For Organisations
Case Study - Parliament House
Parliament House was first occupied in August 1994 and there was a need to reduce the expenditure required to operate the building. Energy efficiency investments including no cost, low cost and various engineering solutions have since been instituted.
Firstly, the air-conditioning system was running for too long. It was rectified and set to run from 7 AM to 5 PM. In affect a saving of approx. 217.5 operating hours a week.
The temperature set points of many units were also re-calibrated from
20 oC to a more comfortable 24 oC. The number of
cooling units functioning at anyone time was reduced.
Units in areas that were deemed to not be vital were switched off. Units in other areas were only turned on during sittings, for functions or when required by members.
After an energy audit in May 1996, the following recommendations were implemented:
- The removal of approximately 300 unnecessary 40 watt fluorescent lamps.
- Motion detectors were installed in all public toilets and some offices.
- Timers for lighting circuits were installed within the main plant rooms.
- Small appliance controls were installed to turn hot water units off at night and on weekends. Hot water thermostats gauges were also set to a lower, more reasonable level.
In 1998 a major upgrade of the air conditioning controls and Building Management System (BMS) was commenced. The integration of light switching into the BMS improved the flexibility of the lighting system and allowed the building manager to control lights from a personal computer.
Cost savings on external lighting were also achieved by rewiring them to allow full building coverage at various degrees of reduced levels.
Parliament House's average daily energy consumption has decreased by almost 20% since 1995.
Current initiatives include tightening control of the amount of outside air being cooled by the air conditioning system at different times.
Energy Chart
