Projects using SPLat have been featured on TV twice this week! The day before yesterday it was Brian Gay's watery inventions. Last night it was the new Melbourne City Council office building, known as CH2. It was featured on Catalyst, a weekly, highly regarded science show on ABC, our national broadcaster.
CH2 is an amazing office building that works with the environment rather than against it. It uses about 85% less energy and 70% less water than conventional office buildings. Architect Mick Pearce looked to termites for inspiration for the HVAC design of the building. Termites keep their nests at around 30°C (85°F) - despite outside temperatures varying between 40°C (105°F) in the day and below freezing at night. Pearce uses a whole array of methods to make the building thermally efficient, including intelligent opening and closing of windows to make maximum use of natural air movement and cooling.
And SPLat's contribution? We designed, made and programmed the controllers that open and shut the windows according to time of day and relative indoor and outdoor temperatures. Each window has a motor driven wind-out mechanism and position sensor. One custom built SPLat controller handles 6 windows.
Click here to see the story on the Catalyst TV website. You won't find any mention of us, simply because we were a small (but important) link in the whole chain. Still, it feels good to have a direct association with a project that is helping the planet.
Come to think of it, we are helping out with a lot of environmentally positive undertakings, large and small. We have controllers in the world's most energy efficient air conditioners. We have several customers developing biodiesel and vegetable oil vehicle fuels systems. We make controls for water conserving showers. One customer is developing a sewage treatment system for small (and not) so small boats (the details are still very hush hush). We also have customers with fuel cells, windmills and a solar powered xxxxxx (sorry, can't tell you!).
