Thrive Symposium: State of Indoor Air in Australia, Brisbane | 2 December 2024

Background: We spend a very large proportion of our time in buildings. They are long-lived assets that provide us with places of rest, recreation, entertainment and work. They provide us with shelter from external elements – both natural and manmade. We expect them to keep us warm when it’s cold outside and cool when it’s hot. We expect them to be safe. We expect them to be filled with clean, healthy air, free of pollutants of any kind, including infectious pathogens.

Energy is needed to meet these expectations: embodied energy in the materials for the building, its services and its fittings; operational energy for heating, cooling, ventilation and the multiple tasks we expect to do in buildings; and energy to maintain these systems and dispose of, or repurpose, these materials and systems at the end of their life. According to the International Energy Agency, the buildings sector accounts for over a third of global energy consumption and emissions.

Energy not only costs money, but also involves emissions of pollutants (e.g.  greenhouse gases when fossil fuels are used) and the use of resources of diverse nature (for example, rare metals for batteries). Careful consideration of energy sources is required to ensure a vicious cycle of pollution or non-sustainable resource consumption isn’t embedded in solutions. Therefore, we must strive to achieve a balance between all these requirements to breathe clean air and have thermal comfort but consuming the least amount of energy possible and in a resource efficient manner.

Big questions include:

1. What do we know about the quality of air in Australian buildings?  What pollutants are of concern? How are they linked to health outcomes? Greenhouse gas emissions?
2. Can we achieve a balance in building performance with respect to indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and the energy needed to support this for specific climate(s) and specific building types?
3. What additional risks will climate change pose with the increased frequency of episodic pollution events, rainfall intensity, and frequency and duration of heat waves? What is the impact of these changes on indoor air quality? What additional efforts will be required to protect people from exposure to outdoor pollutants penetrating indoors?
4. Can public building mechanical systems be optimised to address dynamic IEQ risk and carbon emissions?
5. Do we need more R&D? More regulation? More collaboration between all stakeholders, including occupants?

This interdisciplinary forum is relevant to experts from many fields and to anyone involved with buildings, from academics to leaders tasked with maintaining a safe and resilient internal environment of schools, offices, art museums, and any space we share with others – including homes.

📅 Date: 2 December 2024

🕒 Time: 9:00am – 3:00pm

📍 Location: The Gibson Room, Z Block, Level 10, Room 1064, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane QLD 4000.

📝Click Here for Registration Details