Thrive Future Buildings Forum: Energy and Indoor Air Quality, Sydney

Did you know that buildings consume about 30% of all the energy consumed by humans…?

On 30 April 2024, we met at the NSW Government Workplace Hub in Sydney for Thrive’s Future Buildings Forum, focussing specifically on Energy and indoor air quality (IAQ)Background: We expect buildings to be filled with clean, healthy air, free of pollutants of any kind, particularly infectious pathogens, and to keep us warm when it’s cold outside and cool when it’s hot, among many other requirements we have for buildings, our shelters. Energy is needed to meet this requirement. Energy not only costs money, but also involves emissions of pollutants, including greenhouse gases when fossil fuels are used to generate it and the use of resources of diverse nature (for example, rare metals for batteries), which poses a sustainability issue.

Currently, buildings consume about 30% of all the energy consumed by humans. 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. How to do it?

Panellists will discuss the following big questions:

What is the optimal building design(s) to achieve balance in building performance with respect to indoor air quality and thermal comfort and the energy need to support this for specific climate(s)?
What additional requirements for building energy will climate change pose with the increased frequency of episodic pollution event, particularly wildfires and their impact on indoor air quality? This will require additional efforts not only to protect people from exposure to outdoor pollutants penetrating indoors, but also to protect collections of sensitive objects.
How to optimize public building mechanical systems to address dynamic IEQ risk and carbon emissions objectives.
What R&D is still needed?
Are all the necessary building engineering technologies available to equip buildings with this objective in mind?
New types of materials? Better heat recovery systems? Better monitoring of building performance, indoor air quality and thermal characteristics?
What is the role of the building occupants in this process? For example, there is currently a movement against overcooling of buildings: do building occupants or operators do it and why?
What is the best way to power buildings, in a broader context of energy in the future (solar, wind, etc); and considering energy efficiency versus unlimited supply of clean energy?
How to prepare humanity against a catastrophe such as a meteorite or massive volcanic eruptions that block the sun for years?

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.. It was a fantastic day, jam packed full of stimulating discussions about how achieve a balance between our requirements to breathe clean air and our desire for thermal comfort, while consuming the least amount of energy possible and in a resource efficient manner.

Watch the Future Buildings Forum Welcome and Acknowledgement to Country by Matthew Riley and Introduction to the Forum by Distinguished Professor Lidia Morawska | Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more enlightening content, and don’t forget to share this video to spread awareness! Follow our other social media accounts for updates and exclusive insights.