Ecologically Sustainable Development
The Mint participates in a wide range of forums on environmental matters and uses waste minimisation and energy and water conservation strategies. The Mint refurbishment project is offering opportunities to challenge accepted practices and consider alternate and contemporary conservation strategies.
The Mint reviews information on property and environmental management through its membership of industry groups including the Australian Property Institute and the Facilities Management Association of Australia.
Environmental Management
The Environment Management System (EMS) which has been developed to meet the requirements of ISO14001 standard and National Environment Protection Measures (Implementation) Act 1988 was further improved and updated during the year following an independent audit.
Automation of some aspects of the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) was completed during the year and has resulted in the 24 hour remote monitoring of flow-in, flow-out, pH, turbidity and other critical parameters. As a result of this automation immediate action can now be taken when any malfunction of the WWTP or excessive flow is detected.
Water consumption was closely monitored during the year and action has been taken to install localised metering systems to check the consumption at various process locations. Despite a significant increase in production including the working of a second shift water consumption increased by only 7 per cent during the year.
Energy Management
Within the constraints imposed by the age of the building, and the requirement to work additional shift s to meet production demands the Mint has continued to strive to have in place good energy management practices.
The second shift extended the building's operation time by an additional six hours a day or in total over 600 hours of additional use of electricity and gas. This increase related to an increase of 31 per cent for electricity usage while gas consumption increased by 25 per cent during the year.
The Mint is seeking to minimise energy use and operating costs without reducing accommodation standards through energy management planning in relation to the Mint refurbishment project. Passive energy conservation measures are being incorporated wherever possible in design elements.
The design aims to achieve low energy facilities with substantial recurrent cost savings, and provide a healthy environment for the building tenants.
Refurbishment provides for a design that is required to provide an intelligent occupancy and time based lighting control system to maximise energy efficiency. The system will include local switching to Office areas and open plan Office areas with time clock control to turn lights off aft er business hours; similarly the design is to provide occupancy based reset systems and/or occupancy sensor systems.
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