Covid-19, Energy and Your Apartment Block

​We are all busy stocking up, reading news and battening down the hatches, so this will be short.

Apartment Blocks will potentially be affected by Covid-19 in the following ways:
* Increased electricity consumption in internal apartments e.g. more A/C with people working from home, more additional fridges and freezers being turned on for food storage, higher use of dryers rather than clothes horses for drying clothes
* Increased use of cold water with more frequent use of washing machines
* Increased used of hot water with a heightened awareness of cleanliness
* Possible increase in "assisted breathing apparatus" machines operating inside individual apartments
* Longer periods of power outages, should a significant number of staff at grid providers be affected by the virus

What should your strata scheme do to prepare?

* Energy Security audit of the building
1) This includes updating "Life Support Register" of apartment dwellers and updating the details of apartments which have people on Life Support machines (e.g. assisted breathing apparatus) with your local grid provider e.g. Ausgrid in Sydney, Energex in S.E. Queensland etc
2) Check the temperature of hot water boilers, to ensure that they are set at a hot enough level i.e. 55 degrees at the apartment furthest from a common hot water boiler system where there is a hot water circulating loop
3) Review the type and use of central air conditioning systems i.e. Do you have a chiller which circulates cold air throughout individual apartments and common areas?
4) Temporarily shut down spas and saunas in common areas
5) Consider shutting the gym entirely. At minimum put a sign up in the gym warning people of coronavirus and the need to thoroughly wipe down equipment after use.
6) Increase cycle times on any foyer or common bathroom ventilation systems which may have been set on timers to only operate during daytime, to increase the "flushing effect" of fresh air being brought into the common areas or extracting moisture-laden air from the building
7) Install an electricity monitoring system on the common area meter/main incomer into the building to check for capacity constraints

Hope these simple tips assists everyone in the apartment block sector to prepare for the worst, with the aim of achieving the best possible outcome.