Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 5 of 5
-
ItemCurrent Operational Battery Energy Storage Systems in Australia and Their Intended Project Objectives on Grid Operational Issues: A Literature Review(IEOM Society International, 2024-02-12)As energy companies look to diversify their portfolio in renewable energy, the demand for electrification will continue to increase. There will be increasing demands on the electrical grid infrastructure. Distributed energy resources (DER) such as solar photovoltaic (PV) on rooftops and electric vehicles will experience a host of operational issues such as hosting capacities, overloads, reverse flow, phase balance, frequency drift and voltage variation. Battery energy storage systems can help mitigate some of these problems. In this paper, the literature and public available information on operational battery storage systems in Australia are reviewed and discussed. It is found that both small batteries and large batteries both fundamentally address grid operational issues. As Australia moves towards high DER penetration and high renewable energy generation, there will be a need for more battery energy storage systems to offset operational issues. The lack of private funding especially for smaller batteries may possibly cause PV DER to lag the overall demand for electrification.
-
ItemWhole-life baseline carbon assessment of residential building stock – A Victorian case study(Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society (ALCAS), 2023-07-19)Assessing residential building decarbonisation opportunities requires a whole-life approach, given the increasing share of embodied carbon as housing becomes more energy efficient. Since most of the projected housing stock would consist of existing buildings, emissions from renovation should also be included in determining both embodied and operational carbon in the residential building sector. A bottom-up typology framework was developed to estimate carbon emissions for existing and new housing up to 2050, scalable from local government area (LGA) to state-level jurisdiction which allows for granularity in testing scenarios for the future. Housing typologies were developed for existing, new, and renovation housing stock based on census data. Operating carbon was obtained using building energy simulation while embodied carbon data was accounted from localised life cycle construction datasets. The state of Victoria along with its corresponding LGAs was used as a case study for said framework. Heating load comprised most of the operating energy demand for most typologies while external walls and floors contributed significant embodied carbon for new residential buildings, particularly for detached houses. For Victoria, detached houses built prior to 1991 contributed most of the operational carbon, however with high construction rates set for most LGAs, new housing may contribute more GHG emissions in 2050. Brick veneer housing yielded more embodied carbon from the external wall compared to timber homes while concrete slabs used in floors also incurred a large amount of embodied carbon for the residential building stock. Renovating existing housing has the potential to reduce operating energy demand while emitting less embodied carbon, thus policies on this should be considered in developing decarbonisation pathways. Using the bottom-up typology whole-life carbon framework offers granularity in analysing individual-level carbon impact which can be expanded to LGA and state level.
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableHow Can Decarbonisation Alternatives Be Prioritised to Achieve Carbon Neutrality in Building Projects?(ASCE American Society of Civil Engineers, 2023-01-01)The built environment generates approximately 40% of the annual global carbon emissions. To achieve the Paris Agreement target towards net-zero emissions, timely and sufficient plans for emissions reduction in the sector need to be made. One of the optimal strategies to realize sustainable structures is to select decarbonisation alternatives that will present a holistic view of environmental impacts. This research effort examined how decarbonisation alternatives are prioritised to achieve carbon neutrality in building projects. Based on extensive semi-structured interviews with experts, this research identified energy, emissions, economy, and exergy (4Es) as the four critical variables considered when making decarbonisation decisions. These 4Es were then assigned to different evaluation criteria, resulting in a total of 27 evaluation criteria. These findings will assist built environment professionals to prioritise decarbonisation alternatives across the entire project lifecycle. It will also provide policymakers with new insights for assessing potential impacts based on these four variables.
-
ItemIntegrating sustainability into higher education curricula(Engineers Australia, 2021)Education has been widely recognised as a key instrument to achieve sustainability. Integrating sustainability knowledge, skills and values are considered paramount to enable individuals to contribute to sustainable development. The paper presents a pilot study conducted at the University of Melbourne to investigate the links between the subjects offered by the University and sustainability. The pilot study is a part of the Sustainability in the Curriculum program, which addresses the Sustainability Plan Teaching and Learning Target 1, aimed to incorporate sustainability knowledge and values in the University's curricula. The 17 Sustainability Development Goals have been used as a framework to measure how well the curricula are linked to sustainability. A study first undertaken to establish the link between subjects and the Sustainability Development Goals is presented. The study involved data collection through published literature on Sustainable Development Goals and the University's subject handbook, followed by a survey involving the subject coordinators. The findings of the study show that the strength of linkages between subjects with sustainability varies, highlighting the challenge in some technical subjects in linking their contents with sustainability. Approaches adopted in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology in embedding sustainability in the curriculum are presented with some examples and discussions for the next steps.
-
ItemForeword(The University of Melbourne, 2022-09-27)