Decarbonising the Built Environment: Charting the Transition

Description

This book focuses on the challenge that Australia faces in transitioning to renewable energy and regenerating its cities via a transformation of its built environment. Both are necessary conditions for low carbon living in the 21st century. This is a global challenge represented by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and the IPCC’s Climate Change program and its focus on mitigation and adaptation. All nations must make significant contributions to this transformation. This book highlights the new knowledge and innovation that has emerged from research projects undertaken in the Co-operative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living between 2012 and 2019 – an initiative of the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Science and Technology that is tasked with responding to the UN challenges. Four principal transition pathways were central to the CRC and provide the thematic structure to this volume. They focus on technology, buildings, precinct and city design, and human behaviour – and their interactions. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxxii Pathways to Low Carbon Living (Peter Newton, Deo Prasad, Alistair Sproul, Stephen White)....Pages 1-32 Front Matter ....Pages 33-33 Energy Futures for Australia (Mark Diesendorf)....Pages 35-51 Rooftop Photovoltaics: Distributed Renewable Energy and Storage (or Low-Cost PV Changes Everything) (Alistair Sproul)....Pages 53-64 Community Owned Renewable Energy: Enabling the Transition Towards Renewable Energy? (Franziska Mey, Jarra Hicks)....Pages 65-82 Rethinking Urban Mobility: Unlocking the Benefits of Vehicle Electrification (Hussein Dia)....Pages 83-98 Decarbonising Household Energy Use: The Smart Meter Revolution and Beyond (Alan Pears, Trivess Moore)....Pages 99-115 Front Matter ....Pages 117-117 Assessing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Built Environment (Soo Huey Teh, Thomas Wiedmann, Robert H. Crawford, Ke Xing)....Pages 119-141 Transitioning to Net Zero Energy Homes—Learnings from the CRC’s High-Performance Housing Living Laboratories (Joshua Byrne, Stephen Berry, Christine Eon)....Pages 143-162 Decarbonising Commercial Buildings (Philip Oldfield, Roger Swinbourne, Kriston Symons)....Pages 163-191 The Trajectory to a Net Zero Emissions Built Environment: The Role of Policy and Regulation (Philip Harrington, Virginia Hoy)....Pages 193-207 Front Matter ....Pages 209-209 Sustainable Precincts: Transforming Australian Cities One Neighbourhood at a Time (Giles Thomson, Peter Newton, Peter Newman)....Pages 211-225 Development of Low-Carbon Urban Forms—Concepts, Tools and Scenario Analysis (Ke Xing, Thomas Wiedmann, Peter Newton, Bin Huang, Stephen Pullen)....Pages 227-244 Health and the Compact City (Mark Stevenson, Jason Thompson)....Pages 245-258 Low Carbon Urban Mobility (Hussein Dia, Michael Taylor, John Stone, Sekhar Somenahalli, Stephen Cook)....Pages 259-285 Integrated Urban Water Systems (Steven J. Kenway, Ka Leung Lam, Beata Sochacka, Marguerite A. Renouf)....Pages 287-304 Energy Benchmarking for Efficient, Lower Carbon Wastewater Treatment Operations in Australia (Ilda Clos, Juan Pablo Alvarez-Gaitan, Christopher P. Saint, Michael D. Short)....Pages 305-320 Towards Low-Carbon Urban Metabolism—The Impact of Eliminating Food Waste (Peter Graham, Viv Waller, Belinda Christie)....Pages 321-335 Urban Heat Island Mitigation (Mattheos Santamouris, Lan Ding, Paul Osmond)....Pages 337-355 The Performance of Urban Precincts: Towards Integrated Assessment (Peter Newton)....Pages 357-384 Front Matter ....Pages 385-385 Consumer Responses to Rating Tools and Residential Energy Efficiency Disclosure (John Gardner, Stephen White, Zoe Leviston, Murni Greenhill, Henry Adams, Lygia Romanach)....Pages 387-404 The Low Carbon Readiness Index (Léan V. O’Brien, Ilona M. McNeill, Yoshihisa Kashima)....Pages 405-414 A Social Psychological Guide for Transformation into Low Carbon Living (Léan V. O’Brien, Ilona M. McNeill, Gordana Bruce, Christine R. Critchley, Paul Dudgeon, Peter Newton et al.)....Pages 415-429 Shifting Home Energy Consumption Through a Holistic Understanding of the Home System of Practice (Christine Eon, Jessica Breadsell, Gregory Morrison, Joshua Byrne)....Pages 431-447 Engaging Home Renovators: Opportunities and Challenges for Low Carbon Living (Kath Hulse, Esther Milne)....Pages 449-467 Sharing Advice Online to Foster Sustainable Homes (Aneta Podkalicka, Tomi Winfree, Anthony Wright, James McGregor)....Pages 469-488 Engaging Local Communities (Robert Salter, John Merson, Vanessa Rauland, Portia Odell, Darren Sharp)....Pages 489-504 Front Matter ....Pages 505-505 Visions, Scenarios and Pathways for Rapid Decarbonisation of Australian Cities by 2040 (Chris Ryan, Paul Twomey, Idil Gaziulusoy, Stephen McGrail, Seona Candy, Kirsten Larsen et al.)....Pages 507-528 Back Matter ....Pages 529-555