During flood conditions, electrical hazards pose dangerous risks and can be fatal. Master Electricians Australia CEO Malcolm Richards is warning contractors about getting in over their heads doing floodwater repairs. [ + ]

Currently in Australia, there is no regulated surge protection standard. It is not compulsory to fit surge protection. This means that your electrical equipment may be relying on the upstream protection that simply doesn’t exist to do most of the work in handling harmful surge events. Installing surge protection before your electrical equipment also makes sound economic sense as it increases the longevity of your investment. The cost is really small compared to your investment. [ + ]

Emerson Network Power has released a list of the 10 most common surprises for data centre and IT managers. Released at AFCOM Data Center World Spring, the list offers tips to help managers prepare for these nasty surprises in order to minimise downtime. [ + ]

The Australian lighting industry is facing a myriad of problems, including complicated and fragmented regulatory environment for energy-efficient products and substandard products giving a bad name to the industry, that could potentially restrain growth. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. In the article below, Ilum-a-lite’s CEO Mark Rutherford, explains how private and government funding options make it easy for businesses to go green. [ + ]

Darling Quarter is a redevelopment of the 1.5 ha ex-Sega World site located at the southern end of Sydney’s Darling Harbour, between Harbour Street and the Western Distributor Freeway, overlooking Tumbalong Park. The project incorporates a number of sustainability initiatives, including rainwater harvesting, on-site recycled water treatment, on-site trigeneration system, carbon emission reduction through energy-efficient design, recycled construction waste and a high-performance facade designed to maximise natural light and minimise heat gain. [ + ]

Companies continually look for ways to improve plant safety and a growing area of focus is reducing the potentially serious hazards caused by arc flash events. This article examines the causes of arc flash and discusses the standards guiding arc flash safety. It also explains the role that arc-resistant motor control centres (MCCs) play in helping to contain arc energy. [ + ]

National Manufacturing Week (NMW), Australia’s only fully integrated annual manufacturing exhibition, returns to Sydney in 2012 with industry showcases across 12 specialist zones. The event takes place on 8-11 May 2012 at the Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park. [ + ]

Australia’s construction industry continues to decline, a result of drops in activity and new orders. January 2012 was the 20th consecutive month that the sector has contracted. [ + ]

A hospital in the Sunshine State is making the most of the weather to cut costs and reduce carbon emissions. The Hervey Bay Hospital will install a 266 kW roof-mounted solar panel system later this year that will save an estimated $20,000 on electricity costs and reduce carbon emissions by around 400 tonnes annually. [ + ]

The new BCA lighting requirements restrict lighting to 5 W per square metre, as opposed to the previous 25 W per square metre. [ + ]

A key issue for businesses in 2012 will be the new energy reporting regulations. The Commercial Building Disclosure (CBD) scheme is the first regulatory step in making business more energy wise and penalties will apply for non-disclosure. Programs such as the NSW Government’s Energy Saver program are available now to businesses wanting to take the important first step towards understanding their energy footprint. [ + ]

The event, featuring the theme Delivering Best Practice, will focus on raising the knowledge and skill levels of information technology systems (ITS) professionals in the many facets of ITS infrastructure through technical presentations, exhibits, guidance on NBN deployment, ‘best practice’ workshops and networking opportunities. [ + ]

The newest parts of an International Standard for Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) will help devices to seamlessly cross multivendor and multitechnology networks - another step forward for intelligent homes and offices. UPnP technology together with enabling home automation technologies such as KNX (ISO/IEC 14543-3) or Echonet (ISO/IEC 14543-4) makes this possible, because it allows devices to connect and work together, facilitating multiple applications like entertainment, energy efficiency, security and building control, through data and resource sharing, communications, the internet and simplified network establishment. [ + ]

With the simPRO software, A&K can now quickly track all of their electricians utilising in-built mapping and easily reschedule their jobs in order to give priority to emergency jobs. [ + ]

Lighting, in the home, in commercial and industrial situations and even on the streets, has come a long way in the last 70 years or so. Tungsten lights, sodium lights, cold cathode tubes, mercury vapour, halogen, neon, iodine, CFLs and fluorescent are all still with us but beginning to take a back row compared with the all-advancing, all-shining LED (light emitting diode) that threatens to take over any time soon. [ + ]