A recently built, four-storey home in Melbourne’s prestigious Toorak was an obvious candidate for home automation. To cope with the home’s complexity and sophistication, five separate Clipsal C-Bus networks were installed to control 29 motorised blinds, motorised plasma-lifts, irrigation, swimming pool, over 600 light fittings, motion sensors and colour-changing LED lighting.

NECA has called on the government to release details on the insulation installation safety inspection figures or to inspect all of the installations in the country.

Improving the energy efficiencies of industrial plants can be enhanced through proper monitoring of the energy consumed by plant and equipment.

Maser has successfully completed the supply of instrumentation, thermocouple and process control cables that were required for a major $300m upgrade to a large manufacturing facility in southern New South Wales.

It’s hard to imagine the terms ‘Swiss cheese’ and ‘halogen downlights’ being used coherently in the same sentence - ordinarily the two have nothing in common with each other. But the subject of this article makes an exception. The common practice of mass installations of halogen downlights in homes and businesses is effectively turning ceilings into ‘Swiss cheese’.

Structured cabling systems have become ubiquitous in commercial and industrial buildings and facilities around the world in recent decades. At the same time, Internet Protocol has become the norm for communicating over this infrastructure. While their fundamental applications were initially for voice and data systems, many other building services applications, such as video surveillance, are emerging on these platforms to take advantage of their simplicity to deploy and operationally integrate.

The National Broadband Network is currently the largest infrastructure project within Australia, promising to elevate our nation’s communication capabilities to world-class levels. The problem is we lack the skills necessary to deliver it. Without the appropriate groundwork right now to build skill levels, there is a very real risk of this government initiative turning into an embarrassing debacle.

Would you use the nearest handheld multimeter to measure mains voltage or some other high-energy source? Absolutely not! Just as different types of helmets are designed to protect against rockclimbing, bicycle and motorcycle accidents; different multimeters are designed with different levels of protection against common electrical hazards. For your own safety - and for the safety of others nearby - choose the right multimeter that’s designed to protect against specific hazards that will be encountered.

The Zero Carbon Australia 2020 Project is a detailed and costed blueprint for a transition to a zero-emissions economy in 10 years using proven, commercialised technology. Its purpose is to show the Australian public and decision-makers that reaching a zero-emissions economy is ready to be implemented and only awaits government sign-off. It aims to initiate urgent efforts to mitigate the risks posed by global warming and to describe the infrastructure and resources required to reduce Australia’s carbon emissions to zero in the medium term.

Although the government’s emissions trading scheme has been shelved, industry expert Matt Shorten says a virtual scheme is already in place.

Following news of NBN Co's anticipated labour shortfall to rollout the NBN, NECA reminds us of the availability and suitablity of thousands of ACMA licensed cablers to provide the required skills and manpower to service the rollout.

A new US standard for LEDs promises to help standardise LED lighting products around the world.

Reforms to enhance Australia’s ambitious 20% Renewable Energy Target have recently been introduced into Parliament.

‘3R Green’ is a Tyco Electronics green-friendly program focusing on research and development of sustainable, energy saving, environmentally friendly solutions.

There is now conclusive proof that shielded copper is the ideal cabling infrastructure system to supply 10GBASE-T and larger applications.