Mission (Im)Possible?

"To achieve what is possible, we always must try the impossible," said famous German writer Herman Hesse.

Innovative green building leaders in Europe are achieving what was once thought impossible, and the Green Building Council of Australia will explore some of their most exciting achievements at our next Leading Green Thinkers event in Perth on Monday 3 August.

In June, the GBCA led a delegation of Australian green building industry professionals to Germany to visit some of the most advanced green buildings, study emerging green trends and technologies and met some of Germany's foremost leading green thinkers.

One of those green pioneers is Professor Gerd Hauser, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, one of the world's largest and most advanced building test facilities. "Now days it is technically possible to design plus-energy houses which generate more energy that they use without any loss of comfort," Professor Hauser says, predicting that within 15 years we'll view buildings as energy providers.

According to Vyt Garnys, Managing Director of CETEC and IEQ specialist, who was a delegate of the mission and will talk about his observations of the German green building market at the Leading Green Thinker event, said that the "GBCA mission to Germany confirmed the major focus on energy minimization design and technology and an engineering interest in quantifying the effects of indoor environment on occupants. Operable windows and personal control were the dominant tools for occupant satisfaction."

Stefan Preuss, delegate of the GBCA mission and an architect and Manager Sustainable Design and Associate with Spowers said "By the second half of the second decade in the 21st century zero carbon buildings will become standard in Europe. Being only 6-7 years away Australia has a lot of catching up to do especially in the residential field. Upskilling is needed not only for building designers but also for builders and manufacturers as detailing becomes crucial when approaching zero-carbon buildings."

Find out more about the emerging trends and technologies in Europe at this special event on Monday 3 August.