How can Australians build zero-carbon homes?
What is the best, and least costly, way to integrate design, new materials and technology to cut the carbon emissions Australian homes produce back to zero? That is the question a project at the University of South Australia has set itself to answer. The researchers are not looking only at new homes, but also at ways to renovate existing homes to reach the zero-carbon housing (ZCH) goal in the Australian climate.
The project, entitled 'Viable integrated systems for zero carbon housing', will monitor the evidence from projects to establish what regulations would be needed to bring emissions from Australian housing down to zero.
The project’s objectives are:
- to evaluate and integrate the effects of available and new design features, materials and technologies on reducing energy use and associated carbon emissions for both new and existing dwellings
- to evaluate the technological and economic effects of thermal and electrical storage and other demand management technologies on smoothing peak power demand
- to work with industry to demonstrate the effectiveness of the integrated approach in creating exemplar homes
- to develop the evidence base building regulators need for the environmental, economic and social costs and benefits of low-carbon homes.
- to develop, validate and test an integrated design algorithm that provides users with technically rigorous information on energy, carbon and economic effects during the design and renovation stages of a building and how these effects can be minimised under Australian climatic conditions.
- to investigate the suitability of the algorithm for mandatory and best-practice performance standards.
Prof. Wasim Saman at Project Workshop
Project Workshop participants
