HORIZON Issue 22 August/September/October 13 Page 1
A business Newsletter for Bluescope people Issue 22 August/September/October 13
The team in front of the Illawarra Flame house at the Solar Decathlon
BlueScope technology WINS Energy Olympics A team of University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra Institute students, backed by a consortium of supporters including BlueScope, has designed and built the Illawarra Flame house, which last month won gold in the Solar Decathlon China, the world’s largest student-led sustainable buildings competition. “The Solar Decathlon competition gave university teams from around the world the task of designing and constructing a sustainable and energyefficient building,” explains Lloyd Niccol, a Mechanical Engineering cadet who was seconded from Port Kembla Steelworks to act as Project Manager for the Illawarra Flame project for the University of Wollongong. “The team from Wollongong was the only Australian team amongst the 20 finalists competing in China. While many teams took a futuristic approach, our team came up with an extremely practical concept – demonstrating how to transform a traditional Australian fibro cottage into a highly energyefficient home through an innovative deep retrofit.” The result was the Illawarra Flame – a house that can produce more energy than it uses, with features such as solar energy generation, an integrated air heating system that uses phase
change material as a thermal store, and grey-water recycling that uses an artificial wetland built into the garden to filter the water. The Illawarra Flame was the first entry in the Solar Decathlon competition to attempt to retrofit an existing home, making it energy efficient by increasing its air tightness, modifying and adding windows, installing vertical gardens, a photovoltaic thermal air system and a rainwater harvester. “It was clear this approach resonated with the judges, as the Illawarra Flame House scored 957.6 of a possible 1,000 points, which was the highest score ever awarded in a Solar Decathlon competition,” continues Lloyd. “The judges ranked our team first in the categories of Engineering, Architecture and Solar Application, and second in Communications and in Market Appeal.” Page 3
Welcome to issue 22
OUR BOND SURVEY 2013 7-25 October
All BlueScope employees will be invited to participate in Our Bond Survey 2013 which opens on 7 October. Our Bond Survey 2013 is your chance to have your say about working at BlueScope today, and how you gauge BlueScope’s performance against the principles of Our Bond. BlueScope has changed since the last Our Bond survey was conducted in 2010: the Company has been restructured into four businesses, and we’ve seen the establishment of the NS BlueScope Coated Products joint venture. We’ve also seen many changes in the global steel industry. ‘The world’s changing. So are we.’ Page 8
FY2013 Annual Results – A significant turnaround BlueScope’s financial results for the 12 months to 30 June 2013 demonstrated that we continue to make significant progress in our Company’s turnaround. This is despite the difficult trading conditions in the Australian domestic economy and the global steel sector. Page 2
IN THIS ISSUE 03 Getting the Essentials
05 A first for Thailand
04 New beginning for BlueScope
06 Introducing new Director
05 A new look for COLORBOND steel
07 Big business in tanks
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