Cape No. 7 and memoirs.....

Thanks to Alex L. Malthus' recommendation of Cape No. 7 (http://sustainology.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post_16.html), I watched that movie.

It stirred up some of my memories..... esp. with that catchphrase "Stay! Or I'll go with you!"

I also had some discussions in the guhk forum.

So, I decided to put this memories into memoirs.

I'll start with the persons' names first. Over time, I will fill in the details.

1. Ms Cheung - Girl on Bus Route 102

2. Mrs. B. L. (nee W.) - The summer class girl I still have contact with.

3. Ms. TAP Receptionist - Material girl.

4. Ms. Mdy - A real possibility but we were "ordinary people!"

5. Ms. F-a T. - The little sister in the whole company.

6. Ms. Apple - The girl that approached me.

7. Ms. D.K. - Have any girl asked you, "Fire, marry me!" She did!

8. Mrs. M.T. N. (nee K.) - A story not started.

9. Mrs. W.W.Y. W. (nee C.) - We've gone so far, but .... the one that I might say "Stay or I'll go with you!"

10. Ms. P. H. - She didn't ask me, "Marry me!" But the way she acted was saying so.

11. Ms. J.C. - An elder sister like girl that shutted the door.

12. Mrs. E.N. (nee C.) - I still have feelings for her. The other girl that I should ask myself "Stay or I'll go with you!"

13. Mrs. J. (nee T.) - A misunderstanding?....

14. Ms. L. - Yet another girl that implicitly invited me to approach her. But ....

15. Mrs. K. C. (nee L.) - Who else but my wife now!

P.S. Tomoko M. - The Japanese pen friend I have never met face to face.

Some new ideas

Instead of staying quiet for a while, I just think of an idea.

This is about posting the links that I read for the day.

So I can keep track of what info and blogs I've gone through.

Today, I skip through the following info:

Magnetic train:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_levitation_train
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A3%81%E6%87%B8%E6%B5%AE%E5%88%97%E8%BB%8A

Lunar space elevator:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_space_elevator

Other house energy rating software - Sustainability Victoria

ZTC Ltd. Tether-Sling Prototype - Page 10 - Orbiter-Forum

What is a well ventilated fridge space?

What is indoor or sheltered clothes drying line?

Energy Labelling - Selecting an efficient appliance Clothes dryer

Energy Labelling - Selecting an efficient appliance dish washer

Here are the url's I've read through yesterday or before, as from my firefox's browsing history:

Raining goals as Cahill and Co make statement - Football - Sport - smh.com.au

We were a circus: Rio praises new England order - Football - Sport - smh.com.au

Australian Building Codes Board: BCA 2008 Volume Two - List of Amendments

[轉貼][科技探討]MK82的衝擊——解析MK82核彈的原理 - 高達專區 - 動畫/漫畫 - 香港討論區 discuss.com.hk - 一個香港只得一個香港討論區

Which Linux makes the best business Windows replacement desktop? | Computerworld Blogs

Shorelink Library Network

Nabers Performance Rating Calculator

Windows Energy Ratings Scheme - WERS

MSI Announces Wind 2, Says Customers Hate Linux | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Why smart people uses Linux « TransLXP - By Infrasound

Canonical Confirms MSI's Linux Return Rate Statement

Why so stupid?: how the human race has never really learned to think - Google Search

Edward de Bono - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1/144 HG GN-X III A-Laws Type

Sale Items www.hlj.com

Main Page - DramaWiki

Linux Mint 5 "Elyssa" - XFCE Community Edition - Linux Mint

Solar power satellite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

gundam 00 technology - Search results - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Artificial intelligence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

pagetable.com » Blog Archive » Bill Gates’ Personal Easter Eggs in 8 Bit BASIC

Asustek launches new Eee PC laptop - Articles - Laptops - Digital Life

VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie Aruto Type (Plastic model) Bandai Macross Frontier 1/72

Space tourism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spaceflight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Real Cost of Space Exploration - a knol by Edward Isarevich

Moon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Earth Statistics

What is the diameter of the Sun?

Bureau - New South Wales Observations

Australian Water Availability - Solar Exposure

The Gardens of Babylon: Preliminary ideas about my PhD project

HVAC Systems

Hydrogen, H2, Physical properties, safety, MSDS, enthalpy, material compatibility, gas liquid equilibrium, density, viscosity, flammability, transport properties

Hydrogen - Specific Heat Capacity

SE_Ideal_App_for_FEL.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Space Elevator GEO Station on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Music of the Spheres: Popular Space Elevator View

Space maths & physics forum - Orbiter Forums

AttitudeMFD - OrbiterWiki

What is Earth's mean radius? - a definition from Whatis.com

Toshiba takes wraps off netbook | Register Hardware

Berbatov nets twice in United romp - Football - Sport - smh.com.au

The ROI of PC power management |Sustainable IT | Ted Samson | InfoWorld

Chinese Proverbs quotes

Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) Scheme home page

Where Windows is #2 to Linux | Computerworld Blogs

Full Circle Magazine | Issue 17

ABSA

2008 Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference, Awards & Trade Show - Courses & Events - Green Building Council Australia (GBCA)

Leading Green Thinkers Sydney - Courses & Events - Green Building Council Australia (GBCA)

Five Ways To Cut Energy Bills - Forbes.com

Wow, I have been through quite some webpages.

I believe this will be an asset which allows me to trace back information on another day!

Happy Birthday to me!

Another busy month!

Another not so productive month within the blogosphere!

Just to say "Happy Birthday to me!"

Hey, Lo Paul (chinese way of saying "wife"), I haven't received anything yet!

Unproductive August blogger

Wow, I didn't write blog in August?!

I was busy, I am busy, and I am going to be busy with real energy efficiency and "green(wash)" work.

What I've done in August:

• Several BCA Section J DTS (Deemed-to-satisfy) assessment reports.
• Completion inspection for the first Section J Report I've done. The building is at The Entrance (90 km from where I work)
  
• A few JV3 Performance Assessments for some proposed buildings. One of them is a big retail chain with specific alternative solution using PMV/PPD and HSI (Heat Stress Index).
  
• A number of NatHERS/BASIX assessments orf residential apartments and houses.
• I've moved house.
• I had a friend's family visiting me from HK. (Dr. Square Fong) We are both from the same B.Eng. course. We speak the same "green" language. And it might be alien language to our wives and other people (LOL)!
• Manage issues with the building of my family's new house. Yet more are still to come!

There are signs that the Australian economy is slowing down. When it appeared I might have a little break in my busy work schedule, suddenly some EE and ESD projects rushed in. The clients just liked to have the job done "Yesterday". (Yes, this is the trend. All jobs are already overdue?!!)

Some reasons (excuses) for the silence in the blogosphere!

Now, need to get on with the JV3 energy simulation which will due tomorrow! I will be late! OH, dun!

Update to "Unofficial ABGR Assessment"

I have an entry about Unofficial ABGR Assessment back in February.

I actually finished the report around June/July.

So, here are the updates from the assessment:

The base building ABGR (now it is NABERS Energy) could achieve 5 stars. The tenancy ratings ranged from 0 star to 2 stars. So there was some disparity here.

To fairly compare this building with other buildings, the whole building rating should be used.

The whole building rating was assessed to be 3 stars. This means "Best Practice" according to the ABGR official definition. This should be considered fair or even good for a building around 20 years of age.

However, in the Australian building market place, knowledgeable tenants will demand 4 or 4.5 stars.

To bring the building to 4 or 4.5 stars, the energy consumption has to be cut down by about 40%!!

For an existing building, this is not easy to achieve this. Some major renovations will be required to cut 40% energy use.

Well, when I talked to the property manager, "cost effectiveness" came before "sustainability"!

You know what that means?

June's Update

This month (June) seems not like a good month for me (and my family).

So that's why I have been silent for a while.

I had been quite busy at work.

Just when I had a little bit of breathing space, I fell sick. I (and my wife) contracted flu from my young boy as he got flu from the child care centre. We had two days of sick leave from that.

Just when I return to work (and still a little bit sick), work is pouring ......

Why I can type this now? It's because I am working on BASIX. Takes me five minutes for a recalculation. So I use this time to update my blog.

Well, BASIX again!

Look at here for BASIX: http://www.basix.nsw.gov.au/information/index.jsp

ESD AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN AUSTRALIA (4) - BCA SECTION J - ENERGY EFFICIENCY

I think I may move on to BCA Section J.

Some time ago, I read an article in "Ecolibrium" (AIRAH professional journal) about "paradigm shift" in the Australian business sectors towards "Sustainabilty".

It was viewed as a "nice to have" features. But nowadys, the view is that sustainability is essential to the continuing development. And after all, sustainability really bear benefits for the building owners and building users.

And from my personal experience, large developers are really embracing sustainability whole heartly. Smaller ones are not so consistent but the trend is clear that sustainability has its place and is becoming more and more important!

Back to BCA (Building Code of Australia).

BCA is similar to “Building Ordinance” in HK. For some quick info on HK’s Building Ordinance, see this: http://www.bd.gov.hk/english/services/index_support3.html

However, BCA, starting from 2004, is updated annually.

In 2000, all State and Territory governments had agreed to introduce mandatory energy efficiency standards into the BCA in order to reduce GHG emissions attributable to the operation of buildings.

The first stage was to introduce energy efficiency measures into the BCA Volume Two on 1 January 2003. (BCA Volume Two relates to requirements and regulations for freestanding / detached houses and garages.)

The second stage was to introduce energy measures for multi-residential buildings into BCA Volume One on 1 May 2005.

The final (third) stage for introducing energy efficiency measures is to include energy efficiency measures for all other building classifications in BCA Volume One. (BCA Volume One includes requirements and regulations on all other buildings including commercial, retail, industrial, institutional, recreational, schools, hospitals, aged homes, etc.)

I’ve said it before – the inception of the plan dates back to 2000. The actual “full” implementation date is 2006!

For places that haven’t started, how long will they take to have some proper legislation in place?

You can have some good in-depth understanding on the rationale of Energy Efficiency in BCA by reading these "Handbooks". Mind you one of them is over 150 pages and the other is over 300 pages!

http://www.abcb.gov.au/documents/energy/Handbook_vol1.pdf

http://www.abcb.gov.au/documents/energy/Handbook_vol2.pdf

So how can a building comply with BCA Section J?

Basically, there are two approaches:
1.Deemed-to-satisfy (DTS) method (prescriptive method)
2.Verification method (JV3) (JV2 is superseded from 1 May 2008)

With the DTS method, it is like ticking a checklist to comply with ALL the requirements.

With the JV’s, the annual energy consumptions of the building under different scenarios are calculated. If they are under a certain benchmark, then they are compliant.

And I list some major categories in the DTS method.

There are eight categories to be checked for Energy Efficiency compliance:

Part J1 – Building Fabric
‧Roof and Ceiling Construction
‧Roof Lights
‧Walls
‧Floors
(In most cases, insulation, esp. roof insulation, is required to keep the temperature in a building less prone to outside temperature fluctuations.)

Part J2 – External Glazing
‧Two methods (spreadsheets) for checking compliance
‧Shading is also important
(Generally, large glass area without shading will fail.)

Part J3 – Building Sealing
‧Chimneys and flues
‧Roof lights
‧Windows and doors
‧Exhaust fans
‧Construction of roofs, walls and floors
(Basically, there should be some things to prevent unwanted air coming in or out of a building)

Part J4 – Air Movement
‧Only applicable for multi-residential buildings
(This part requires that the openable window area equals or exceed a certain % of floor area.)

Part J5 – Air-conditioning and Ventilation Systems
‧Air-conditioning and ventilation systems
‧Time switch
‧Heating and chilling systems
‧Miscellaneous exhaust systems
(Energy efficient air conditioning and ventilation systems with proper controls (like the inexpensive time switches) are required to pass the requirements.)

Part J6 – Artificial lighting and power
‧Interior artificial lighting
‧Interior artificial lighting and power control
‧Interior decorative and display lighting
‧Artificial lighting around the perimeter of a building
‧Boiling water and chilled water storage units
(Simply speaking, you need good energy efficient lightings and control switches to comply. Normal light bulb in most cases will fail.)

Part J7 – Hot water supply
(Need a proper design to comply, i.e. don’t just get a “no-body” to do it.)

Part J8 – Access for Maintenance
(Just allow access to repair and fix equipment and components.)

It may sound simple from the above descriptions. But there are many small details to check.

And I have some insiders' comments to the BCA Section J. .......