Fujitsu General Australia has announced the acquisition by parent company Fujitsu General Limited of Precise Air Group (Holding) Pty Limited (PAG), a leading Australian provider of HVAC, fire and bundled maintenance services. The move signals Fujitsu’s intention to expand its business from home air conditioning – where it is currently a market leader in Australia […]
Global engineering and infrastructure advisory company Aurecon has appointed Louise Adams as Managing Director Australia and New Zealand from February 2019. Adams was previously the Regional Director responsible for Aurecon’s South Australian and Victorian practice and the first female member to join the company’s global board. According to Aurecon, Adams has a passion for organisational […]
The Australian Refrigeration Council’s (ARC) has appointed Michael Bennett as its new chairman. He replaces outgoing chairman Kevin O’Shea, who stepped down from the role after reaching the term limit under the ARC’s constitution. Bennett is moving from his long-held role as General Manager at Refrigerant Reclaim Australia (RRA). Since RRA’s commencement in 1993, he has […]
The federal government will invest $60m to trial a wage subsidy as an incentive for employers in regional and rural communities to engage more apprentices. The Apprentice Wage Subsidy will see up to 1,630 new Australian apprentices in areas of skills needs – including refrigeration and air conditioning. The scheme is open to employers who […]
The HFC phase-down has seen increasing use of refrigerants with lower GWP but higher flammability such as R290 (propane) and R32. In turn, this has raised major concerns about the safe use of these gases. According to the Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities (HWSA), recent workplace fire incidents involving flammable refrigerant gases have “directly contributed […]
Alinta Energy has revealed a major commitment to geothermal heating and cooling with the creation of Alinta Energy Geothermal. The new company division was officially launched at the Fairwater housing estate in Sydney, where more than 800 homes will be served by geothermal heating and cooling in NSW’s first 6 star Green Star community. The development […]
The 2018 International Green Construction Code (IgCC) has been released by a consortium of sustainability-minded organisations. The consortium comprises the US Green Building Council (USGBC), the International Code Council, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) and ASHRAE. The International Green Construction Code is designed to have wide applicability for incorporating resilient, high-performance green building strategies into […]
The Better Building Partnership (BBP) has launched the Expand the Band campaign to revise outdated set-points and deadband temperatures in Australian office buildings. The campaign offers building owners a simple and extremely low-cost way of reducing energy costs and emissions. Currently, most commercial leases specify a set-point temperature of 22°C. This is based on 1950s […]
Team Desert Rose from the University of Wollongong has finished second in the Solar Decathlon Middle East. The competition saw 15 teams and 600 students from around the world battling for top honours at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, said to be the largest single-site solar project in the world. The challenge […]
A new three-storey sports hub to support grassroots and women’s cricket has been built as part of a multi-million-dollar redevelopment of the South Australian Cricket Association’s (SACA) Park 25 in Adelaide. Designed by Cox Architects and constructed by Kennett Builders, the officially named Karen Rolton Oval has dramatically reduced the footprint of previous buildings while […]