Energy Efficiency Council - Events Overview

Training and Events

The Energy Efficiency Council collaborates with its members and partners to deliver training and events that support the Council’s mission to build a sophisticated market for energy management products and services that delivers:

Healthy, comfortable buildings;
Productive, competitive businesses; and
An affordable, reliable and sustainable energy system for Australia.

Events

The Council’s events program:

Drives ambitious government policy;
Supports business decision making and growth; and
Ensures quality with standards and professional development.

The Council works with its members, partners and stakeholders to deliver a number of events, including the annual:

The Council also hosts bespoke National Energy Efficiency Forums, boardroom-style Leaders’ Lunches with Ministers and industry experts, and other events.

Council events are designed to bring industry leaders, energy management experts, policy makers and energy users together to share best practice, and learn about the latest trends and technologies in smart energy management.

The Council works with members and partners to deliver bespoke events. If you would like to learn more about Council events please email events@eec.org.au.

Download our Training & Professional Development flyer.

The Energy Efficiency Council is pleased to present a major new report on the changing role of energy management.

Clean Energy, Clean Demand sets out how we must complement investments in the integration of renewable generation, storage, networks and electrification with energy management to ensure our energy systems are clean, reliable and affordable as we transition to net zero.

This groundbreaking report is authored by EEC Head of Market Transformation, Rob Murray-Leach, and charts a course into the future not just for EEC, but also the energy management industry and energy and buildings sectors.

Clean Energy, Clean Demand looks at how energy efficiency, electrification, renewables, storage, buildings and vehicles fit together as our country transitions to zero emissions. It makes the case for energy efficiency and energy management being essential to an affordable and reliable clean energy system, and analyses a range of critical issues facing Australia, including:

The immediate role of energy efficiency in reducing households' and businesses’ exposure to volatile electricity and fossil fuel prices;
How load shifting and reducing demand in critical periods will be essential for an affordable transition to a renewable energy system; and
The importance of ‘efficient electrification’ to eliminate fossil fuel use in our buildings and vehicles.

Download the report here.

SPEAKERS

Senator the Hon Jenny McAllister
Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy
Assistant Minister Jenny McAllister has served as a Senator for New South Wales since 2015, representing the Australian Labor Party. Senator McAllister’s professional career spans senior roles in the public and private sectors, with a strong focus on infrastructure, environment management and climate change. Before joining the Australian Senate, she held senior roles at AECOM, a global infrastructure firm.

Lynne Gallagher
Chief Executive Officer
Energy Consumers Australia (ECA)
Lynne is the CEO of Energy Consumers Australia (ECA) and is an economist/econometrician by qualification. She has substantial experience in economic modelling and policy reform processes, including working with the Council of Australian Governments, and in strategic issues management in the corporate sector. Lynne brings strong insights, a strategic focus and a consumer advocacy perspective which has been honed from her work with network businesses, retailers and regulators.

Gareth O’Reilly
Zone President and Managing Director, Pacific
Schneider Electric
Gareth O’Reilly is a global citizen with multinational leadership experience whose international perspective shapes his vision for the technology market. Gareth’s passion is to change how businesses operate, enabling companies to create value to meet the technical, financial and sustainability challenges of the future.

Jane Butler
AGL's Head of Product, Strategy and New Technology
An EEC board member, Jane has over 18 years of experience across energy efficiency consulting, co-generation, industrial utilities management, commercial solar and demand response. She will bring a unique understanding of the technical manufacturing realities of energy efficiency to this event.

Rob Murray-Leach
Head of Market Transformation
Energy Efficiency Council
Rob Murray-Leach has worked in climate and energy policy for 20 years and is the EEC’s Head of Market Transformation and author of its flagship reports. Rob has also worked for industry, government and non-profits, including the Garnaut Climate Change Review, the South Australian Government and the Conservation Council of South Australia. Rob has a background from the Universities of Oxford and Adelaide on environmental policy, biology and behavioural sciences, and has contributed to award-winning books on sustainable transport and urban ecology.

The Clean Energy, Clean Demand report launch event is proudly presented in partnership with:

BUSINESS BRIEFINGS

The Energy Efficiency Council collaborates with industry partners to deliver high quality business engagement events, designed to support Australian businesses with managing the risks - and capturing the opportunities - of the energy transition.

To learn more, visit energybriefing.org.au/events

Member Mixers

Throughout the year, we invite members of the Energy Efficiency Council to join EEC staff, board members and special guests for casual lunches and catch ups.

Our member mixers are opportunities to gain insight on the year in energy efficiency and hear updates on our strategy for the upcoming year.

These events are included in your membership to the EEC but spots are limited, so book quickly to ensure you don't miss out.

If you aren't a member, please get in touch via email to see what we can do for your organisation.

Upcoming webinars

Industrial revolution: German leadership on decarbonising industry

With energy saving now compulsory across all economic sectors in Germany and the European Union recently updating its Energy Efficiency Directive, it’s the perfect time to discuss what Australia can learn from Germany's industrial energy efficiency policies and programs.

Speakers

Susann Bollmann, Member of the Executive Board and Head of Projects & Financial Forum Energy Efficiency, German Business Initiative for Energy Efficiency; Amelia Jarrett, Projects Manager, EEC; Luke Menzel, CEO, EEC; Lisa Neusel, Energy Researcher, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI; Paul Papenbrock, Deputy Head of Unit Efficiency and Heat in Industry and Commerce in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action; and Tennant Reed, Director, Climate Change and Energy at the Australian Industry Group

When: Monday 16 October 2023, 4.30pm-6pm AEDT
Where: Online via Zoom – register here.

First Fuel

The Energy Efficiency Council's podcast, First Fuel, brings you the latest perspectives on energy efficiency, energy management and demand response from Australia and around the world.

The First Fuel podcast is often broadcast live as a webinar, and always shared later as a podcast.

Please see the First Fuel podcast to subscribe to the podcast, register for upcoming live webinars, or watch previous recordings.

CPD Opportunity

Did you know that watching EEC webinars or listening to First Fuel may qualify as CPD and as a guide may attract 0.2 AEE credits? Viewers and listeners may request a certificate of attendance. Read more about all Energy Efficiency Council CPD opportunities.

Past Energy Efficiency Council webinars

Industrial heat electrification - what we can do, and where can we can go?

Electrify everything has become a catch cry in recent times, inspiring interest and excitement across the country. Industrial electrification, particularly where heat is involved, can reduce emissions and lower costs for businesses – but knowing this and doing this are two different things.

Speakers

Frankie Muskovic, Property Council of Australia; Kellie Caught, ACOSS; Tennant Reed, Ai Group; and Alex St John, Energy Efficiency Council.

Efficient building electrification – where to from here?

The case for the electrification of Australia’s buildings has been well made. But in 2023, how much progress have we made, and how much work is left to do? And what are the implications of a successful (or less than successful) transition for those of us who occupy all these buildings?

On Wednesday 17 May, we hosted a free afternoon webinar with experts from across the country discussing Australia's progress, and where we go from here.

Speakers

Luke Menzel, CEO, Energy Efficiency Council, Dr Nicola Willand, lecturer at the School of Property, Construction and Project Management at RMIT University; Bruce Precious, principal consultant at Six Capitals Consulting; Davina Rooney, CEO of the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA); and Alison Scotland, Executive Director of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC).

Watch the webinar here

Expert webinar: Thermal performance and adaptive behaviour for healthy, comfortable building occupants

We’ve been saying it for years: retrofitting Australia’s buildings to ensure they are healthy and comfortable while using minimal energy, is one mammoth task. We need an adequately knowledgeable workforce, policies and programs to drive demand. And, with the increasingly urgent need for every industry to contribute to Australia’s net zero commitments, there’s no time to waste. In this webinar, leading experts from across the country will discuss the importance of adaptive thermal comfort as an important tool not only to reduce emissions but also to enable building occupants to cope with rising temperatures. This webinar featured Richard de Dear, Jungsoo Kim, Veronica Soebarto, and Toby Cumming. It was chaired by Julianne Tice of the EEC and was recorded on Friday 31 March 2023.

Australian-German collaboration on energy efficiency in buildings

This webinar launched the insights emerging from a delegation of Australian building efficiency experts to Germany.

The trip, which took place in July 2022, enabled knowledge-sharing between German and Australian experts on all things energy efficiency in buildings.

During this webinar, we heard from Australian experts from NABERS, Property Council Australia and ClimateWorks speaking on their learnings from Germany, and potential actions in the Australian context.

Speakers included:

Frankie Muskovic, National Policy Director at Property Council of Australia;
Carlos Flores, Director of the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS); and
Rachel Haley, Manager, Sustainable Homes at NSW Government.

Find the recording here and the report here.

Resilient cooling for climate-proof buildings and communities

Increasing temperatures and extreme heat events are felt by us all, and none more than those living in housing that hasn’t been built to withstand these conditions.

On Thursday 24 November, 2-3:30pm AEDT, hear from experts about what’s being done at the international, regional, and household level to improve community and household resilience to increased temperatures.

The webinar will be chaired by Julianne Tice, Buildings Policy Advisor at the Energy Efficiency Council, with guests:

Professor Wendy Miller, representative to the International Energy Agency Energy in Building Communities (IEA EBC) Programme’s Annex 80 on resilient cooling in buildings, will speak to national and international responses to addressing resilience in the built environment;
Kelly Gee, Policy and Projects Officer at the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) will speak to the work being done at the regional level through WSROC, including the Turn down the heat strategy; and
Ben Latham, Policy Advisor at the Victorian Council of Social Service, will share insights around the individual experience of heat events, particularly for those living in substandard, inefficient housing.

Embodied carbon in the built environment – Concrete outcomes for Australian industry & policymakers

In the built environment, operational carbon has been the main character. However, embodied carbon is the lesser-known sidekick lurking in the shadows. Embodied carbon refers to the emissions associated with manufacturing building materials, building construction, maintenance and repair, and end of life. On Tuesday 16 August, 4-5:30pm AEST, hear from experts discuss Embodied carbon in the built environment – Concrete outcomes for Australian industry & policymakers with the Materials and Embodied Carbon Leaders’ Alliance.

Chaired by the Council’s Senior Project Officer Julianne Tice, hear from local and global experts on the state of play of embodied carbon in Australia, what’s being done to combat it, and what industry and policymakers can do to further action right here at home:

Professor Greg Foliente and Professor Thomas Lützkendorf, representatives to the International Energy Agency Energy in Building Communities (IEA EBC) Programme’s Annex 72 on life cycle impacts of buildings;
Ivana Brown, Sector Lead – Accelerating Net Zero Buildings at NABERS;
and Cyril Giraud, Head of Sustainability at Holcim Australia and New Zealand.

National Energy Efficiency Council 2022 - Interview with Adrian Joyce

Data centres are at the heart of the digital transformation globally, yet ever-increasing demand is outpacing many of the gains made through energy efficiency improvements. Our recent webinar with the IEA EBC Building Energy Codes Working Group (BECWG) for the launch of the International review report on energy efficiency in data centres is now available. Watch the recording to find out what governments around the world are doing, and could be doing, to solve this emerging issue.

Our international panel of leading experts came together to discuss the current state of play of data centres around the world:

Fiona Brocklehurst, independent sustainable energy consultant, and author of the report;
George Kamiya, Digital/Energy Analyst from the IEA, and author of the IEA’s annual Data Centres and Data Transmission Networks tracking report; and
Ian Hoffman from the Center of Expertise for Energy Efficiency in Data Centers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories.

And David Nemtzow, Co-Chair of the Building Energy Codes Working Group and Senior Advisor at the Loan Programs Office within the U.S. Department of Energy, provided an overview of the work of the BECWG and the importance of building codes in decarbonising buildings.

Watch the recording here. Fiona's slides can be found here.

Heat pumps are a hot topic in Australia and overseas, and no wonder. Their high efficiency levels and the opportunity they offer to power heating loads with renewable energy are both important in the journey to net zero emissions.

Europe has been leading the way in heat pumps in buildings, and the UK Government recently released its Heat and buildings strategy, which emphasises their role in decarbonising buildings.

And here in Australia, the Low emissions technology statement 2021 has recognised heat pumps as a key technology for achieving Australia’s emissions reduction commitments.

Join us to get the low down on this trending topic from global experts including:

Jan Rosenow, Director of European Programmes at the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) in the UK;
Veerle Beelaerts, Head of Technology at the European Heating Industry association (EHI); and
Jarrod Leak, CEO of the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity (A2EP).

And Takao Sawachi, Chair of the International Energy Agency's Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme, provided an update on upcoming global research effort which will explore how to maximise the efficiency of heat pumps in commercial buildings.

A recording of the webinar can be found here.

When it comes to decarbonising our built environment, it is crucial that governments lead by example, taking advantage of the cost-effective energy management opportunities that exist in their own operations. Smart energy management can reduce energy use in facilities by 30 per cent or more, while strengthening government budgets, creating jobs, and slashing emissions.

That’s why the Energy Efficiency Council joined forces with the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and Property Council of Australia (PCA) to develop a new guide, Smart energy management in government operations.

This new guide profiles governments that are leading the charge, and provides guidance for all governments on how they can put in place the policies and programs that will drive systematic energy performance improvements in their own operations.

The guide was launched by the Victorian Assistant Treasurer, the Hon. Danny Pearson MP, who spoke to the importance of energy management in the Victorian Government’s own decarbonisation efforts, and the big wins that are being delivered by their Greener Government Buildings program.

The event also featured a panel discussion with three leading public servants that have driven major energy performance projects in government departments and agencies:

Lucy Hastewell, Associate Director, Facilities and Operations at the National Gallery of Victoria;
Parag Shinde, Group Energy and Sustainability Manager at Property NSW; and
Tiernan Humphrys, Manager Environmental Sustainability at the Victorian Health Building Authority.

A recording of the launch can be found here.

BUSINESS UPDATE: AUSTRALIA'S DYNAMIC ENERGY LANDSCAPE IN 2021

Australia’s energy landscape is transforming, and the picture has become even more complex as local and global energy markets have been buffeted by the impacts of COVID-19.

The Hon. Matt Kean MP, NSW Treasurer and Minister for Energy and Environment, will launch the 2021 edition of Navigating a dynamic energy landscape: a briefing for Australian business as well as an accompanying guide Leveraging tax incentives to improve energy performance. In this session, Minister Kean and Energy Efficiency Council CEO, Luke Menzel, will discuss what trends are currently playing out in the Australian energy markets, what businesses can do to confidently navigate this dynamic landscape and how they can take control of their energy position.

Introduction and Chair: Luke Menzel, Chief Executive Officer, Energy Efficiency Council

Panellists:
Sally Townsend, Head of Sustainability, Blackmores Group
Wei Sue, System Lead - Sustainable Corporates, ClimateWorks Australia
Holly Taylor, Head of Projects, Energy Efficiency Council

Farmers share big wins in smart energy management