Is Buying Local a great policy that delivers long-lasting community benefits or just a set of rules to be worked around?

Moving to the tropics can be a shock – often you’re left sweaty and frustrated as your body slowly climatises to the increased humidity and almost constant, year-round heat. It can be overwhelming.

Designing in this new environment after spending your career designing for temperate climates may give you a similar feeling. However, just as your body adjusts and begins to flourish in the lack-of-winter, so will you.

While it appears that the Federal Government is not committing to Net Zero Emissions by 2050, most of the private sector are doing their part to reach this goal. This is because, in many cases, it’s essential for their business, but also because it’s actually not that difficult to achieve.

So, what role does HVAC play in a Zero Emission Economy?

When structures are designed as non-habitable, it is often assumed that they do not present a hazard to life in case of failure. There are other factors however that need to be considered when determining the appropriate Importance Level.

Up-and-coming engineers who want to make their mark tend to set their sights on big cities. That’s where there are multitudes of major projects, and major projects mean major opportunities, right? While the skills you develop in these roles are valuable, they can be very niche.

Artificial light has many advantages in the outdoor environment. It provides safe passageway for pedestrians and vehicles, improves the security around buildings and environments, enhances sporting and recreational activities, and is used for aesthetic or accent appearances. But where does that benefit become more of a hinderance?

Unlike the air conditioning industry which has seen significant improvements in energy efficiency standards through multiple iterations of the NCC, cold rooms have had almost no advancements in terms of technology or energy efficiency.

The evaluation and management of remote assets can be challenging. Accessing remote sites can be costly and time-consuming for the client, invasive and often inconvenient for the resident, and risky for both the assessor and the remote community.

Air-conditioning reduces the temperature down to comfort conditions, however in the tropics this is generally at or below the ambient dew point temperature. This means that when the ambient outdoor air is introduced into the air-conditioned space, the moisture in the air condenses into water droplets on any surfaces that are at or below the dew point.

Achieving a healthy indoor environmental quality with effective air conditioning and ventilation isn't always as clean-cut as the NCC and the Australian Standards' framework suggests. With the arrival of La Niña, the theory behind 'tropic-proofing' is about to be put to the test.

Cyclones pose a very real threat to communities across coastal areas of northern Australia. This isn’t news; people living in these areas are aware of the threat and there is frequent talk of buildings, particularly houses, being ‘cyclone coded’ – but what does that actually mean?