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Increasing the adoption of energy-efficiency measures (EEM) by households is one of the practical strategies to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For the 3.24 million low-income households in Australia, partly due to their potentially disproportionately large waste of usable energy, there is a gap between the potential for energy efficiency through existing EEM and the actual energy-efficiency level. Many measures increase energy efficiency in buildings; however, barriers persist for such households to adopt these measures, of which limited research has yet to be conducted. In response, this study examines the relationships involved by a questionnaire survey of 212 low-income households in Australia, showing that financial barriers have the greatest influence followed by split incentive barriers, with the provision of information having no significant role to play. This paper contributes to filling the gap of limited energy-efficiency research involving low-income households, revealing the effect of energy-efficiency barriers on their adoption of EEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Stern Report found that Climate Change is the world's greatest market failure, and the United Nations concluded it is likely to be the most signifi cant environmental challenge of our time. This paper aims to illustrate building Greenhouse Gas (GHG) and energy trends, and to provide practical strategies and best practice examples in international low- and high-rise building refurbishments to lower GHG emissions, energy use and operating costs, across building types and Australian Climate Zones. These can be adopted by policy-makers, owners, investors and occupiers. It also aims to provide examples of government policies and important stakeholder behaviour to reduce GHGs, and evaluates one recent project for strategies that proved successful and those that could be improved. The method used was to review international strategies that lower building GHG emissions in countries with more advanced building regulations than Australia, and to discover affordable and effective strategies from associations that publicise case studies. This paper shows that the operational phase of buildings is a signifi cant contributor to global GHG emissions; that Passive building refurbishments are current best practice strategies; and that occupant behaviour is another surprisingly signifi cant contributor to GHG emissions. The paper forms part of the author's higher research degree literature review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been growing global recognition of the need to reduce carbon emissions in response to climate change concerns. It is generally acknowledged that the energy efficiency of existing homes can be improved, but there are significant barriers to its uptake. In particular improving the energy efficiency of private rental housing presents unique policy challenges due to a split-incentive problem. This has prompted some governments to introduce programmes that encourage landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their properties. While landlords are responsible for the purchase of many energy-consuming household appliances, tenants are responsible for energy bills. Since the landlord does not reap the immediate benefits of investment in energy-efficient equipment, the incentives motivating such investment are weaker than for homeowners. This paper aims to quantify the magnitude of the split-incentive problem in the Australian private rental housing market by invoking a modelling approach where energy expenditure is estimated as a function of housing tenure, dwelling type, location, climate and other socio-demographic variables. We find no evidence in support of the split-incentive hypothesis in Australia. The paper concludes that differences in housing policy arrangements could be critical to the presence and importance of split incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines specific provisions of Australia's carbon pricing mechanism created by the Clean Energy Act 2011 and measures foreshadowed in Australia's climate change policy that intend to reduce the impact of carbon pricing on individuals and businesses alike. This paper considers three elements of carbon pricing in Australia. First, consideration is given to provisions contained in the Clean Energy Act itself, including concessions, exemptions and mechanisms intended to shield vulnerable economic sectors and particular businesses from the adverse economic effects of carbon pricing. Second, the paper examines complementary mechanisms created under the climate change policy as a whole, which provide compensation against price increases resulting from higher energy and manufacturing costs. Finally, the paper highlights the secondary dividends that could be facilitated by revenue raised from the sale of emission permits pursuant to the Act, including funding for the expansion of renewable and clean energies and energy efficiency measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Since the global warming and climate change are recognized as real concerns, attention of power system planners and operators, energy policy makers and regulators as well as developers around the world including Australia is focused on using alternative and low emission energy technologies for electric power production. Renewable energy and energy efficient technologies have many advantages including reducing climate change, increasing sustainability in power sector, and increasing security of power supply. This paper presents an overview on both current electricity grid and future grid. Experts believe that in future more distributed generation (DG) will be integrated into the low to medium electricity grid. This paper will also review the key drivers in relation to integration of increased DG technologies in general and the renewable energy-distributed generation (RE-DG) technologies in particular, into the electric power system and the opportunities and challenges linked to these technologies. This paper also reviews possible connection location of RE-DG into the grid and its impact on system voltage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Avoiding dangerous climate change will almost certainly require that we achieve large, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse emissions from our energy systems. This paper explores some of the key issues, associated uncertainties, priorities, choices and, finally, associated policy implications associated with Australia's different sustainable energy options for achieving such reductions. It presents a possible technology assessment framework for assessing these options that focuses critically on their technical status and hence associated uncertainties in terms of costs, benefits, potential scale and speed of deployment. The limitations of technology assessments undertaken in the Australian context to date are highlighted and the key role of existing energy efficiency, renewable energy and lower-emission fossil fuel technologies discussed. Finally, the paper considers the policy implications of this assessment focusing on the need to implement proven policy measures that have demonstrated success in driving early uptake of these key abatement technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Integrated Urban Water Management plans” consider all water services simultaneously to determine optimal infrastructure solutions. They create many benefits, including unlocking opportunities for water reuse. This paper conducts preliminary assessment of nine IUWM plan case studies from Melbourne. It finds inconsistencies between plans in relation to environmental and liveability objectives, and option identification methods, and also that many IUWM options perform worse than conventional water supplies in regards to energy. The most consequential finding is that the plans do not include scenario planning and therefore fail to consider infrastructure performance regarding resilience to future uncertainties around population and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Retrofit strategies for commercial buildings are generally selected with the assumption of a stationary climate, despite the fact that the building will be operating for much of its life in a climate altered by global warming. This paper presents the results of detailed energy simulations of the possible impact of climate change on the energy consumption of an archetypal commercial office building in five Australian cities, and the relative magnitude of this impact compared to other possible changes to building energy consumption. The question of whether climatic change due to global warming is an important factor when selecting optimal retrofit strategies was considered in the present study, using predictive weather files generated from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projections for 2020, 2050, and 2080. In regions without a substantial heating demand an increase in total building energy consumption was found, and when a substantial heating load was present a slight increase or decrease in energy consumption was observed. Changes in total building energy consumption of between −0.6% and +8.3%, and an increase in the total design cooling equipment capacity of 9.1%–25.0% was predicted over the period 1990 to 2080 due to climate change for the different cities. It was concluded that future climate change impacts are not as significant in the design and assessment of retrofit strategies for commercial office buildings as other impacts, as changes to building construction and usage will likely impact energy consumption much more significantly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Australia has a very sunny climate, with a very high demand for air conditioning. Relying on electricity to drive, buildings' HVAC systems will cause a significant negative impact on the environment. In this paper, recent developments in solar assisted air conditioning technologies are reviewed and presented. The conceptual basis of the technologies including open and closed cycles cooling technologies, capabilities and limitation are discussed. Energy demand, energy consumption by Australian buildings sector and economic and environmental problems associated with the usage of fossil fuel resources are reported. Second the issue of mould growth and indoor thermal comfort and indoor air quality is highlighted. Finally the technology fundamentals and theories involved with solar energy and solar collector's technologies are summarised and discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: As concerns about rising fossil fuel prices, energy security, and climate change increase, renewable energy can play a key role in producing local, clean, and inexhaustible energy to supply Australia’s growing demand for electricity, heat, and transportation fuel. Renewable energy is an essential part of Australia’s low emissions energy mix and this energy is important to its energy security. Australia has some of the best renewable energy resources in the world. This paper will focus on the impact of these renewable energies in Australia. This study shows that Australia has the potential to secure its long term energy future through focus and encouragement on increasing utilisation of renewable energy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Transport is Australia’s third largest and second fastest growing source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The road transport sector makes up 88% of total transport emissions and the projected emissions increase from 1990 to 2020 is 64%. Achieving prospective emission reduction targets will pose major challenges for the road transport sector. This paper investigates two targets for reducing Australian road transport greenhouse gas emissions, and what they might mean for the sector: emissions in 2020 being 20% below 2000 levels; and emissions in 2050 being 80% below 2000 levels. Six ways in which emissions might be reduced to achieve these targets are considered. The analysis suggests that major behavioural and technological changes will be required to deliver significant emission reductions, with very substantial reductions in vehicle emission intensity being absolutely vital to making major inroads in road transport GHG emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Climate change can significantly impact on the total energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of residential buildings. Therefore, climate adaptation should be properly considered in both building design and operation stages to reduce the impact. This paper identified the potential adaptation pathways for existing and new residential buildings, by enhancing their adaptive capacity to accommodate the impact and maintain total energy consumption and GHG emissions no more than the current level in the period of their service life. The feasibility of adaptations was demonstrated by building energy simulations using both representative existing and new housing in eight climate zones varying from cold, temperate to hot humid in Australia. It was found that, in heating dominated climates, a proper level of adaptive capacity of residential buildings could be achieved simply by improving the energy efficiency of building envelop. However, in cooling dominated regions, it could only be achieved by introducing additional measures, such as the use of high energy efficient (EE) appliances and the adoption of renewable energy. The initial costs to implement the adaptations were assessed, suggesting that it is more cost-effective to accommodate future climate change impacts for existing and new houses by improving building envelop energy efficiency in cooling dominated regions, but installing on-site solar PVs instead in heating and cooling balanced regions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Australia faces significant climate change (IPCC, 2001). Reducing our environmental footprint from our current high energy consumption and high greenhouse gas emissions to create more sustainable futures is the focus of an energy efficiency program for school students in Queensland, Australia. Participants in the program create action plans to reduce energy consumption at their school with a target of at least 15% in a year. Learnings of participants are transferred to the whole school and to the wider community through activities such as days of celebration, 'adoption' of local industries and media coverage. This study examines the impacts of the program on the energy usage behaviours of participating schools. It looks briefly the development of the program that originated in Central Queensland in 1998 and reports more fully on the most recent programs. Electricity savings have been up to 50% in schools participating in the program. Such outcomes and the way in which they are achieved are of interest to business wishing to improve the 'bottom line'. Overall it was found that the program contributes to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through action plans for participants' schools that result in less electricity consumption by the school. It was also found that there is transfer of learnings of participants to others within and outside the school and that the program is making a contribution to a more sustainable future. Acknowledgment: The author thanks the anonymous reviewers for the feedback provided on an earlier version of this paper and research assistance by Kylie James. This study was completed with funding assistance from Central Queensland University's Institute of Sustainable Regional Development, the Faculty of Education 8 Creative Arts, and Education Queensland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Domestic refrigerators have become symbols of climate change in energy efficiency campaigns; they are equipment that both permits and prohibits the performance of environmental citizenship. However, little is known about how subjectivities and practices interact, particularly with regard to questions about refrigeration and domestic energy. What might those of us interested in household sustainability learn from the relationships among refrigerators, energy, subjectivities, and practices, and from what these may reveal about environmental responsibility? We draw on data from mixed‐method qualitative research conducted with 28 households in Wollongong, Australia, and frame the analysis in terms of social practice theory, with additional attention to subjectivity. This framing helps us develop thinking about how refrigeration is done and consider whether and how things become waste by paying closer attention to the spatial imperatives underpinning these practices. It also assists us in considering how the ongoing relationships of social and material aspects of refrigeration co‐constitute a range of subjectivities. Further, our analysis advances discussions on how household practices and identities relate to public campaigns about environmental responsibility, particularly as the latter is constructed in terms of ‘energy efficiency’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue addressed Health promotion practitioners have important roles in applying ecosystem approaches to health and actively promoting environmental sustainability within community-level practice. The present study identified the nature and scope of health promotion activities across Australia that tackle environmental sustainability. Methods A mixed-method approach was used, with 82 participants undertaking a quantitative survey and 11 undertaking a qualitative interview. Purposeful sampling strategies were used to recruit practitioners who were delivering community-level health promotion and sustainability programs in Australia. The data were analysed thematically and interpretation was guided by the principles of triangulation. Results Study participants were at various stages of linking health promotion and environmental sustainability. Initiatives focused on healthy and sustainable food, active transport, energy efficiency, contact with nature and capacity building. Conclusion Capacity building approaches were perceived as essential to strengthening this field of practice. Healthy and sustainable food and active transport were suitable platforms for simultaneously promoting community health and sustainability. There was potential for expansion of programs that emphasise contact with nature and energy issues, as well as interventions that emphasise systems thinking and interdisciplinary approaches. So what? It was promising that Australian health promotion programs have started to address complexity rather than single issues, as evidenced by explicit engagement with environmental sustainability. However, more effort is required to enable a shift towards ecosystem approaches to health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aesthetic value of trees in the avenues, boulevards, parks and gardens of Australian cities is often widely appreciated, but their economic value is often under-valued. Trees provide services and fulfil functional roles in cities. They are significant components of urban infrastructure and have a real and calculable economic value. An urban forest of 100000 trees can save $1million per annum because their shade reduces electricity consumption. Shade can prolong the life of tarmac, and carbon is sequestered as the trees grow. A single large tree growing in a school may provide the equivalent shade of four shade sails, returning a value of about $2000 per annum, while five trees can stabilise a steep suburban block which would otherwise require about $50000 of engineered piling to secure building insurance. Calculation of the economic contributions of trees can change the economic algorithms upon which decisions are made in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green energy by PV systems reduces the dependence on fossil fuel-based power plants. Maximizing green energy to meet the demand reduces the burden on conventional power plants, hence lesser burning and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. For this purpose, this study draws a relationship between tracking schemes of the PV systems to GHG mitigation potential. The best fit location for detailed analyses is selected among the 15 most populous cities of Australia. The solar radiation potential is increased to 7.78 kWh/m2/d through dual axes tracking compared to 7.54, 6.82, 5.94, 5.73 kWh/m2/d through the one axis, azimuth based, fixed-tilted, and fixed-horizontal surface schemes, respectively. Through the dual axes tracking scheme, a 1 MW PV system per annum energy output avoids the burning of 796,065.3 L of gasoline, 4308.7 barrels of crude oil which is equal to the mitigation of 1852.7 tCO2 equivalent GHGs. Concisely, the PV system, through its green energy output, can avoid the release of greenhouse gases from fossil-fuel plants to tackle climate change more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable food production in protected cropping is increasing rapidly in response to global climate change and population growth. However, there are significant knowledge gaps regarding energy consumption while achieving optimum environmental conditions for greenhouse crop production. A capsicum crop cultivated in a high-tech greenhouse facility in Australia was analysed in terms of relationships between key environmental variables and the comparative analysis of energy consumption during different seasons. We showed that daily energy consumption varied due to the seasonal nature of the external environment and maintenance of optimal growing temperatures. Total power consumption reported throughout the entire crop cycle for heating (gas hot water system) and cooling (pad and fan) was 12,503 and 5183 kWh, respectively; hence, heating consumed ca. 70% of the total energy requirement over the 8-month growing period (early spring to late autumn) in the greenhouse facility. Regressions of daily energy consumption within each season, designated either predominantly for heating or cooling, indicated that energy consumption was 14.62 kWh per 1 °C heating and 2.23 kWh per 1 °C cooling. Therefore, changing the planting date to late spring is likely to significantly reduce heating energy costs for greenhouse capsicum growers in Australia. The findings will provide useful guidelines to maximise the greenhouse production of capsicum with better economic return by taking into consideration the potential optimal energy saving strategy during different external environment conditions and seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]