The Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) has released a report titled Future of HVAC – in a Net-Zero World. The report is based on a foresighting workshop with experts and practitioners from HVAC as well as representatives from building services and associated industries. The workshop focused on gaining insight into the form that HVAC will take in the net-zero building sector of the future.

The report is designed to provide an early warning of both barriers and opportunities in coming years and to provide evidence for use by government policy makers. Workshop participants were asked to consider how the energy intensive approach to HVAV in buildings could be altered to assist in the delivery of net-zero buildings.

Findings include the need for building regulations to assess true performance and to target net-zero energy as well as the need for mandatory energy disclosure of existing buildings. Other findings include the need for:

• Training and education initiatives to assist stakeholders in understanding the risks and opportunities of a net zero building;
• Increased research into low-emission HVAC and better support for innovative technology and approaches;
• Increased investment in Australian research for Australian innovations in HVAC; and
• Government and industry support for demonstration projects that incorporate innovation and commercialisation of low-emission HVAC technologies

More information here.