Sustainable+CBD+Buildings+QVM

include component="page" page="Sustainable CBD Title Page" include component="page" page="Sustainable CBD Links" media type="googlemap" key="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Queen+Victoria+Market&sll=-37.806122,144.960068&sspn=0.000576,0.001321&ie=UTF8&hq=Queen+Victoria+Market&hnear=&ll=-37.80624,144.958246&spn=0.006295,0.006295&t=h&output=embed" width="450" height="350" align="right" Queen Victoria Market

The Queen Victoria Market is one of the most well-known landmarks in Melbourne, but what isn't widely known is all that they do for the environment.

The Queen Victoria Market has solar panels on its roof providing an electricity energy source for the whole market. It is also the largest grid-connected solar photovoltaic installation in the southern hemisphere. It has 1328 solar panels, each 1.59m x 0.79m. There are 83 solar inverters to convert AC to DC under the eaves of the market. The whole thing took 2000 man hours to complete.

There are bi-directional meters to allow energy back into the grid. The solar panels generated 239000 kilowatt hours during the financial year between 2002 and 2003 and have saved more than 350 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Rainwater Harvesting Project captures rainwater from the roof of the market which is treated before being used to flush toilets and water plants.

Our opinion
We didn't even know that Queen Vic did anything for sustainability so this building was particularly interesting. It is defiantly the simplest building we are researching but its large amount of solar panels make it a very important sustainable building.

More photos

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