Insights and observations from our practice and elsewhere
Demand response goes back to the future
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...
Dealing with the new normal: energy efficiency strategies for shoulder seasons
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...
Managing the impacts of COVID-19 on NABERS ratings v3.0
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...
3 ACEEE Summer Study 2020 Papers
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...
The electricity market is about to turn upside down
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....
What is a reasonable target for energy savings during COVID-19?
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...
Can HVAC systems spread COVID-19?
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,...
How to get the best NABERS rating you can in the context of COVID-19
[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...
Great building managers are making the most of a bad situation
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...
Keeping an eye on the energy efficiency ball is crucial during the pandemic
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...
What does COVID-19 mean for building energy performance ?
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...
Buildings Alive responding to COVID-19
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 –...