"A fresh outlook"
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AIRAH’s Outlook 2020 International HVAC&R Conference was an extraordinary event for an extraordinary year.

​This article appears in Ecolibrium, Summer 2020

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AIRAH’s flagship HVAC&R conference has established a reputation for addressing the most pressing questions in our industry. In that way at least, it stuck with tradition. Otherwise it was very different.
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Normally titled the Future of HVAC, the conference was recast in 2020 as the apex of the Institute’s Centenary festivities. Because of COVID-19 restrictions across Australia, it also had to be rapidly reimagined as a virtual event rather than a three-day face-to-face conference.

The result was a packed one-day program that featured three keynote presentations, three panel sessions, five streams, more than 30 experts, and a networking café. More than 200 people registered from around the country and abroad to watch the show.

COVID camera

The day started with a keynote presentation on undoubtedly the biggest topic of the year: the coronavirus.

World-leading researcher Professor Lidia Morawska from the Queensland University of Technology showed how good ventilation, airflow management and humidity control can reduce the spread of COVID-19 indoors. But she also pointed out that other conditions – such as the bushfires earlier this year – require completely different strategies.

“We need a change in action mitigating all air risks indoors,” Professor Morawska says. And she stresses that we must change the perception that this work is too expensive.
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“The economic costs of the impacts of indoor air pollution by far exceed all other costs,” she says.

​Nathan Groenhout, F.AIRAH, chairing the keynote – all business up top, all subtropical climate down below.

Innovation nation

Another highlight was the keynote case study presented by Chris Nunn and Brian Donnelly from AMP Capital, and Robert Saidman, Affil.AIRAH, from Arup, about Sydney’s Quay Quarter Tower.

The trio offered insights into the technical HVAC and design challenges of this exemplar of sustainability. Quay Quarter Tower is a world-first, with about two-thirds of the building’s original core retained through the construction process, saving 6.1 million kilograms – roughly equivalent to 35,000 Sydney-to-Melbourne flights.

Sustainability was a constant focus at Outlook 2020. One panel session discussed the potential of Project Drawdown, while another featured leaders from the Green Building Council of Australia, NABERS and the International WELL Building Institute, who shared their latest initiatives. And as always there were insights into the latest technology and innovations in the world of HVAC&R.
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​"It is fitting that in celebrating its 100th anniversary, AIRAH has not only looked back," says Jeff Robinson, Affil.AIRAH, "but through this conference has looked forward to the critical role AIRAH and its members will play in rapidly decarbonising Australia to avoid a climate disaster."

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AIRAH thanks the sponsors of Outlook 2020

Diamond Sponsor

Platinum Sponsor

Gold Sponsor

Silver Sponsors

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For more on the Outlook 2020 Conference, click here.