The stability of the electricity grid and incentives for electricity users to change their behaviour is once again topical as we approach another Australian summer with the expectation of greater than ever demand. However, load management has been a challenge for...

The first priority of building operators—at all times—is the health, safety and well-being of occupants. And right now the challenges are unprecedented. Here are some measures that can improve your building's health and safety while also ensuring it remains as...

The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted almost every aspect of daily life, with the subsequent lockdowns bringing numerous challenges to commercial building owners and operators. With large changes in occupancy, one of the difficulties has been ensuring energy use has...

Continuing to operate at the leading edge of building energy performance analysis, Buildings Alive commits a significant amount of resources to research and development activity. Several of Buildings Alive’s staff have again had research papers accepted to the...

On 31 August 2018, three public advocacy groups wrote to the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) asking for it to change the rules governing how the Australian electricity market works. Their request? Allow consumers to be paid for electricity they avoid using....

The number of people working in office buildings has fallen dramatically since COVID-19 control measures were introduced. In this short video we illustrate, with real-world data*, the range of energy efficiency outcomes that commercial office building owners and...

All buildings are created for people and building owners must ensure they are safe. But unfortunately, as with most things in life, there is no guidebook setting out the ‘ideal’ way to achieve that outcome. This is especially true in a pandemic. Over recent days,...

[Note: information regarding the final position of NABERS on COVID-19 occupancy changes and the practical implications is updated in our new blog post of 8 July 2020.] The COVID-19 response has dramatically impacted the operation of commercial buildings. In this short...

If a building’s occupancy drops by 50-80%, by how much should its energy use go down? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to that question – it depends on many factors, some of them commercial, some highly technical. And, as many of the amazing facilities and...

What happens to energy efficiency when people desert the CBDs because of the COVID-19 pandemic to work from home, and then send energy consumption through the roof with their domestic consumption? The Fifth Estate considers a variety of perspectives - including that...

With the significant changes being experienced by almost every sector of the economy due to COVID-19, we’re seeing a number of important impacts on building energy performance, but its not quite as straightforward as “less people working in offices = less...

While our expertise at Buildings Alive is in building energy performance, people are in fact at the heart of everything we do. It is people that both occupy and manage buildings and they have the largest effects on energy consumption. By supporting people –...