Tuesday 3 May 2011
TechClinic lights the way for greater energy efficiencies
TechClinics promote the adoption of innovation and technology to solve industry wide problems and challenges. This particular TechClinic was held to progress how lighting and control system innovations could reduce energy consumption.
Currently, more than 33 billion lamps operate worldwide, consuming more than 2650 TWh of energy annually, which is 19 per cent of the global electricity consumption. This therefore presents an opportunity to significantly reduce energy consumption on a world scale.
Rising energy costs and increased consumer awareness in relation to energy efficiency also represent a significant growth opportunity. More efficient use of the energy used for lighting would limit the rate of increase of electric power consumption, reduce the economic and social costs, and reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the environment.
Improving the energy efficiency of commercial and industrial buildings is key to reducing the contribution to carbon and greenhouse gases from this sector. Low energy buildings of the future need to include a range of features and systems to minimise their energy usage. This includes structural aspects, on-site energy generation, efficient energy management systems and low energy usage appliances and components.
The Clean Technology Innovation Centre (CTIC) TechClinic, organised by the Australian Institute for Commercialisation (AIC) and its partners including Newcastle Innovation (NI) and the Sustainable Energy Association of Australia (SEA), focused on the question “How can innovations in lighting and control systems further increase building energy efficiency?”
This TechClinic focused specifically on market and industry driven projects, where:
- Market access and technology issues around innovative energy efficient lighting and lighting control systems for commercial and industrial buildings exist, and
- There is likelihood that Australian SME’s will have an opportunity to collaborate with project proponents in order to help solve their problems and foster greater uptake of the technology and systems.
The TechClinic commenced with presentations from Johnson Controls, Powersense, Jones Lang LaSalle, Lighting Art and Science and Energy Conservation Systems. The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, the Hon. Kim Carr, also attended for part of the morning session where he announced the Federal Government’s Clear21 Initiative, and took questions from the participants.
Presentation topics included:
- Lighting retrofits – Finding the balance between economics and innovation.
- Built environment energy efficiency, an owners perspective
- Evaluating the efficiency cost/benefit of lighting controls.
- The truth about LED’s.
- Increasing efficiency through lighting and controls.
In total, there were 81 participants from across the value chain including construction project developers such as Mirvac, energy efficient lighting manufacturers such as Thorn Lighting, and reseearch organistions such as the University of New South Wales.
Almost 98% of participants rated the TechClinic as good or excellent, and all attendees had their expectations met or exceeded.
More than three-quarters of respondents found that the TechClinic helped them to identify new opportunities for your business in the clean energy industry.
David Tilbury of Intralux Australia found the TechClinic was an "Excellent opportunity to extract thoughts from many stakeholders in a balanced 'Think Tank' environment" while Jerry of PowerSense felt that the TechClinic was "Very useful in setting a temperature gauge reading on industry issues and collaborating collective messaging and lobbying."
A range of opportunities, issues and solutions to the question: “How can innovations in lighting and control systems further increase building energy efficiency?” were explored. From these, a number of specific actions were agreed, including:
- Industry bodies agreed to coordinate a dedicated trades training program, improve trade and designer training and refresher courses, and establish a practitioner accreditation regime
- Form an education working group to ensure/promote best practice content
- Form a Building Code Aust / standards working group
- Establish a peak body for energy and lighting engineers (primarily for education).
One of the greatest outcomes of the TechClinic process is that it achieves cooperation along the value chain (illustrated in figure 1 below) to address issues and opportunities, and this time proved no exception. Attendees from industry associations, universities, manufacturers, and governments volunteered to work jointly on agreed action items to help move the industry forwards.
Further information on the Enterprise Connect Clean Technology Innovation Centre can be found at www.cleantechnologyinnovation.net.au/
If you would like to find out more about Tech Clinics please visit www.ausicom.com/techclinics or call (07) 3853 5225 or e-mail info@ausicom.com for further information.
Figure 1: Energy Efficient Lighting Industry Value chain
