video id=PY-mboZkhD0 width="560" height="349"]
Event Website: http://climaterealityproject.org/
Selling Climate Change Policy : A Great Deconstruction
David Spratt, author of “Climate Code Red: the case for emergency action”, has written a really interesting article which deconstructs the sales pitch when it comes to climate change policy.
His contention is that the current sales pitch of “average families being no worse off” lacks attention to the real question on peoples minds – “is climate change that big a deal?”.
Spratt elaborates on the need for “a compelling heart narrative about the impacts of global warming”.
The article finishes with a quote from Al Gore:
“The scale and magnitude of the changes that are necessary to solve the climate crisis mean that all of the collateral reasons for taking these steps will not get us to where we need to go without a clear understanding of what we’re facing if we don’t act … it’s a mistake to move that to the periphery of the conversation as so many have done … it has to be the heart of the conversation.”
VIDEO: Lighting Energy Efficiency Presentation at VECCI
CarbonetiX director Bruce Rowse gives a presentation on lighting efficiency in commercial buildings at a VECCI manufacturers workshop. Topics include reducing energy, the latest LED technologies and some alternatives to high-bay, fluorescent and halogen lighting.
[youtube_video id=RpJ2nBGOV7c width="560" height="349"]
Part two and three can be found at these links:
Part 2/3: http://youtu.be/7RRBNrQFdwM
Part 3/3: http://youtu.be/RpJ2nBGOV7c
To learn about upcoming VECCI events visit their website:
http://www.vecci.org.au/Pages/Home.aspx
Climate Change SCIENCE not opinion
I’m totally fed up with the prevalance of opinion over science in the media, so these resources are really refreshing:
Skeptical Science: Getting skeptical about global warming skepticism.
LED Lighting Update
LED lighting continues to get better and better, with more and more products now available.
Sydney based company Enlighten now have a “back of house” light suited to carparks, fire stairs and intermittently used corridors that incorporates both high efficiency LEDs and a occupancy sensor to turn the light on and off.
The fitting has a standby lamp that provides emergency illuminance, and when motion is sensed by the microwave sensor the ligth comes to full brightness. Microwave sensors can “see” through non metalic doors or walls, and the fitting can theoretically be set up in a corridor to turn the lights on as someone approaches the entry door on the other side, making it appear as though the lights are always on!
Energy savings are achieved from both the higher efficiency of the LED fitting and the sensor. Depending on the amount of movement, this can provide energy savings of 90% plus.
We also have in the office some Osram LED downlight halogen replacements. They have excellent light colour, with a 10 watt GU10 LED substituting a 50 watt dichroic or a 35 watt IRC lamp. The lamp is longer than a standard halogen, which in some cases may make the installation awkward, but otherwise this is a good light, although it may not be quite as bright as a 50 watt halogen. A MR 16 version will be out soon too.
We have tested many halogen replacements over the years, they are getting better and better, and now the major brands are coming out with these it provides buyers more certain about performance and longevity.
LEDS magazine has provided some recent updates on LED technology. Fully “packaged” LEDs are now commercially available with efficacy’s approaching 100 lumens/watt. To put this in context fluorescent lighting, the most efficient form of general purpose lighting, gets up to 105 lumens per watt. The advantage of LED is that the light is directional, providing more useful light.
According to the US Department of Energy (DOE) packaged LEDs will reach 253 lumens/watt by 2020.
Pricing is also on a downward trend. Price is now around USD $50/1000 lumens, compact fluorescents are now at about $5/1000 lumens, or $10/1000 lumens if dimmable. DOE predicts prices will be at around $5/1000 lumens by 2020, with $10/1000 lumens reached by 2015.
Clearly by 2020 LEDS are likely to be the only lights around, and DOE has set a target for a “smart” troffer fitting to be $85 by 2020. Based on this achieving around 250 lumens/watt, this troffer will use around 20 watts to achieve similar light output to a typical 2 x 36 watt fluorescent troffer now in use.
LED chip manufacturer CREE have reported achieving 231 lumens/watt for an LED module in their R&D lab.
There is now a global trial of LED street lighting underway called the “Light Savers City Trial”, involving amongst others the cities of New York, Toronto and Sydney. Preliminary results are promising. The trial is pretty rigorous, with the New York trial involving the monthly measurement of road level illumination, colour temperature, ambient temperature and power consumption.
The National Gallery, London, is now upgrading to indoor LED lighting following a trial. In addition to energy savings (equivalent to around 400 tonnes of greenhouse gas annually), the LEDs to be used have no change in colour temperature when dimmed (unlike tungsten lamps), have a longer lifetime, and don’t produce any UV light.