Greening the built environment with renewable energy
01 April, 2010With residential and commercial buildings responsible for 23% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, buildings have a significant role to play in reducing our carbon footprint. Building green provides the greatest, most cost-effective opportunity to tackle climate change. What’s more, this action, and its positive impact, can be taken quickly.
NECA calls on government to extend insulation inspections
18 March, 2010With more house fires occurring, linked to the insulation installation program, NECA has reiterated its call for the government to stipulate licensed electricians pre-inspect roof areas to ascertain the existing electrics are safe.
HomeGrid Forum and G.hn standard gain momentum
03 March, 2010Service providers and PC and consumer electronics manufacturers accelerate their interest and support for the next generation of wired home networking standards.
New drivers towards energy efficiency
15 February, 2010An expert on emissions trading schemes points to a number of new market trends that will drive Australian businesses to be more energy and resource efficient in the way they do business.
High Court ruling offers ray of hope for OHS laws
08 February, 2010The recent High Court decision in the case of Kirk v IRC of NSW and WorkCover has been welcomed by NECA.
Energy management opportunities
03 February, 2010 by Kam Ho, Executive Director, Forward Shift Environmental LtdThe low-carbon economy is likely to have significant financial impacts for all businesses, due to the need to account for existing market externalities such as carbon emissions and adverse environmental impacts. While the UN climate conference in Copenhagen attempted to develop an international approach to mitigating and managing the impacts of climate change, the Australian government has proposed a set of measures as part of its climate mitigation plan, such as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).
US EPA targets electrical industry for financial obligations in clean-up of environmental releases
13 January, 2010The electric power generation, transmission and distribution industry in the US was one of three industries identified by the EPA as potentially being required to provide financial assurances to fund the clean-up of environmental releases.
Protection against non-conforming electrical appliances and installations
15 December, 2009A conference was held recently in the Middle East to promote the global standardisation of electrotechnology that seeks to eradicate the trading of non-conforming electrical products.
ACT government takes stand against ‘sham’ contracting
14 December, 2009A recently released Bill in the ACT endeavours to prevent employers engaging in ‘sham’ contracting to avoid their legal obligations to workers.
NECA welcomes new SA Security of Payment Bill that will protect contractors
08 December, 2009The NECA South Australia Chapter has applauded the passage of a new bill to guarantee security of payment for the construction industry.
Luminaires for industrial and hazardous environments
02 December, 2009 by Sebastian Beier, Market Sector Manager, CSE Division, Sylvania Lighting AustralasiaIndustrial environments can pose significant challenges to the safety and effective operation of lighting systems. Luminaire selection and system design must meet performance goals where mechanical strength, weight, thermal, electrical, corrosion resistance, hazardous environment and water and dust ingress requirements must be considered. Designers must gain a firm understanding of all environmental factors that can cause system failures to deliver ‘environmental compatibility’ of lighting.
Avoiding costly underground cable problems - now and in the future
02 December, 2009 by Paul StathisRecently, a friend of mine who operates an excavator tore through a mains cable as he was digging footings on a commercial site. Not only did he get the scare of his life, but he had a few anxious moments afterwards wondering if he would cop the huge repair bill for the damage he had just caused. Fortunately for him, he called Dial Before You Dig before commencing to excavate.
Dealing with the halogen downlight conundrum
01 December, 2009 by Paul StathisThe 2007 Wiring Rules introduced a number of installation directives for halogen downlights because of the high incidence of fires directly attributable to the extreme heat output from them igniting nearby combustible materials. One of these directives is to leave considerable clearance around them from all materials, including insulation. But this introduces the problem of potentially compromising a home’s thermal efficiency. How do electrical contractors deal with this conundrum?
Why calibrate your test equipment?
01 December, 2009 by Paul StathisTest and measurement equipment is essential to the electrical trade, be it for electrical, data or control systems. Whether it’s for commissioning a new installation or finding a fault in an existing one, electrical tradespeople and technicians put a lot of faith in the readings from these instruments. But how can they be certain what’s being reported is correct?
Is it time to genuinely adopt 230 V as our distribution voltage?
01 December, 2009 by Prof Alex Baitch, Principal, BES (Aust) Pty Ltd and Visiting Professorial Fellow at University of WollongongThe article in September/October 2008 Electrical Solutions raised many questions regarding supply voltage variances. Author Paul Stathis was warned that he could be opening a can of worms. The advice he received was not wrong. In this article, I will attempt to answer some of the issues raised in the previous article and bring attention to more issues that need to be addressed by the electrical industry.
