Latest News | Swinburne https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news.rss.category.sustainability.xml CSIRO and Swinburne invest in green steel and mineral processing to help industry get to net zeroCSIRO and Swinburne invest in green steel and mineral processing to help industry get to net zeroCSIRO and Swinburne have established a new partnership to tackle global decarbonisation with innovative green steel and mineral processing research and development.
CSIRO and Swinburne have established a new partnership to tackle global decarbonisation with innovative green steel and mineral processing research and development The collaboration will build national research capability across the Australian innovation system The partnership will address key net zero challenges for the mineral resources industry Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, and Swinburne University of Technology have established a new partnership to tackle global decarbonisation with innovative green steel and mineral processing research and development. The collaboration will build national research capability across the Australian innovation system to help industry investigate low-emission steel technologies to guide future demonstrations and industry development. The ‘Sustainable Mineral Processing and Green Steel Program’ partnership will address key net zero challenges for the mineral resources industry, including developing low-carbon routes for iron, steel and critical metals, as well as improving recycling technologies. Swinburne Chief Scientist Professor Virginia Kilborn says, "Swinburne is thrilled to be working with CSIRO on another program, this time using our combined strength in decarbonisation and green steel. The university has a long-standing relationship with CSIRO, linking world-class capability across a vast range of strategic research areas”. “Green steel makes up a key part of Swinburne’s flagship research area ‘Innovative Planet’. This partnership is another active step taken by Swinburne towards global decarbonisation to achieve net zero.” Bringing new skills to the energy transition challenge is a crucial aspect of the partnership, with research fellows and PhD candidates from both institutions to work alongside international researchers and industry, including: Swinburne’s Professor Geoffrey Brooks, who won the Bessemer Gold Medal in 2023 for his contributions to more sustainable steelmaking, who will be appointed Chair. CSIRO’s Process Decarbonisation Research Group Leader Keith Vining has overall responsibility for managing CSIRO’s research effort on sustaining Australia’s iron ore and improving the processes for enhanced productivity and environmental performance. CSIRO’s Dr Suneeti Purohit, a Swinburne PhD graduate, recipient of the Exceptional Woman in Victorian Resources 2023 Award and Net Zero Industries Young Talent Award 2023, will bring her expertise on steelmaking using solar power to the program. Swinburne’s Professor Akbar Rhamdhani, a noted expert in sustainable processing, particularly in battery materials and critical metals, who will play a significant role. Joint Swinburne/CSIRO Chair in Sustainable Mineral Processing Professor Geoffrey Brooks says, "I am honoured to be named as the Joint Swinburne/CSIRO Chair of the Sustainable Mineral Processing and Green Steel Program. I think the announcement further deepens our longstanding relationship with CSIRO in this important area”. "I'm expecting Swinburne and CSIRO to play a key role in Australia’s drive towards green steel and producing critical metals in a sustainable manner. It’s a great time for innovation and implementing new ideas." Swinburne is emerging as a leader in the field of supply chain transformation and sustainability, a technological and societal priority area for organisations and governments worldwide. As part of its Net Zero 2025 Pathways, the University has invested in researchers from minerals characterisation, minerals processing, pyrometallurgy and materials recycling. Coupled with CSIRO’s extensive minerals research and development expertise, researchers from both organisations will bring the program to life. The program will also provide a platform for international conferences and industry courses, as well as engagement for students through scholarships, joint final year projects and work experience programs. CSIRO Mineral Processing Research Director Andrew Jenkin says, "Developing new technologies and processes for producing low-emissions iron and steel, and increasing the supply of value-added critical minerals, are two focus areas within CSIRO’s ‘Sustainable Energy & Resources’ Challenge". "We are looking forward to increasing our collaborative efforts with Swinburne in these two areas.” CSIRO Carbon Steel Futures Research Group Leader Keith Vining says, "To support decarbonisation efforts within the minerals industry we need new R&D partnerships that bring together complimentary capabilities". "We have partnered well in this field with Swinburne for many years but have jointly decided that the time is right to amplify our intent and efforts.”
01 February 2024 15:20
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2024/02/CSIRO-and-Swinburne-invest-in-green-steel-and-mineral-processing-to-help-industry-get-to-net-zero/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2024/02/CSIRO-and-Swinburne-invest-in-green-steel-and-mineral-processing-to-help-industry-get-to-net-zero/Technology|Science|Sustainability|EngineeringfalseTransforming Indigenous housing with future-forward solutionsTransforming Indigenous housing with future-forward solutionsSwinburne University of Technology has launched a new Indigenous Building Co-Fab initiative. The initiative will tackle housing affordability and sustainability by creating innovative pathways to upskilling communities themselves.
Swinburne University of Technology has launched a new Indigenous Building Co-Fab initiative The initiative will tackle housing affordability and sustainability by creating innovative pathways to upskilling communities themselves The project will establish a living laboratory – a construction facility displaying and trialling cutting edge technologies, including 3D printed houses - to explore community-led building, with a focus on regional and remote areas Swinburne has launched the Indigenous Building Co-Fab (IBC) initiative in a bid to address the pressing issues of housing affordability and sustainability for Indigenous communities. This groundbreaking project seeks to revolutionise the world of building construction by incorporating cutting-edge technologies and locally sourced materials into sustainable homes, co-built by local communities. “Housing needs to be done differently to meet the needs of Indigenous peoples in diverse settings,” said Professor John Evans, Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Engagement, who announced the initiative. “The Indigenous Building Co-Fab (IBC) is a radical reimagining of construction, particularly for remote and regional communities. The living laboratory will adopt a bottom-up approach, involving direct participation from culturally and economically diverse groups,” said Professor Evans. “It’s not just a construction project; it's a catalyst for transformative change, aiming to redefine the future of Indigenous housing in Australia.” By harnessing the latest in innovative, low-cost materials and technology, this initiative paves the way for transdisciplinary research and reskilling, offering a novel approach in building and community participation. Swinburne's new Indigenous Building Co-Fab initiative will establish a living laboratory. Living Laboratory to showcase the latest in cutting-edge technology The IBC is set to make waves with its plan to establish a living laboratory at a Swinburne campus. This collaborative space will bring together a diverse mix of researchers, educators and community members to explore new construction techniques and strategies. Professor of Urban Futures, Mark Burry AO, says the initiative will push the boundaries of housing construction techniques. “The initiative actively focuses on practical and cost-effective solutions, leveraging digital fabrication technologies - including 3D printing - to embrace the principles of Manufacturing 4.0.” “This will increase the speed and quality of building outcomes,” said Professor Burry. “A lot has changed in terms of construction innovation research in recent years – but not so much in the way we construct our homes. The challenge is translating our cutting-edge research from university labs to the field. To tackle this, we are co-creating innovative pathways to skill acquisition through our VET partners and collaborating with remote communities”. Housing challenges to be met with innovative solutions Overcrowding, supply shortages and poor construction are all features of the housing crisis disproportionately impacting Indigenous communities. By integrating university research and vocational education for the building trades, the IBC offers a unique platform to implement culturally responsive housing solutions with a lens of self-determination. The IBC initiative will focus on addressing skills development, funding models, governance structures and planning law adjustments to ensure a comprehensive and sustainable approach. The project will offer communities with tangible solutions and help drive positive change throughout Australia. Primary objectives of the IBC The Indigenous Building Co-Fab (IBC) is guided by five primary objectives: Overcoming barriers: Identify and overcome barriers hindering the widespread adoption of advanced construction technologies for and by Indigenous communities. Innovative technologies: Develop and test innovative building materials and technologies that can significantly reduce construction costs and enhance the environmental performance of community buildings and homes. Community participation: Communities upskilling to participate physically in the construction process, fostering a sense of communal ownership and collaboration. Transdisciplinary collaboration: Create new pathways for transdisciplinary collaboration among architects, designers, engineers, builders, sociologists, ethnographers, anthropologists and economists. Next gen_ education: Inspire and equip the next generation of VET and university researchers with the skills and knowledge needed to tackle housing affordability and sustainability challenges. ABOUT The Moondani Toombadool Centre is responsible for leading all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander matters at Swinburne. Moondani Toombadool means ‘embracing teaching and learning’ in the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri People. In 2022, Swinburne established the National Centre for Reconciliation Practice, an initiative focused on fostering systemic change.
19 December 2023 13:30
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/12/transforming-indigenous-housing-with-future-forward-solutions/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/12/transforming-indigenous-housing-with-future-forward-solutions/Trades|University|SustainabilityDesign,EngineeringfalseFrench and Australian governments announce new partnership to tackle global energy crisisFrench and Australian governments announce new partnership to tackle global energy crisisSwinburne University of Technology will host a historic new partnership between France and Australia, FACET: the French-Australian Centre for Energy Transition.
Swinburne University of Technology will host a historic new partnership between France and Australia - FACET: the French-Australian Centre for Energy Transition Co-led by CEA, Université Grenoble-Alpes and Swinburne, FACET will strengthen Australia and France’s bilateral relationship FACET will utilise Swinburne’s world-leading strengths in the hydrogen economy, renewable generation systems, energy storage systems, future energy networks and supply chain decarbonisation The French and Australian governments have announced a historic new partnership to tackle climate change, launching FACET: the French-Australian Centre for Energy Transition. Co-led by CEA, Université Grenoble-Alpes and Swinburne University of Technology (which is also the host of the centre), FACET will strengthen Australia and France’s bilateral relationship by building cooperation on sustainable and inclusive energy initiatives, and support energy transition needs in the Indo-Pacific region. FACET is a key deliverable under the resilience and climate action pillar of the France-Australia bilateral roadmap. Open to partners from universities, research and technology organisations as well as industries, FACET will enable joint activities in innovation, research, education and training, with a strong focus on energy transition, through leadership, low-carbon energy production and supply chain decarbonisation. The centre will support wider adoption of sustainable energy solutions, support multilateral partnerships and advance education and skills to support an ambitious climate change response agenda. French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, and the Australian Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, The Hon Tim Watts MP announced the joint endeavour during a visit to Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus. “Global challenges require global solutions. Today, represents an important step forward in our efforts to tackle one of the biggest threats our world faces – climate change – and work towards net zero,” said President and Vice-Chancellor, Swinburne University of Technology, Professor Pascale Quester. “Swinburne is proud to play host to this ground-breaking partnership between France and Australia, reflecting our nations’ shared energy transition ambitions and utilising our world-leading scientific and industry-linked commercialisation capabilities.” Jean-Louis Falconi, Director of International Relations of CEA declared: “CEA and Université Grenoble-Alpes are proud to be alongside Swinburne University of Technology, the founding partners of the new ambitious and promising French-Australian centre for the energy transition. We look forward to jointly developing cooperation on sustainable and inclusive energy initiatives and supporting energy transition needs in the Indo-Pacific region.” As a dual-sector university, Swinburne offers the unique combination of excellence in research, teaching, skills development and commercial innovation needed to facilitate FACET’s energy transition objectives. The centre will utilise Swinburne’s world-leading strengths in the hydrogen economy, renewable generation systems, energy storage systems, future energy networks and supply chain decarbonisation. It will also bring together capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI), digital and supercomputer research, remote sensing, learning development, commercialisation and work-integrated learning. About CEA and Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) CEA, the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energy Commission is a major French research organisation with strong roots in fundamental research, that provides tangible solutions to meet industrial and societal needs in four key fields: low-carbon energy (nuclear and renewable); digital technology; technology for medicine of the future; defence and national security. Thanks to its integrated energy vision, and its industrial strong connections, CEA plays a key role in the R&D for energy transition in France. This knowledge in various technological fields will be shared within the FACET framework. Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) is a leading European comprehensive university. Academically, UGA is ranked in the top 150 of ARWU Shanghai’s ranking. UGA is a research-intensive university developing cutting age research from basic to applied research. Located in the heart of the French Alps, UGA is renowned for its scientific and technological research activities, aimed at providing essential training to students and faculty and at addressing societal issues. UGA is very active internationally, with 1,100 partnerships with foreign universities. 17% of its 60,000 students and 47% of its 2,700 PhDs are foreigners, and 155 nationalities are represented. 25% of its Masters courses are taught in English.
08 December 2023 17:11
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/12/french-and-australian-governments-announce-new-partnership-to-tackle-global-energy-crisis/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/12/french-and-australian-governments-announce-new-partnership-to-tackle-global-energy-crisis/University|SustainabilityfalseSwinburne and CSIRO launch state-of-the-art renewable hydrogen refuelling stationSwinburne and CSIRO launch state-of-the-art renewable hydrogen refuelling stationSwinburne University of Technology and CSIRO have launched a state-of-the-art clean hydrogen refuelling station, purpose-built for enabling hydrogen research.
Swinburne and CSIRO have launched a state-of-the-art clean hydrogen refuelling station, purpose-built for enabling hydrogen research. The $2.5 million refuelling station uses green hydrogen produced with electricity from renewable sources. The station showcases the real-world application of hydrogen and will be used to demonstrate hydrogen’s utility for transport. Swinburne University of Technology's Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) and Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO have today launched a state-of-the-art clean hydrogen refuelling station, purpose-built for enabling hydrogen research. The $2.5 million refuelling station uses green hydrogen produced with electricity from renewable sources that allows hydrogen cars to travel over 600km emissions-free on a full tank. Located at CSIRO’s Clayton site in Victoria, the station showcases the real-world application of hydrogen and will be used to demonstrate hydrogen’s utility for transport. It will also be used to test emerging hydrogen technology and train the next generation on the use of hydrogen stations to ensure Australia remains internationally competitive. Professor Karen Hapgood, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Swinburne University of Technology said the station, co-funded by VH2 and the Victorian Government’s Higher Education State Investment Fund, represented a unique opportunity. "The launch of the hydrogen station brings Australia another step closer to creating a carbon neutral world by 2050 or earlier,” Professor Hapgood said. “As a university with sustainability in our DNA, we are proud to be playing an important role in driving the implementation of the hydrogen economy in Australia, through our Victorian Hydrogen Hub and collaboration with CSIRO. “Hydrogen plays a key part in our transition to clean energy, and demonstration projects such as these help to test technical, regulatory and economic aspects of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, and support the urgent training and workforce development for this expanding hydrogen energy ecosystem.” Minister for Skills and TAFE Gayle Tierney said, “Victoria’s renewable hydrogen sector will create long-term jobs and new career pathways, giving Victorians more opportunities to gain qualifications in an area where skills are in demand". "That’s why we’re proud to support Swinburne’s VH2 project with $10 million in funding from the $350 million Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund, which supports universities undertaking projects that will boost Victoria’s economy.” CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Doug Hilton said hydrogen will play a significant role in Australia’s energy transition and the decarbonisation of our road transport sector. “The technology is an exciting piece in the puzzle in Australia’s renewable energy future and will deliver longterm community and environmental benefits, boost the economy and create new jobs and opportunities for Australia and Australians,” Dr Hilton said. “This is innovative, inventive, inspired technology that builds the sovereign capabilities Australia needs to transition to net zero.” The refuelling station can generate up to 20kg of green hydrogen a day via electrolysis, and has a storage capacity of 80kg, enough for more than 10 cars. The station is a significant component of CSIRO’s Hydrogen Industry Mission, which aims to support national and global decarbonisation through leading research and the development of a commercially viable Australian hydrogen industry, comprising both domestic and export chains. “Hydrogen is increasingly being recognised as ‘the fuel of the future’ – and for good reason,” Dr Hilton said. “Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element in the universe and, when used to power fuel cell electric vehicles the only exhaust product is water vapour.” Victorian Hydrogen Hub Director, Mr Gordon Chakaodza said the collaboration with CSIRO was a key pillar in the hub’s mission to further Australia’s hydrogen economy. “We are using state-of-the-art facilities to demonstrate to industry and the community the capabilities of fuel cell electric vehicles. This will cement Victoria as a key player in accelerating the deployment of hydrogen cars in Australia.” Mr Chakaodza said.
23 November 2023 10:49
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/11/Swinburne-and-CSIRO-launch-state-of-the-art-renewable-hydrogen-refuelling-station/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/11/Swinburne-and-CSIRO-launch-state-of-the-art-renewable-hydrogen-refuelling-station/Technology|Science|SustainabilityResearchfalseGreen partnership to accelerate Swinburne’s research impact Green partnership to accelerate Swinburne’s research impact Swinburne has partnered with Twynam’s Earth Fund to drive the commercialisation of decarbonisation research, accelerating the university’s innovation ecosystem.
Swinburne has partnered with Twynam’s Earth Fund, an international venture capital fund The partnership will drive research commercialisation, growing Swinburne’s globally connected innovation ecosystem Together, the partners will focus on co-creating innovative decarbonisation solutions Swinburne University of Technology has partnered with international venture capital fund Twynam Earth Fund to drive the commercialisation of decarbonisation research, accelerating the university’s real-world research impact. The fund is dedicated to investing in decarbonisation technology with the aim to empower game-changing climate tech companies on a global scale. Through this partnership, Swinburne’s researchers will connect with early stage, venture-backed businesses working in the decarbonisation ecosystem who need their technical expertise, co-create new ventures to commercialise research, and grow the commercial innovation skill base. Swinburne’s Vice President of Innovation and Enterprise, Dr Werner van der Merwe, said Twynam's Earth Fund aligns with the university’s passion for sustainability and dedication to achieving a carbon neutral world by 2050 or earlier. “Through this unique collaboration, we’re pioneering a new path for our cutting-edge research and technology ventures to create a sustainable future,” Dr van der Merwe said. "By pairing our capabilities in sustainable materials, clean energy, hydrogen, the circular economy and smart energy management with Twynam’s investment expertise, we can fundamentally increase the impact of decarbonisation technologies.” Accelerating research impact Swinburne’s partnership with Twynam’s Earth Fund will accelerate the real-world impact of the university’s world-leading decarbonisation and climate change research. The partnership will offer a unique, impact-driven alternative to the typical research commercialisation pipeline. In addition to developing IP portfolios, licencing to industry partners and spinning out startups, this partnership will inject Swinburne’s researchers into the heart of high-growth early-stage companies, so their expertise can be leveraged in market sooner. The partnership will also support strategic linkages in the decarbonisation ecosystem – such as sourcing founders, commercialisation opportunities and early-stage investments – and will continue to build Swinburne’s capabilities in the early-stage company and venture capital area. “Our partnership with a climate venture fund heralds a bold new approach to sustainability impact by a university focused on addressing global challenges,” Swinburne’s Head of Commercialisation – Innovative Planet, Roni Habbal, said. “Together, we’ll co-create innovative decarbonisation solutions vital for our planet.”
21 November 2023 09:45
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/11/green-partnership-to-accelerate-swinburnes-research-impact/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/11/green-partnership-to-accelerate-swinburnes-research-impact/Sustainability|UniversityfalseNew $5.2M energy hub helps Victoria build a renewables-ready grid New $5.2M energy hub helps Victoria build a renewables-ready grid The $5.2 million investment will feature a future energy grid laboratory with some of the most advanced digital technology.
Addressing the challenges of Victoria's renewable energy transition are imperative. Victoria’s Minister for Energy and Resources The Hon Lily D’Ambrosio MP has launched the Siemens Swinburne Energy Transition Hub. The $5.2 million investment will feature a future energy grid laboratory with some of the most advanced digital technology. The resources needed to secure a renewable energy future requires collaboration across industries. Victoria’s Minister for Energy and Resources The Hon Lily D’Ambrosio MP has launched the Siemens Swinburne Energy Transition Hub. The $5.2 million investment will feature a future energy grid laboratory with some of the most advanced digital technology from Siemens to address the challenges within Victoria’s renewable energy transition. With a focus on research, development and industry collaboration, the hub is designing reliable solutions, creating opportunities and facilitating groundbreaking activities that leverage Siemens' and Swinburne's extensive experience and expertise in digital energy technology to make an impact. Professor Karen Hapgood, Swinburne Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, says the university is incredibly excited about this new collaboration with Siemens, who has partnered with Swinburne over many years. “Australia’s ambitious carbon reduction targets need a multipronged approach by industry, research and government. The new Siemens Swinburne Energy Transition Hub will be working on new technologies to improve efficiency, supply, integration, storage, transport and use, as well as how we can improve existing technologies and frameworks.” "We need change fast, and the Siemens-Swinburne team will focus on taking ideas to market – where they can make the most impact as quickly as possible.” Led by Associate Professor Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian, a distinguished researcher in the School of Software and Electrical Engineering at Swinburne, the hub will be home to a digital twin of Australia’s energy market, enabling commercial-research teams to run simulations of new solutions. This next generation hub will: Drive positive environmental and social impact through sustainable energy solutions. Contribute to Australia's carbon reduction targets and global energy transition efforts. Empower future generations with knowledge and skills in cutting-edge energy technologies. Foster economic growth and innovation by promoting industry-academia collaborations. Accelerate the transition towards next generation electricity grid systems. Peter Halliday, CEO, Siemens Australia and New Zealand says collaboration between industry and academia is critical to driving better outcomes on key topics of national importance such as the energy transition. "I’m proud of what the Siemens and Swinburne teams have achieved at the Energy Transition hub, creating a best-of-its-kind for industry.” “The race to tackle climate change is real and of utmost importance. Australia’s contribution to global emissions is just over 1 per cent. As industry and as a society, we should be focusing on reducing our emissions beyond the 1 per cent, using digitalisation as the key lever to driving long-term sustainability. The hub is a great example of how the best minds can collaborate to help shape the future.” The Hon Lily D’Ambrosio says Victoria is on track to reach 95 per cent renewable energy generation by 2035 and net zero by 2045 and innovative digital technologies will help us get there. "That’s why facilities like this are so important." “By expanding and modernising our grid, we will enable cheaper, more reliable renewable energy to be delivered to homes and businesses across Victoria.”
30 October 2023 12:27
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/10/new-energy-hub-helps-Victoria-build-a-renewables-ready-grid/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/10/new-energy-hub-helps-Victoria-build-a-renewables-ready-grid/Technology|Science|SustainabilityfalseSwinburne teaching the future of hydrogen Swinburne teaching the future of hydrogen Swinburne University of Technology vocational educator Mark Taggart has been awarded the Victorian Gas Industry Teacher of the Year by Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) in recognition of his commitment to ensuring his students are best prepared for the future of the gas industry.
Swinburne University of Technology vocational educator Mark Taggart was awarded the Victorian Gas Industry Teacher of the Year by Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) The award recognises the importance of education in the gas industry as hydrogen becomes more prevalent in sustainable technologies Swinburne’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) continues to provide insight into the skills and training Australia needs for the industry to prosper through the Hydrogen Skills Roadmap Swinburne University of Technology vocational educator Mark Taggart has been awarded the Victorian Gas Industry Teacher of the Year by Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) in recognition of his commitment to ensuring his students are best prepared for the future of the gas industry. The award recognises the importance of teachers in leading us to a sustainable future and the role the gas industry can play through hydrogen technology. Swinburne continues to drive this transition through the Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2), which brings together researchers, industry partners and business to drive the implementation of the hydrogen economy through skills, training and education. Teacher of the Year Mark teaches gas fitting to Swinburne’s Certificate III apprentices, as well as Certificate IV gas night classes, which are predominately qualified plumbers seeking their gas qualification. He is currently developing the gas component of the new training package which will involve a relocation and re-design of a new gas training facility, taking effect in January 2024. Mark said he was honoured to be awarded Gas Industry Teacher of the Year and emphasised the work of the broader team. “It’s great to be recognised for the work we do at Swinburne. We are one big team so this award acknowledges all the work that the whole plumbing team do,” he said. Mark Taggart receiving his award for the Victorian Gas Industry Teacher of the Year by Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) Impact of green hydrogen A major initiative undertaken by the Victorian Hydrogen Hub is the development of the Hydrogen Skills Road Map, to inform and detail the skills, training and education required for the industry to prosper. As the industry rapidly evolves towards sustainable processes, green hydrogen implementation is expected to create new jobs that need to be filled. Many existing jobs across industries will also be driven by green hydrogen, and it is crucial that the workforce is prepared through education and upskilling. “The Victorian Hydrogen Hub is testing and trialling emerging hydrogen technologies in order to drive the implementation of hydrogen across various sectors in Victoria,” said Director of the Victorian Hydrogen Hub, Gordon Chakaodza. “We are committed to building a workforce that is armed with the knowledge and expertise to guide Victoria towards a more sustainable future, and addressing the gaps in industry through our Hydrogen Skills Roadmap was an important first step in that journey.” Predicted emerging jobs in various industries driven by green hydrogen With passionate educators like Mark and detailed research outlined by the Victorian Hydrogen Hub, Swinburne students will be prepared to lead a green hydrogen future.
18 July 2023 13:51
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/07/swinburne-teaching-the-future-of-hydrogen/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/07/swinburne-teaching-the-future-of-hydrogen/Sustainability|EducationfalseSwinburne alum champions sustainable travelSwinburne alum champions sustainable travelSwinburne alum Sally Rodrick has been championing sustainable and budget-friendly travel practices through her social media accounts and blog.
Swinburne alum Sally Rodrick has a passion for sustainable travel and champions the cause through her social media accounts She says that sustainable travel is about leaving a place better than when you found it Sally participated in overseas studies through Swinburne Abroad, before completing a 12-month professional placement and working full time with the team “To me, sustainable travel is travelling with the intention to leave a place better than you found it.” Those are the words of Swinburne alum Sally Rodrick. Sally, who studied a Bachelor of Business majoring in Tourism Management and Public Relations is passionate about sustainable travel and has been championing the cause through her social media accounts and blog Sally Sees. During her time at Swinburne, Sally participated in a semester exchange to Swinburne Sarawak and the Asia Pacific Rim Study Tour with Swinburne Abroad, before completing a 12-month professional placement and working full time with the team. She now documents her travels around the world and advocates for sustainable and budget-friendly travel practices. “Travel can be a force for good, but when it is not managed sustainably, the consequences can be dire,” says Sally. “To mitigate this risk, we can implement a controlled and sustainable form of travel. It’s not about getting it right 100 per cent of the time, but about making positive choices where you can to benefit the environment, wildlife and communities you visit.” Sally shares some of her top tips to travel more sustainably. Support local businesses Buy souvenirs and food from local shops and vendors. Seek out farmer’s markets for fresh produce and locally-made snacks. The food doesn’t travel as far, which means it will taste better too. “Skip the chain hotels and restaurants and opt for local restaurants and smaller, locally-owned accommodation options, like Airbnb’s instead,” says Sally. Travel slower While it's tempting to tick off every bucket list destination, it can be valuable to slow down and embrace one location for a while. “Instead of hopping to multiple countries or cities, choose one region and experience it more deeply,” says Sally. Walk or ride a bike where you can or use trains and buses. This will not only help the planet, but also your wallet. Plus, you’ll feel like you really get to know your destination better. Avoid single-use plastics It is important to remember that many places around the world will be struggling to manage waste. “Reusable coffee cups, water bottles, straws and cutlery are a great addition to your luggage,” says Sally. Carrying reusable food containers will also help. Not only will you be helping the environment, you’ll also be ready for a local snack at any time. Find tour companies that operate sustainably Make sure to do your research and seek out companies who respect and give back to the communities they visit. Websites for tourism companies who are proud to operate sustainably will be open and transparent about their initiatives and activities. “Unless you are positive they are an ethical sanctuary or rescue centre, skip any wildlife experiences. You should only see animals in the wild,” Sally advises. Do you want to get actively involved in the promotion of sustainability? Swinburne Abroad can help you achieve this. Read more. Immerse yourself in local culture While you’re on your travels, take time to understand the local culture and customs, eat local food and meet local people. “Remember, you are in a foreign place where things are done differently, so make an effort to learn the local language and connect with the locals,” says Sally. Are you ready for an adventure of your own? Check out the options to enrich your studies and take your degree overseas with Swinburne Abroad.
29 June 2023 09:17
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/06/swinburne-alum-champions-sustainable-travel/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/06/swinburne-alum-champions-sustainable-travel/SustainabilityFaculty of Business (FBE)falseProfessor Geoff Brooks wins Bessemer Gold MedalProfessor Geoff Brooks wins Bessemer Gold MedalSwinburne University of Technology Professor Geoff Brooks has won the prestigious 2023 Bessemer Gold Medal from the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) in the UK.
Professor Geoff Brooks won the 2023 Bessemer Gold Medal for his outstanding services to the steel industry Swinburne University of Technology has been leading the ‘green steel revolution’, with many academics being recognised for their innovative strategies to reduce the environmental impact of steelmaking The Bessemer Medal was established in 1874 and has been awarded to many respected names within the industry from around the world Swinburne University of Technology Professor Geoff Brooks has won the prestigious 2023 Bessemer Gold Medal from the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) in the UK. The Bessemer Gold Medal was awarded to Geoff for his outstanding services to the steel industry, specifically for his contributions to improving scientific understanding of the steelmaking process and making it more sustainable. He will be presented the medal during the 2023 IOM3 Awards Day on December 7 at the Institute’s London headquarters. “I am so grateful to my many collaborators and students, who without their help and hard work I could not have won this award,” he said. “I also reflect on the journey I have been on. I remember struggling as a teenager and sneaking through the equivalent of VCE at the time. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would become internationally prominent in my field.” Innovation and world-class research Geoff has been a Professor at Swinburne since 2006 and has published more than 250 papers on fundamental aspects of steelmaking, aluminium production, and materials processing in general. He currently coordinates research for the Extraterrestrial processing program at Swinburne and is a program leader in the ARC Steel Innovation Hub. With colleagues, he has shown it is possible to predict and optimise the speed of reactions taking place above 1600 Celsius in steelmaking. This understanding can be used to improve the quality of steel and lower greenhouse emissions. Leading the 'green steel revolution' Swinburne have been leaders in the ‘green steel revolution’ for several years, with many talented academics working on innovative strategies to reduce the environmental impact of steelmaking. Recent PhD alum Dr Nirmal Madhaven has also received an award from the IOM3, winning the 2023 Adrian Normanton Medal. Supervised by Geoff and Professor Akbar Rhamdani, his PhD paper ‘General mass balance for oxygen steelmaking’ has been recognised as the best technical paper on the topic of steelmaking or casting. In 2019, Suneeti Purohit won the AMP Amplify Ignite competition for her initiative to revolutionise the steel processing industry with solar power. “For every tonne of steel we make, we produce twice the amount of carbon dioxide,” said Suneeti. “I’m trying to lower the amount of carbon emissions in steel production by up to 50 per cent, which will make a significant difference to the planet.” (Left to Right) Researcher Ben Ekman and Professor Geoff Brooks in the Simpson High Temperature Laboratory Through a generous gift in memory of one of Australia’s leading furnace engineers, Robert “Bob” Simpson, provided Swinburne the funds to establish the High Temperature Laboratory in the Advanced Technologies Centre (ATC). The lab has been key to developing a sustainable materials industry through the development and optimisation of recycling processes and the containment and processing of waste generated from metal and materials production. In the decade since the establishment of the Simpson High Temperature Laboratory, researchers have won many major awards both locally and from international organisations. The award legacy The Bessemer Medal was established and endowed to the Iron and Steel Institute in 1874 by one of the giants of the industrial revolution, Sir Henry Bessemer. Previous winners include Queen Victoria (1899), Andrew Carnegie, who led the expansion of the American steel industry (1904), influential BHP director Essington Lewis (1944), basic oxygen steelmaking inventor Robert Durrer (1957), and former Swinburne Dean of Engineering John Beynon (2015). “Many of my scientific heroes have won the medal, as well as several captains of industry,” Geoff said. “I am humbled to be on the same list as giants in my field.”
20 June 2023 15:59
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/06/professor-geoff-brooks-wins-bessemer-gold-medal/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/06/professor-geoff-brooks-wins-bessemer-gold-medal/Science|Sustainability|UniversityfalseSwinburne innovations are addressing the housing crisis by developing sustainable, affordable and energy efficient housing materialsSwinburne innovations are addressing the housing crisis by developing sustainable, affordable and energy efficient housing materialsA new research project from Swinburne University of Technology will make Australian homes more sustainable, address rising costs of living, and reduce construction waste.
A new research project from Swinburne University of Technology will make Australian homes more sustainable, address rising costs of living, and reduce construction waste Professor Blair Kuys, Swinburne School of Design and architecture Associate Dean Research is leading the project Swinburne is one of six research facilities to share in $6 million funding for 8 new projects to be conducted out of the National Institute for Forest Products Innovation (NIFPI) centre A new research project from Swinburne University of Technology will make Australian homes more sustainable, address rising costs of living, and reduce construction waste. The ‘Research, development and validation of 8-star rated architectural products maximising the use of out-of-grade timber’ project has been awarded $751,909 in total, including industry contributions. Professor Blair Kuys, Swinburne School of Design and architecture Associate Dean Research is leading the project and brings 20 years of experience in researching and designing architectural products. Joining him is Swinburne Alum, Dr Nathan Kotlarewski, now at the University of Tasmania, who has specialist expertise in timber engineering. “By combining an abundant resource with clever product design engineering, we believe we can create high-quality outputs that will be comparable in cost to less sustainable equivalents,” Professor Kuys said. Building energy-efficient homes As of August 2022, the Australian government requires all houses to be built with at least a 7-star energy rating. Energy-efficient homes are better for the planet and dramatically lower running costs over the life of a house, but the policy has also contributed to rising building costs and material shortages. This project is tackling those issues by using out-of-grade timber to design, develop and validate affordable and innovative timber products. ‘Out-of-grade’ timber is considered unsuitable for use in construction due to imperfections such as bows or knots. Australia produces an estimated million cubic metres per year, equal to approximately 200,000 30-year-old pine trees Most out-of-grade timber is currently being sent overseas and turned into wood chips, making its production either a cost-neutral exercise or even a profit loss. This project will take this widely available and affordable material and use it to design practical new products to help Australian homes achieve an 8-star energy-efficient rating. It is also minimising waste in construction by focusing on sub-assembled products that can be created off-site with advanced manufacturing processes. For example, this may include a modular insulated wall system that could then be brought onsite and easily assembled. AKD Softwoods, HVP Plantations, Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia and iBuyNew are all industry partners in the project and will be directly involved in manufacturing the new designs as soon as they are complete. “This project is very practical. The money awarded will be used for research and development of tangible new products that have immediate avenues to market,” Professor Kuys said. Swinburne is one of six research facilities to share in $6 million funding for 8 new projects to be conducted out of the National Institute for Forest Products Innovation (NIFPI) centre in Mount Gambier. Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Murray Watt said the initiative will invest in our forest and wood products industries’ research and innovation capacity. “This will support ongoing research careers in the forest and wood products sectors,” Minister Watt said. The project will commence in 2024 and run for 2.5 years, with product innovations to be ready for use in Australian homes as early as the start of 2027.
20 June 2023 11:58
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/06/swinburne-innovations-are-addressing-the-housing-crisis-by-developing-sustainable-affordable-and-energy-efficient-housing-materials/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/06/swinburne-innovations-are-addressing-the-housing-crisis-by-developing-sustainable-affordable-and-energy-efficient-housing-materials/Sustainability|University|DesignfalseBatteries are the environmental Achilles heel of electric vehicles – unless we repair, reuse and recycle themBatteries are the environmental Achilles heel of electric vehicles – unless we repair, reuse and recycle themElectric vehicle advocates say the cars ultimately have a smaller carbon footprint than their fossil-fuelled counterparts and could resolve our energy concerns for good. Well, fair enough, but questions arise when we dig into the inner layers of electrical vehicles and see how sustainable their components are.
Analysis for The Conversation by Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian, Dean of School of Science, Computing and Engineering Technologies Professor Alex Stojcevski and Distinguished Professor in Electrical Renewable Energy Saad Mekhilef Electric vehicle advocates say the cars ultimately have a smaller carbon footprint than their fossil-fuelled counterparts and could resolve our energy concerns for good. Well, fair enough, but questions arise when we dig into the inner layers of electrical vehicles and see how sustainable their components are. In fact, the batteries that power electric vehicles may also be their Achilles heel. Batteries are the most expensive component of an electric vehicle. If the battery pack is damaged, defective or simply old, this can lead to the vehicle being written off prematurely. Tesla is even producing “structural” battery packs described as having “zero repairability”. Increasingly scarce and valuable resources, such as lithium and water, are needed to make these batteries. Despite this, they are often not designed for ease of repair, reuse or recycling. This has significant environmental impacts, ranging from the mining for materials and the water and energy used in making new batteries and vehicles, through to the hazardous waste from discarded batteries. In other words, the answer to the question of “Are electric vehicles really eco-friendly?” largely depends on how we manage the downsides associated with their batteries. Changes in how we design, produce, use and recycle electric car batteries are urgently needed. These changes can ensure that, in solving the problem of fossil fuel emissions, we also minimise other environmental harms. Tackle the problems before they get too big It’s important to resolve these issues now, while electric vehicles make up a small fraction of the global vehicle fleet. Even in world-leading Norway, only 20% of cars on the road are electric. In Australia, fewer than 100,000 out of 20 million registered vehicles are battery-powered. Yet already we are wrestling with the emerging concerns about their batteries. The performance of lithium batteries in an electric vehicle can degrade to 70-80% of its full capacity within six to ten years, depending on the owner’s driving routine. At that point, the battery is barely reliable as the main energy source of the vehicle. Repeated fast charging can degrade a battery sooner. Globally, about 525,000 batteries will reach the end of their useful life for powering a vehicle by 2025. That number soars to over 1 million by 2030. There’s life after EVs for batteries However, the total lifetime of lithium batteries is 20 years. This means the end of a battery’s usefulness in a vehicle doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be discarded. These retired batteries can have plenty of other uses. So how much capacity does a retired battery still have? As an example, an energy storage made of five repurposed Chevrolet Volt batteries can meet two hours of peak-use energy demand for five houses. The numbers become even more appealing for Tesla Model 3 batteries, which have three times the energy capacity of the Chevrolet Volt’s. That is a tremendous capacity still available in a retired battery. So why not use that? And once the battery has reached the end of its useful life, most of the raw materials used to make it can be recovered. It is possible to extract over 95% of the valuable metals like lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper. The European Union already requires electric vehicle batteries to be at least 50% recyclable by weight, increasing to 65% by 2025. However, the current lack of standardisation of battery packs presents a challenge for battery recycling. There are many different physical configurations, cell types and cell chemistries. An electric vehicle battery is often not designed to be as easy to repair or recycle as it could be. Reuse has a long value chain The good news is that battery reuse is not a fictional utopia. Carmaker Nissan is already doing it on Koshikishima, an island in south-western Japan. Batteries are recovered from electric vehicles, have their health assessed and then allocated to suitable second-life applications. These batteries can be reused in a solar farm, as an emergency household power supply, or for an electric forklift in a warehouse. Research shows this repurposing of batteries can get another 10-15 years’ use out of them. That’s a huge leap towards reducing their environmental impact. So, who benefits from this scheme? Well, there’s a long list. In the first row, electric vehicles owners benefit immediately if their used batteries can be sold for a good price. In the longer run, the list of beneficiaries expands massively. Households can enjoy more reliable and cheaper energy simply by charging up their battery storage during off-peak hours for use at peak times when electricity costs are higher. As an initiative in Portugal showed, using repurposed electric vehicle batteries in this way could cut energy bills by 40%. Reusing batteries is good news for the environment. Research suggests reducing the demand for new batteries in this way could cut greenhouse gas emissions from making batteries by as much as 56%. Reusing electric vehicle batteries could greatly reduce the emissions and resources that go into making new batteries. Image: Shutterstock The long list of benefits of giving electric vehicle batteries a second life, then recycling their materials, is enticing. Given the scale of the potential economic and environmental gains, along with the countless jobs such work can create, batteries could be more generous in their afterlife than in their first incarnation in electric vehicles. This article was originally published on The Conversation.
25 May 2023 09:59
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/05/batteries-are-the-environmental-achilles-heel-of-electric-vehicles-unless-we-repair-reuse-and-recycle-them/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/05/batteries-are-the-environmental-achilles-heel-of-electric-vehicles-unless-we-repair-reuse-and-recycle-them/Engineering|SustainabilityfalsePhD student goes to the 2023 UN Water Conference PhD student goes to the 2023 UN Water Conference School of Engineering PhD student Vishnu Pillai recently landed the prestigious opportunity to attend the 2023 UN Water Conference in New York, thanks to his pioneering work on water sustainability solutions.
PhD student Vishnu Pillai was invited to the 2023 UN Water Conference for his work in water sustainability solutions Vishnu is co-founder of Manhat, a deep tech startup that focuses on natural water distillation Manhat received special accreditation from the UN to attend the conference hosted in New York School of Engineering PhD student Vishnu Pillai recently landed the prestigious opportunity to attend the 2023 UN Water Conference in New York, thanks to his pioneering work on water sustainability solutions. Vishnu works with Swinburne academics Associate Professor Nishar Hameed, Professor Peter Kingshott and Dr Nisa Salim on an Australian Research Council-funded project on smart composites and says the team has been supportive of his entrepreneurial journey. “Professor Nishar and the team proved incredibly supportive,” he said. “They provided me with the necessary flexibility to participate in this important event and their willingness to adjust schedules demonstrated their commitment to helping me further my education and professional development.” Creating a better water future Vishnu is a co-founder of Manhat, a deep tech startup based in Abu Dhabi focusing on natural water distillation, alongside fellow founder Dr. Saeed Alhasan. Manhat is tackling an issue they are witnessing firsthand in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, where water scarcity is a real problem. MENA is home to only 1% of the world’s freshwater resources and, without consistent rain, MENA has been reliant on large-scale desalination plants which comes at an environmental cost. Waste from the process is often discharged into the sea, damaging marine ecosystems. There is also a huge carbon footprint from the burning of fossil fuels to power the high energy demands of the plants. Manhat has developed a novel solution: floating desalination devices. Water is heated by the sun in a greenhouse structure; the water evaporates and forms water droplets that are collected by their device. The salt and minerals don’t evaporate with the water, so it can be used in the ocean to produce fresh drinking water. They have collaborated with Abu Dhabi ports to help test prototypes that harness the natural water cycle to collect desalinated water. Through their testing, they proved the devices could generate water with no electricity, brine, or carbon emission. Developing their idea further, Manhat is now working on floating farms, where they can directly irrigate from their desalination device. Harvesting the freshwater from lost evaporated water from open water surfaces, the floating farm will be irrigated immediately. When he joined Manhat in 2020, Vishnu had the background in research but had to adapt quickly to operate a successful startup. “I needed to learn first. I started learning from blogs, reading different publications, watching entrepreneurial videos on YouTube. I began to understand the importance of collaboration in the startup journey.” With patents for their technology approved across 18 different countries, including Australia, Manhat is striving for their solution to go global. Taking steps to establish its presence, Manhat has registered their first international office here in Victoria, in recognition of Australia’s supportive ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship. Invited to the UN Vishnu and Dr. Alhasan had been reading the valuable reports that were published by the UN, but they never thought they would be a part of it. Seeing the UN had a special accreditation program, Vishnu applied and received an exciting email back. “We received the special accreditation, and we are the only startup from the UAE to get this recognition, as well as being one of the two companies selected from the private sector – the other being a multi-billion-dollar company.” Whilst continuing his studies at Swinburne and projects on smart composites, Vishnu also looks ahead to the next steps for Manhat. “We are currently focused on achieving our next significant milestone, which involves launching a pilot project for a floating farm. Establishing our office in Victoria enables us to collaborate closely with a diverse range of stakeholders and expedite our research and development endeavours.”
05 May 2023 12:17
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/05/phd-student-goes-to-the-2023-un-water-conference/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/05/phd-student-goes-to-the-2023-un-water-conference/Technology|SustainabilityfalseAustralia finally has an electric vehicle strategy. How does it stack up?Australia finally has an electric vehicle strategy. How does it stack up?Australia’s first National Electric Vehicle Strategy, released today, details the government’s long-awaited plans to accelerate the adoption of these vehicles.
Analysis for The Conversation by Professor of Future Urban Mobility in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Hussein Dia Australia’s first National Electric Vehicle Strategy, released today, details the government’s long-awaited plans to accelerate the adoption of these vehicles. Consultations on the strategy began last September. The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, then promised the strategy would make Australia a globally competitive market for electric vehicles. Households and businesses would have access to the best modern transport technology at affordable prices. But does the strategy live up to these expectations? Is it ambitious enough to meet our emission-reduction targets and international commitments? And how far does it go to align Australia with world-best practice for the transition to electric vehicles? In short, the strategy represents a step in the right direction but falls short of introducing meaningful new measures to speed up this transition, at a time when urgent interventions are needed. Why is the strategy important? Transport is Australia’s third-largest – and fastest-growing – source of greenhouse gas emissions. Cars produce about half of all transport emissions. One of the quickest ways to cut these emissions is to accelerate the current slow uptake of electric vehicles. Although EV sales almost doubled between 2021 and 2022, they represented only 3.8% of all new vehicle sales in 2022. That’s well below the global average of 12-14%. And it’s way behind world leader Norway where 87% of cars sold now are electric. An ambitious national strategy, backed by robust fuel-efficiency standards, is vital for decarbonising Australia’s road transport. It will also improve air quality and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and imported oil. What’s good and notable about the strategy? During consultations on the strategy, around 500 submissions were received, representing the views of more than 1,500 individuals and over 200 organisations. A key feature of the strategy is a commitment to introduce Australia’s first fuel-efficiency standard for new cars. Frustratingly, though, the government has delayed finalising the standard until the end of 2023, pending yet further consultations with industry on its development. Australia is the only country in the OECD without mandatory fuel-efficiency standards for road transport vehicles. They are needed urgently now as an important step to increase the supply of electrical vehicles to Australia. The federal government has made the case for vehicle emission standards, but then decided to delay their introduction Bowen said today the government will not introduce any bans or stop companies selling any type of vehicle in Australia. Instead, they will be required to sell a “good proportion”‘ of electric and fuel-efficient vehicles. But no targets were mentioned. Aside from the planned fuel-efficiency standard, the strategy introduces one other important initiative related to recycling and reuse of electric vehicles and batteries. The rest of the strategy falls short of providing any substantial policy directions or targets to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles. Instead, it mainly confirms existing programs and policies, such as the electric car discount, and other already announced plans to upgrade charging infrastructure and the National Reconstruction Fund to boost local manufacturing. What’s missing? The strategy does not provide new incentives to help Australians with the cost of buying an electric vehicle. There is also no mention of targeted subsidies or measures to ensure equity. Instead, the government said it will work with states and territories on nationally consistent principles to ensure demand stays strong. The strategy also fails to acknowledge the need for a holistic strategy to decarbonise road transport. Other policy interventions are needed to lower emissions from transport, which cannot be achieved through vehicle electrification alone. The strategy also falls short on measures to accelerate the adoption of electric trucks and heavy commercial vehicles. Freight transport networks and supply chains present particular challenges for reducing emissions. It is equally important to incentivise adoption by providing cheap loans and increasing supply of reliable, sustainable and cost-effective alternatives to diesel trucks. Importantly, too, the strategy does not stop subsidies and incentives for fossil fuel vehicles. A credible strategy would need to consider a so-called feebate system. Feebates involve placing a levy on purchases of vehicles with high emissions and using the revenues to provide rebates for purchases of vehicles with zero or low emissions to offset their higher prices. Examples include France’s Bonus Malus and New Zealand’s Clean Car Discount. If developed carefully, these systems can be a cost-neutral method of discouraging purchases of high-emission vehicles and encouraging purchases of electric vehicles. How does the strategy compare with plans overseas? In the past few weeks, the United States and the European Union have announced some very ambitious plans that make the Australian strategy look very modest. The US has proposed strict new emissions limits that would require two-thirds of vehicles sold in the US to be electric by 2032. The proposal, if ratified, will represent the most aggressive vehicle emissions reduction plan in the US. It will deliver, on average, a 13% annual pollution cut. The EU also had plans to ban the sale of internal combustion engine cars from 2035. In February, the European Parliament approved the ban, which was later revised to allow some combustion engines running on e-fuels to be sold beyond 2035. Still, this remains one of the world’s strongest measures to phase out fossil-fuel vehicles. The road ahead By placing road transport decarbonisation on the national agenda, the National Electric Vehicle Strategy represents a positive step. But it falls short of matching the ambitious plans of other developed nations. The much-anticipated fuel-efficiency standard will be key to demonstrate Australia’s commitment to reducing transport emissions. The standard will need to be mandatory, rigorous and robust. Clear targets on electric vehicle sales and timelines for phasing out internal combustion engine vehicles are needed. If the standard is not carefully designed, we will continue to let down future generations, and the planet. This article was originally published on The Conversation.
19 April 2023 14:31
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/04/australia-finally-has-an-electric-vehicle-strategy-how-does-it-stack-up/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/04/australia-finally-has-an-electric-vehicle-strategy-how-does-it-stack-up/Sustainability|Politicsfalse$5.2M green energy research hub coming to Swinburne$5.2M green energy research hub coming to SwinburneThe Siemens Swinburne Energy Transition Hub is Australia's new research-driven hub focused on energy and sustainability.
In collaboration with global tech leader Siemens, Swinburne is building the $5.2M Energy Transition Hub at the Hawthorn campus The research-driven hub is focused on energy and sustainability It will be open to industry and institutional collaborations that can take research ideas from the lab into industry Australia’s new research-driven hub focused on energy and sustainability is coming to Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus in 2023. Created in partnership with global tech leaders Siemens, the $5.2M Siemens Swinburne Energy Transition Hub will drive collaboration between researchers and industry. Accessible to students and industry, the hub will feature a future energy grid laboratory with some of the most advanced digital energy technology from Siemens. The hub will enable users to create digital twins of energy grids, map scenarios, research new findings, develop original and creative hypotheses, and test results. “We are incredibly excited about this new collaboration with Siemens, who has partnered with Swinburne over many years to share in our vision of people and technology working together to build a better world”, said Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Professor Karen Hapgood. “Australia’s ambitious carbon reduction targets need a multipronged approach by industry, research and government. The new Siemens Swinburne Energy Transition Hub will be working on new technologies to improve efficiency, supply, integration, storage, transport and use, as well as how we can improve existing technologies and frameworks. "We need change fast, and the Siemens-Swinburne team will focus on taking ideas to market – where they can make the most impact as quickly as possible.” Working towards a greener future The hub will act as a tech bench for researchers and industry to work together on meaningful solutions for greener, more efficient future energy systems. It will be home to a digital twin of Australia’s energy market and it enables commercial-research teams to run simulations of new solutions. “Our relationship with Swinburne University of Technology is long-standing and we’re proud to extend it through the new Siemens Swinburne Energy Transition Hub," said Peter Halliday, CEO and Chairman, Siemens Australia and New Zealand. "Collaboration between industry and academia is critical to driving better outcomes on key topics of national importance such as energy transition. Digitalisation allows you to do more with less as technology assists you in identifying the opportunities for reducing energy consumption and emissions.” New opportunities As a collaborative research facility, the hub will be open to industry and institutional collaborations that can take research ideas from the lab into the industry – so they can make an impact, now. “Bringing an industry-led Energy Transition Hub to Swinburne will create a high-end laboratory space to undertake cutting-edge research designed to meet industry needs and help address the global challenge of energy transition," said Director of the Siemens Swinburne Energy Transition Hub and Swinburne researcher, Associate Professor Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian. "The hub aims to conduct high-impact industry-led R&D projects in line with Australia’s carbon reduction targets. It will also offer new opportunities for Swinburne students and industry professionals looking to upskill for the next generation of energy technologies and future electrical networks.” In addition to research and development and commercialisation projects, the hub will deliver short courses for industry professionals. It will also give back to Swinburne students, with Siemens software and the company’s real-world industry experience integrated into engineering technology courses. The hub will feature access to software and hardware products straight from Siemens Grid Software portfolio. “We are thrilled to be using leading technology from Siemens’ Grid Software portfolio to test new, creative solutions through digital simulation, allowing for faster and more efficient commercialisation, where advances in energy tech and renewable energy integrations can do the most good: on the grid and in our homes,” said Dean of Swinburne’s School of Science, Computing and Engineering Technologies, Professor Alex Stojcevski.
16 February 2023 09:19
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/02/5m-green-energy-research-hub-coming-to-swinburne/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/02/5m-green-energy-research-hub-coming-to-swinburne/Sustainability|UniversityfalseElectric utes can now power the weekend – and the work weekElectric utes can now power the weekend – and the work weekFour years ago, then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison famously claimed electric vehicles (EVs) would end the weekend. “It’s not going to tow your trailer. It’s not going to tow your boat. It’s not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot,” he said.
Analysis for The Conversation by Professor of Future Urban Mobility in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Hussein Dia Four years ago, then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison famously claimed electric vehicles (EVs) would end the weekend. “It’s not going to tow your trailer. It’s not going to tow your boat. It’s not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot,” he said. His comments drew on the popular misconception EVs are underpowered relative to petrol, gas or diesel cars. Experts refuted the claims, while video of a Tesla towing a 130-tonne Boeing 787 circulated. But one part of Morrison’s critique had longer resonance. Could utes ever go electric? These light utility cars are favoured by Australia and New Zealand’s two million strong tradie workforce to take materials and tools to jobs. Ute drivers are more likely to drive longer distances, making range anxiety an obstacle. The answer is yes, though it may take longer than for cars. Only last week Melbourne company SEA Group announced a deal to turn thousands of conventional utes electric. At present, new electric utes are still more expensive. But over time, their advantages will make them an easy choice. How are electric utes different? Electric utes will have much lower running costs from fuel to maintenance. Electricity is cheaper than petrol or diesel. And doing away with the internal combustion engine means maintenance is much cheaper and less frequent. They have improved performance, with instant torque and rapid acceleration. This makes them suited for towing and driving in environments where quick manoeuvring and agility are needed. But what about ‘range anxiety’? The average driver in Australia covers 36 kilometres per day, or around 12,000 kilometres each year. But averages conceal heavy users. Owners of utes and other light commercial vehicles drive almost 40% more than car drivers. So, can electric utes handle the extra kilometres? In short – yes. Battery technology improves every year. The average distance an EV can drive on a single charge doubled from 138km to 349km in the decade to 2021, based on US models. Batteries will get better and cheaper, meaning range will increase. You can charge your electric ute at one of almost 5,000 charging stations around Australia – a number which has almost doubled in just three years. It’s also possible to swap out depleted batteries rather than stopping to recharge. If there’s power available at a worksite, you can also run a power cable to top up your ute while on the job. Electric utes will be slower to arrive – but the bigger change is already here This year, Australia will have 100,000 electric vehicles on its roads for the first time. After years in the doldrums, electric cars finally arrived in numbers. Last year, almost 40,000 hit the roads for the first time – doubling the total in a single year. But there’s still a way to go. That’s just 3.8% of all new car sales – well below the global average of 12–14% and far behind world leader Norway, where 87% of vehicles sold are now electric. Cars are comparatively easy to electrify. Utes and trucks are a harder challenge. Even though they come with major advantages, the higher sticker price will deter buyers. This matters, because transport is now Australia’s third-largest – and fastest growing – source of emissions, accounting for close to 20% of the nation’s emissions. Of these emissions, freight trucks are responsible for 23%, and light duty road vehicles – which includes utes – contribute 18%. For years, Australia has been at the back of the pack. Our lack of emission standards for vehicles has made us a dumping ground for high-polluting cars and trucks. Electrifying our whole fleet of vehicles – coupled with clean energy to power them – is essential if we are to meet our legislated emissions targets. Which electric utes are available now – or coming soon? Australia’s first electric ute is the LDV eT60. It’s hugely expensive at around A$93,000, almost twice the cost of its diesel counterpart. So how can we be confident electric utes will take off? Because the technology isn’t standing still. As EVs get better and as worldwide battery production skyrockets, prices will fall. Many other models will soon be available. States and territories are also introducing policies to reduce the cost of purchase, such as basing the cost of registering a vehicle on its emissions. Within seven years, electric vans and utes are predicted to make up over 50% of all light duty commercial vehicles. This could come even sooner with supportive government policies. There’s also a renewed interest in local manufacturing. Queensland’s Ace EV Group plans to launch a small, cheap electric ute with the ability to charge your tools from its battery, while other outfits offer to convert your existing car to electric. The route to electric utes The switch to electric is – at last – beginning in earnest. But time is of the essence. To accelerate, we need more variety and more affordable EVs, including light duty vehicles and utes. One policy setting still holding us back is the lack of mandatory fuel efficiency standards. If we had these, we would see much faster change. Labor last year promised Australia would at last have ambitious mandatory fuel-efficiency standards. They can’t come soon enough. This article was originally published on The Conversation.
13 February 2023 12:13
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/02/electric-utes-can-now-power-the-weekend-and-the-work-week/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/02/electric-utes-can-now-power-the-weekend-and-the-work-week/Technology|SustainabilityfalseWhy a shift to basing vehicle registration fees on emissions matters for AustraliaWhy a shift to basing vehicle registration fees on emissions matters for AustraliaThe ACT is changing how it calculates car registration fees. Instead of being based on a car’s weight, the fee the owner pays will be based on the greenhouse gas emissions it produces.
Analysis for The Conversation by Professor of Future Urban Mobility in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Hussein Dia The ACT is changing how it calculates car registration fees. Instead of being based on a car’s weight, the fee the owner pays will be based on the greenhouse gas emissions it produces. Up to now, owners of cleaner but typically heavier electric vehicles have paid more for registration than those of high-polluting but lighter vehicles powered by petrol or diesel engines. Emissions-based fees will reverse that situation. The ACT was already offering two years of free registration for electric vehicles up to mid-2024. Under the new policy, from May 25 this year, owners of new and used electric vehicles will pay a discounted fee once their two years of free registration is over. The remaining car fleet will transition to the new system on July 1 2024. An emissions-based registration fee is a sensible policy worth adopting Australia-wide. It’s already in place in many other nations that have much higher uptakes of electric vehicles. Targeted policies and incentives do speed the uptake of electric vehicles. Image: Shutterstock Why is this policy change important? Transport is Australia’s third-largest – and fastest-growing – source of greenhouse gas emissions. Cars produce about half of these transport emissions. Most of Australia’s vehicles use polluting fossil fuels. A switch to electric vehicles, coupled with a transition to renewable energy, is vital for Australia to meet its commitments to tackle climate change. One of the quickest ways to reduce transport emissions is to accelerate the current slow uptake of electric vehicles. In 2022, Australian sales totalled 39,353. There are now about 83,000 light electric vehicles on our roads. Although sales almost doubled between 2021 and 2022, they represented only 3.8% of all new vehicle sales in 2022. That’s well below the global average of 12-14%. And it’s way behind world leader Norway where 87% of cars being sold now are electric. In China, about 5.67 million electric cars, or a quarter of all new cars, were bought in 2022. By the end of the year, 35% of the cars being sold were battery-powered or plug-in hybrids. In the UK, more than 265,000 electrical vehicles were registered in 2022, a 40% increase on 2021. The global outlook for electric vehicles remain strong. Total sales of 8.6 million vehicles are expected in 2023. That’s expected to rise to almost 12 million by 2025. Australia will pass the milestone of 100,000 electric vehicles on the road this year. But that’s well short of the target of 1 million by 2027 set by an industry alliance headed by the Electric Vehicle Council, and the Albanese government’s target of 3.8 million by 2030. Best practice policies will help to accelerate the transition. The importance of the new policy is that it will help to reduce costs for buyers. Cost is one of the main barriers to buying an electric vehicle in Australia. In 2022, less than 20% of electric vehicles sold for less than A$65,000. While some Australians are willing to pay the hefty price tag, it remains an obstacle for others. Government interventions play a big role in reducing purchase costs and annual fees. Higher taxes on polluting vehicles are also likely to impact consumer choice so more drivers make the switch. What is best practice in emissions-based vehicle policies? Policies that reduce registration fees and provide tax benefits to electric vehicle owners have been widely implemented overseas during the past few decades. Norway first introduced registration fee exemptions in 1990. This, along with a range of other measures and incentives, helped to increase electric vehicle sales to 50% of the market in 2020, and 79% by 2022. No other nation comes close. In the European Union, 21 of 27 member countries levied car taxes partially or totally based on CO₂ emissions in 2022. Infographic on the CO2-based motor vehicle taxes in the European Union, by country. Image: ACEA The EU-wide policies provide a range of financial benefits to owners of electric vehicles. They apply to both vehicle acquisition (value-added tax, sales tax, registration tax) and vehicle ownership (annual circulation tax, road tax). How much difference can these policies make? A number of studies of the effectiveness of CO₂-based car taxation policies have found evidence they contribute to lowering transport emissions. For example, Ireland first introduced an emissions-based car taxation policy in 2008. An analysis of its impacts found it produced a cumulative CO₂ saving of 1.6 million tonnes from 2008 to 2018. In 2018, Irish-licensed vehicles travelled a total of 47.5 billion kilometres. The study found average carbon intensity of the car fleet had reduced from 189gCO₂/km in 2007 to 164gCO₂/km in 2018. It would have been 168gCO₂/km without the tax intervention, according to the analysis. A similar study that evaluated Norway’s CO₂-based taxes found them to be powerful policies applied aggressively at levels ten times the EU Emissions Trading System quota prices. The analysis found these policies also delivered other improvements, with the largest impacts being reductions in air pollution. What else needs to be done in Australia? A measure such as introducing an emissions-based registration system is a step in the right direction. But to be effective it needs to be part of a holistic national effort to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles. In 2023, Australia needs to speed up efforts on two major initiatives that were introduced in 2022. The federal government began consultations on Australia’s first National Electric Vehicle Strategy last September. More than 500 submissions were received, representing the views of over 2,150 Australian individuals and organisations. Commitments were also made to develop an ambitious set of mandatory fuel-efficiency standards to help increase the supply of electric vehicle models. Both initiatives are key policy pillars of an effective strategy to reduce transport emissions. Building on this momentum and urgently implementing bold policies will demonstrate Australia’s commitment to embrace the transition to electric vehicles and accelerate emission reductions. This article was originally published on The Conversation.
10 February 2023 15:59
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/02/why-a-shift-to-basing-vehicle-registration-fees-on-emissions-matters-for-australia/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2023/02/why-a-shift-to-basing-vehicle-registration-fees-on-emissions-matters-for-australia/Sustainability|PoliticsfalseStudent climate change podcast goes global Student climate change podcast goes global Swinburne students have created a climate change podcast published on the Global Climate Change Week website as an international educational tool
As part of the Bachelor of Health Sciences, a group of Swinburne students have created an educational climate change podcast The podcast has been published on the Global Climate Change Week’s website to share how biodiversity impacts the environment This is just one example of the Health Sciences WIL Capstone Projects created by students who work with industry partners on real-world issues Swinburne students are contributing to the global discussion on climate change with their new podcast, published by Global Climate Change Week. As part of the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Professional), Zoë Mayer, alongside her group William Jackson-Martin, James Dakin, Anshia Tu, Sam Hosie, and Tran Bao Giang Pham, were given the task of creating an educational podcast for the Global Climate Change Week (GCCW) website. “All of my team members are part of the same degree, but not everyone has the same major, which we actually found to be incredibly beneficial when undertaking the research portion of the project as it was easy to assign corresponding themes to everyone’s chosen majors,” says Zoë. The team’s concept for the podcast was biodiversity, with an episode on agriculture, extreme weather events and natural disaster, food security, water security, and food/water borne illness and disease. “I think that biodiversity is important to me and my team as it directly influences global health, and given my team are all studying health sciences it made sense to feature this in our project. We were able to research the current and very real threats that climate change poses to our planet, specifically educating the public on the detrimental effects through the lens of health prioritisation,” Zoë says. Creating a lasting impact GCCW encourages academic communities around the world to engage with each other, their communities and policy makers on climate change action and solutions. Held annually in October, GCCW provides a platform for activities aimed at raising awareness, inspiring behaviour change, and driving political transformation in relation to climate policy. Academic Director of Work Integrated Learning Dr Sharon Grant helped arrange this project, as well as Co-Chair of GCCW and Research Fellow at Swinburne Dr Kim Beasy, who collaborated with the students to produce the podcasts. “Climate change is something that we all need to know about,” Dr Beasy says. “This means that we need educational resources that are accessible and engaging and speak to a diverse range of people. Podcasts made by young people about climate change are exactly what we mean by accessible and engaging!” Convenor of the Health Sciences WIL Capstone Projects Dr Charmaine Lloyd says developing a resource that is both informative and has wide reach and impact is a unique skill. As part of the Bachelor of Health Sciences, students work collaboratively on real-world topics with an industry partner to achieve an analysis of data or design and produce a health-related resource. Dr Lloyd says she is very proud of what they have achieved as a team. “The students worked hard over the weeks building their script, getting it vetted and learning how to use software to bring out a beautiful podcast within the span of a semester.” Zoë says creating a podcast that shares important perspectives in an accessible way was the most rewarding project throughout her entire degree. “It is deeply rewarding to know that something you create yourself could be used as an education tool by others, especially given how much work we put into this project. Seeing the response from Charmaine and Kim is gratifying, and to know that they appreciate what we have accomplished makes reflecting back on the semester, and our endeavours, encouragingly positive.”
21 December 2022 10:42
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/12/Student-climate-change-podcast-goes-global/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/12/Student-climate-change-podcast-goes-global/Student News|Technology|SustainabilityfalseNew electric cars for under $45,000? They’re finally coming to Australia – but the battle isn’t overNew electric cars for under $45,000? They’re finally coming to Australia – but the battle isn’t overIf you’re shopping for an electric vehicle in Australia at the moment, your options are limited. Of more than 300 electric vehicle models on sale globally, only about 30 are available here.
Analysis for The Conversation by Professor of Future Urban Mobility in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Hussein Dia If you’re shopping for an electric vehicle in Australia at the moment, your options are limited. Of more than 300 electric vehicle models on sale globally, only about 30 are available here. What’s more, waiting lists for vehicles are long and the purchase cost is still higher than many consumers are willing to pay. Australia might now have a federal government with stronger climate ambition than the last. But major new policies are still needed to accelerate the road transport transition. There’s good news, however: Australian motorists have been promised more choice soon. So let’s take a look at the cars we might be driving in the next few years. New policies are needed to accelerate the transport transition. Image: Shutterstock Why make the switch? Transport is Australia’s third-largest – and fastest growing – source of greenhouse gas emissions. Cars are responsible for the greatest share of these emissions. Most of Australia’s vehicle fleet uses polluting fossil fuels. A switch to electric vehicles, coupled with a transition to renewable energy, is vital if Australia is to meet its commitments to tackle climate change. Electric vehicles are also cheaper to run than their traditional counterparts, and don’t rely on expensive imported fuel. Despite all the benefits, electric vehicle uptake in Australia is still low. They accounted for just 3.39% of new vehicle sales (or 26,356 cars in total) to September this year, according to the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia. It’s an increase on last year, but still well below other nations. In the UK, for example, 19% of new cars sold are electric. The ACT buys the most electric vehicles (9.5% of new vehicles) followed by New South Wales (3.7%), Victoria (3.4%), Queensland (3.3%), Tasmania (3.3%), Western Australia (2.8%), South Australia (2.3%) and the Northern Territory (0.8%). Cars are responsible for the greatest share of Australia’s transport emissions. Image: Dean Lewins/AAP Which electric vehicles are we buying? Almost 40% of new battery electric vehicle sales this year were Tesla Model 3 (8,647 sales) and 25% were Tesla Model Y (5,376 sales). Other top-selling models include the Hyundai Kona (897 sales), MG ZS EV (858 sales) and Polestar 2 (779 sales). Less than 20% of vehicles sold had a purchase price below $65,000. The Porsche Taycan, one of the most expensive electric vehicles on the market, was in 11th place with 401 sales. Its price ranges from $156,000 to more than $350,000, depending on the model grade. Some buyers are yet to receive the cars they purchased. Supply shortages mean consumers can wait 11 months for their vehicle. But despite the frequent delays, consumers keep placing orders. Hyundai recently offered 200 of its Ioniq 5 electric SUVs for sale online; they were snapped up within 15 minutes. Price is a sticking point Clearly, some Australians are willing to buy an electric vehicle despite the price tag. But the purchase cost remains a big concern for others. In a recent survey, more than half of Australian respondents preferred electric vehicles over fossil fuel cars – but 67% said price was the main barrier preventing them from making the switch. Only 13% were willing to spend between $45,000 and $54,999 on an electric car. In another survey of around 1,000 Australians, about 72% said they would budget less than $40,000 for their next car purchase. But few battery electric vehicles cost less than $55,000, and many cost more than twice this. Others are nearly 60% more expensive than their petrol-powered counterparts. Electric vehicles remain out of the price range of many people. Image: Gao Yuwen/AP Choice coming soon Carmakers have promised a suite of new battery electric vehicles will soon be available in Australia. Two are expected to be the among the cheapest new battery electric vehicles available here: the Atto 3 by carmaker BYD and MG’s updated ZS compact SUV. Both will be available for less than $50,000 including on-road costs. The MG model is the cheaper of the two, at $44,990 for the Excite variant. Other models expected to arrive in the next two years include the Aiways U5 SUV, Fiat 500e, Kia Soul, Peugeot e-2008, Skoda Enyaq, Toyota bZ4x and Volkswagen ID series. The Chinese LDV electric ute is already on sale in New Zealand and may be on Australian roads by the end of this year. It remains to be seen, however, if electric utes and vans will be embraced by Australia’s tradespeople. What policy settings are needed? Clearly, Australia needs more affordable mid- and low-end electric vehicles. But one key policy setting is holding us back: the lack of mandatory fuel efficiency standards for road transport vehicles. Australia is the only country in the OECD without such a policy. The standards help drive demand for low-emissions vehicles – so electric vehicle manufacturers often prefer to sell into those markets. Car importers also tend to promote top-end models first because they have higher profit margins. Meanwhile globally, competition between manufacturers of cheaper battery electric vehicles is expected to intensifying. Multinational automakers in China have been gearing up. Their lineup of new models is already selling in international markets. Heavy trucks are also ripe for electrification, and progress has been rapid in recent years. Broad deployment in Australia will accelerate emissions cuts and improve air quality. The road ahead Electric vehicles are not the total solution to cutting transport emissions. We also need strategies to change our travel behaviour, reduce the number of cars on the roads and improve walkability and access to public transport. But electric vehicles are a crucial piece of the puzzle. To improve their uptake in Australia, policymakers can draw from a range of effective electric vehicle policies that can be adapted from other nations. They include investment in charging stations and providing financial incentives to buy and run electric vehicles. Australians want to drive electric vehicles, and governments must respond. Without a variety of affordable electric vehicles, Australia’s dependence on fossil fuels will deepen, and reaching our emissions reduction goals will become harder. This article was originally published on The Conversation.
18 November 2022 15:15
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/11/new-electric-cars-for-under-45000-theyre-finally-coming-to-australia-but-the-battle-isnt-over/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/11/new-electric-cars-for-under-45000-theyre-finally-coming-to-australia-but-the-battle-isnt-over/Technology|SustainabilityfalseInnovative hydrogen research to advance sustainable steel Innovative hydrogen research to advance sustainable steel Swinburne’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) is working to decarbonise the steel industry, using hydrogen to make it more sustainable.
Steel production is a large contributor to carbon emissions Swinburne’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) is researching the application of hydrogen in steelmaking to make the industry more sustainable Gopal Pandey’s PhD investigates the engineering aspects of oxygen blowing using hydrogen fuel Steel, a crucial material in human civilisation, is also one of the world’s biggest sources of carbon emissions. To help decarbonise the steel industry, Swinburne’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) is researching the application of hydrogen in steelmaking to make the industry more sustainable. PhD candidate Gopal Pandey is at the forefront of this work, using computational fluid dynamics modelling to study the engineering aspects using hydrogen fuel in oxygen blowing – one of the most common and efficient steel production methods. Gopal says considering the steel industry’s scale, it shapes up as one of the largest contributors to a clean hydrogen economy future. “I'm passionate about making a better environment to live in,” Gopal says. “Climate change is real and reducing our carbon footprint is a challenge. Having my project work on reducing something that is bad for the planet is very impactful.” The importance of steel Ever since the onset of the industrial revolution steel has been a dominant feature of modern civilization, with its applications ranging from basic infrastructure to more complicated mechanical equipment. Typically made through basic oxygen furnaces using virgin iron ore, steel uses a lot of fossil fuel-based sources of energy that contribute to carbon emissions. VH2’s project aims to replace the existing fossil fuel-based sources with hydrogen. PhD supervisor and Professor in the School of Engineering, Geoffrey Brooks says the PhD is “tackling a key issue in decarbonisation using advanced mathematical tools.” “Gopal’s project follows on from some successful work on understanding how natural gas burners behave in the extreme environment of steelmaking. Now we are re-examining the whole issue with hydrogen.” Gopal says that while hydrogen is challenging and “bringing highly inflammable gas into the steelmaking environment is another major issue,” he is excited for the opportunity to make a difference. “Dealing with and finding new ways to adapt hydrogen and decarbonise the steel industry is always something we look forward to. “Working as a part of VH2 at Swinburne has provided a lot of opportunities to connect, build a network with the industry and understand the problem from the ground up, which I really do love.”
08 November 2022 17:03
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/11/innovative-hydrogen-research-to-advance-sustainable-steel/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/11/innovative-hydrogen-research-to-advance-sustainable-steel/Sustainability|EngineeringfalseSolar solutions reducing carbon footprint on campus and beyond Solar solutions reducing carbon footprint on campus and beyond Swinburne researchers are designing and implementing solar initiatives to reduce carbon footprints on campus and beyond
Swinburne is pursuing solar initiatives to reduce the university’s carbon footprint and help Aussie households go green By becoming a smart building, the ATC building could save 1.4 tonnes of carbon every year and save Swinburne over $200,000 in energy bills A bird-inspired algorithm can overcome the environmental impacts of shading and increase the efficiency of household solar systems by up to 90 per cent Swinburne University of Technology researchers are designing and implementing solar initiatives on campus and beyond to reduce the university’s carbon footprint and save solar households thousands of dollars. In a project that could have implications for energy grids across Australia and the world, the ATC building on Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus has been converted into a smart building through the integration of power saving technology developed by staff and PhD students from the New Energy Technologies Research Group. As a smart building, ATC can now detect ways to save energy, reduce the demand and share excess energy with other buildings on campus. The new and improved system is expected to reduce Swinburne’s carbon footprint by 1.4 tonnes and save the university $200,000 each year. It also provides a key stepping stone to Swinburne’s Net Zero 2025 Pathway. Hear from the researchers and Swinburne leaders driving this project speak on the importance of this program, including Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research Professor Karen Hapgood, and Project lead of the Swinburne Smart Building Energy Initiative, Associate Professor Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian. Taking tech beyond our campuses Swinburne is also making an impact on solar savings beyond the campus. Associate Professor Mehdi Seyedmahoudian and his research team have created a bird-inspired algorithm that can dramatically increase the efficiency of the more than 3 million solar panels on Australian roofs. Solar panel efficiency can be impacted by up to 92% per cent by partial shading, where birds, dust or surrounding structures block out part of the sun. The new algorithm allows the shaded parts of the panel to be bypassed, saving solar owners money and generating greater volumes of renewable energy. Associate Professor Seyedmahmoudian says that many solar owners are unaware of the large impact that just a single bird or shaded panel can have. “People often spend a lot of money on solar panels, to increase efficiency, without knowing that these small changes on the rooftop, which are out of their control, can actually drop the solar panels’ efficiency dramatically,” he said. A low-cost natural solution Associate Professor Seyedmahmoudian and his New Energy Technologies Research Group found that 52 per cent of partial-shading conditions are created by birds. “Our thinking was that if the problem is created by nature, then we need to implement nature to solve it,” he says. “Obviously, we cannot control the birds, so we studied their movement to create a nature-inspired artificial intelligence. Now when you have birds over a panel, that section can be bypassed and you can get the highest efficiency possible from the rest of your solar panels.” Because the system uses existing hardware and integrates the nature-inspired algorithm into the intelligent system, the technology doesn't come at a huge cost. The smart software can also detect damaged or malfunctioning panels and divert unused power in the meantime. “People were focusing on infrastructure technology rather than the intelligence of the system. You cannot control the environment, so this is a very cost-effective way to improve the efficiency,” Dr Seyedmahmoudian says. Coming to a roof near you Associate Professor Seyedmahmoudian is now working with his research group so his solution can be installed directly into existing household setups. “We are developing our own inverters within our research group, and also looking forward to exploring opportunities to work and share our knowledge with existing inverter companies,” he said. For the research team, the most important step is creating a pathway to implement and integrate this system on people’s homes. “We want to be able to go to somebody’s home and say, ‘I'm going to give you this box, you don't need any new hardware, I'm just going to install this inverter’ and as a result your solar system will dramatically improve.”
24 October 2022 16:27
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/10/solar-solutions-reducing-carbon-footprint-on-campus-and-beyond/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/10/solar-solutions-reducing-carbon-footprint-on-campus-and-beyond/Sustainability|Engineering|TechnologyfalseGlobal leaders use hydrogen to reduce aviation emissionsGlobal leaders use hydrogen to reduce aviation emissionsSwinburne’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) and Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub) are collaborating with industry leaders to create hydrogen storage tanks for aerospace.
Swinburne is collaborating with global leaders to implement hydrogen technology in the aerospace industry. As one of the biggest contributors to rising CO2 emissions, aerospace has the potential to implement renewable energy sources that help to tackle climate change. Victorian Hydrogen Hub and Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub Research Fellow, Madeline Van Dongen, is modelling the chemical aspects of the hydrogen storage project. Swinburne’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) and Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub) are developing enhanced hydrogen storage tanks for aerospace. Working with CSIRO and the Institut für Flugzeugbau (IFB, ‘Institute for Aircraft Design’) at the University of Stuttgart in Germany, the project could make a real impact on the carbon footprint of the aerospace industry. Hydrogen Storage Technologies Research Fellow, Madeline Van Dongen, is bringing VH2 and AIR Hub together to “provide a chemical perspective on projects in both hubs”. Madeline’s role in this global effort is modelling the chemical aspects of hydrogen storage in new materials using density functional theory and related methods. “Essentially, we’re creating a metal-organic framework-based hydrogen storage tank that can be used for aviation, which is really exciting,” she says. Aircraft currently rely on jet fuel, which releases millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere every year. Hydrogen can provide nearly three times more energy than traditional fuels for the same weight, and only produces water when using fuel cells. Therefore, hydrogen-powered aircraft could fly the same range and speed with less fuel weight and no emissions. Refuelling hydrogen tanks is also very fast compared to recharging a battery. Countries around the world are working on demonstrator aircraft to develop hydrogen for aerospace, with Australia and Germany leading the way. Madeline says current barriers include the inaccessible price of sustainable ‘green’ hydrogen, making it more expensive than jet fuel. “Creating more and better hydrogen-based aircraft will only push that development more,” she says. AIR Hub Director, Dr Adriano Di Pietro, says he is creating a team to work on “real challenges faced in translating technology”. “Hydrogen offers huge potential for clean and sustainable long-range flights, but without critical work applying state-of-the-art research in aerospace platforms, like tanks for planes, we won't see full adoption or a competitive business case,” Dr Di Pietro says. Using hydrogen to tackle global issues VH2 Director, Gordon Chakaodza, is excited to be working with the University of Stuttgart on this global effort. “Sharing experiences and learning with counterparts in international jurisdictions is vital to achieve successful outcomes,” Chakaodza says. Madeline is keen to tackle a new area of research that contributes to an important problem like climate change. “Working with the IFB at the University of Stuttgart is an amazing opportunity and there’s so much potential for collaboration on new research areas,” she says. “Aviation decarbonisation is a big challenge, but hydrogen is a unique and really attractive solution – it’s very light, far denser in energy than traditional fuels and produces only water. By developing a more efficient, lower-pressure hydrogen tank for aircraft, we’re offering a way to drastically lower aviation emissions that can be easily integrated into existing aerospace applications.” Madeline’s passion behind her involvement in the hydrogen tank project is the desire to see a more habitable planet for generations to come. “Our planet is too precious and beautiful to squander on complacency and apathy. Hydrogen fuel is an important part of reducing emissions and founding a sustainable future, and I hope that Australian industry can get on board with its production and storage.”
10 October 2022 10:29
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/10/Global-leaders-use-hydrogen-to-reduce-aviation-emissions/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/10/Global-leaders-use-hydrogen-to-reduce-aviation-emissions/Sustainability|AviationResearch,AviationfalseEarly career researchers set to impressEarly career researchers set to impressTwo talented Swinburne researchers, Dr Anais Möller and Dr Peng Li, have been awarded an Australian Government Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2023.
Two Swinburne researchers have received a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2023 Dr Anais Möller will use machine learning algorithms to attempt to discover truths of the Universe behind exploding stars and extreme astronomical events Dr Peng Li aims to develop a novel and innovative CO2 electrolysis technology that will transform the future of energy in Australia The Australian Government has handed out $85 million for 200 projects, supporting early career researchers in international teams to build the skills and science for the next generation. Two talented Swinburne researchers, Dr Anais Möller and Dr Peng Li, have been awarded the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2023 (DECRA), each receiving over $400,000 for their projects. Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research, Professor Karen Hapgood congratulates Dr Möller and Dr Li on the achievement. “Early career researchers are our next generation scientists, and we’re seeing them make an impact now. Swinburne’s two DECRA recipients have proved their vision for taking on ambitious, international projects. I’m thrilled to see them awarded this funding to pursue important research in space and energy,” she says. Shedding light on the Universe Exploding stars and merging neutron stars have short lives. They appear suddenly and then fade over hours and weeks until they are no longer detectable, but they create all known chemical elements, stars and galaxies. Understanding them could tell us so much about what the Universe is made of and its physics. Dr Anais Möller’s project aims to identify the most exciting exploding stars and extreme events from the millions detected each night at the world’s largest optical telescope. She’ll do it using machine learning algorithms to accelerate automatic discovery in massive data sets from the mega-facility Vera C. Rubin Observatory. She hopes this work will drive generational breakthrough. “It is incredibly exciting to lead a project to understand what the Universe is made of and the conditions in which exploding stars occur using data from the world’s largest optical telescope. It is quite challenging as well, since we need to find these exploding and merging stars before they fade, so we need to comb very quickly through millions of other detections every night. “This will be an amazing decade for transient science and I am eager to be at the forefront of it!” Transforming energy in Australia The Australian Government has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Over 38 per cent of Australia’s CO2 emissions originate from industry sectors, such as coal power plants, natural gas, iron and steel, cement and fertiliser production. A process called ‘carbon dioxide (CO2) electrolysis’ could be an answer to decarbonising Australian industries, as well as bringing in new revenue from CO2-derived products. For example, syngas (a mixture of CO and H2) is a building block in the chemical manufacturing and synthesis fuel industries. The global syngas market size is projected to increase from $43.6 billion USD in 2019 to $66.5 billion USD by 2027. CO2 electrolysis, combined with Australian renewable electricity, will not only cut down carbon emissions but also allow us to store renewable electricity into useful fuels. However, there are fundamental science and technological challenges that must be overcome to make it work. It’s also energy-intensive and hugely costly. Dr Peng Li’s ambitious project aims to develop a novel and innovative CO2 electrolysis technology that will transform the future of energy in Australia. “I always push myself to pay attention to those challenging, but meaningful, scientific problems which are critical to the research community and society,” says Dr Li. “In Australia, we have rich resources to create and utilise cheap renewable electricity. I wish to contribute my best efforts to scaling up this technology and benefiting the Australian community and beyond.”
03 October 2022 14:00
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/10/early-career-researchers-set-to-impress/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/10/early-career-researchers-set-to-impress/Astronomy|Science|SustainabilityUniversityfalseSwinburne alumni develop smoke alarm for the bush Swinburne alumni develop smoke alarm for the bush Gabrielle and Christopher Tylor are Swinburne alumni, co-founders and Directors of exci, a commercial early bushfire detection system that can protect land and lives. Their work is supporting two of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Swinburne alumn Gabrielle and Christopher Tylor have developed a smoke alarm for the bush – exci The startup could save Australia $8.6 billion over the next 30 years in disaster response by detecting bushfires in rapid time The co-founders and Directors are supporting two significant UN Sustainable Development Goals – Climate Action and Life on Land Global Goals Week is taking place from 16-25 September – a week aimed at mobilising communities, demanding urgency, and charging solutions for the United Nations’ Sustainable Goals (SDGs). To celebrate the week, we are highlighting the actions the Swinburne community is taking to support these goals. The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals Meet alumni Gabrielle and Christopher Tylor – they’ve created a smoke alarm for the bush Gabrielle and Christopher Tylor are Swinburne alumni, co-founders and Directors of exci, a commercial early bushfire detection system. In 2020, they, along with neighbours in Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast, were in danger of being forced out by bushfires which lead them to develop exci. Exci Co-founders and Directors Gabrielle and Christopher Tylor exci is playing a significant role in supporting Sustainable Development Goals 13 (climate action) and 15 (life on land). The pair have developed a program that has been deployed globally and monitored over 125 million acres of land, from Mexico to Canada and parts of Australia. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI), exci can detect bushfires as quickly as one minute after ignition, compared to the usual detection time of 90 minutes. exci’s early wildfire detection system is powered by proprietary deep machine learning algorithms using AI that can detect bushfires automatically within minutes after ignition by analysing data from ground-based cameras and satellites for the presence of smoke and heat. If exci’s AI detects a fire, reports are immediately presented to the relevant users, such as farmers, plantations, forestries, vineyards or fruit orchard owners. Fighting the climate crisis As climate change intensifies, bushfires will become more frequent, intense and severe, having extreme and lasting impacts on life on land as we know it. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and GRID-Arendal report, extreme wildfires are expected to increase up to 14 per cent by 2030, 30 per cent by the end of 2050, and 50 per cent by 2100 due to climate change and land-use change. Experts say damage will occur extensively across lands; impacting people, homes, wildlife, businesses, tourism, food and crop sources as well as killing the best carbon sequesters: trees. However, promising insights and data are indicating that AI could be the drawcard for helping tackle not only climate-related issues but several of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. exci’s propriety AI uses deep learning algorithms which have been trained on large data sets with over one billion images per year from ground-based cameras and over 500,000 satellite images to achieve high accuracy and speed in recognising and raising the alarm about new fires. Christopher Tyler said the program is the only early wildfire detection system that has been proven in large-scale deployments, with more than 800 cameras in California (over 125 million acres) and commercial deployments in Australia (over 2 million hectares of forestry and plantations). “Reports from California indicated that the system detected 66% of fires within a minute, 95% within 5 minutes, and nearly 100% within 10 minutes with a false positive rate to the customer of under 0.2%,” Mr Tylor said. Mr Tylor also said independent research from the Australian National University found exci’s early detection system could save Australia $8.6 billion over the next 30 years in disaster response. Already in talks with all levels of Government in Australia and other key stakeholders, the team at exci have satellites in place to detect fires and to notify the emergency services. Swinburne alumni making a global difference Christopher and Gabrielle are finalists for the 2022 Swinburne Alumni Impact Awards. They are currently nominated for the Innovative Planet Impact Award – a Swinburne alum whose exceptional endeavour has resulted in significant impact in local and/or global environmental sustainability. Christopher graduated with a Master of Science (Astronomy) and Gabrielle graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology).
27 September 2022 10:49
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/09/swinburne-alumni-develop-smoke-alarm-for-the-bush/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/09/swinburne-alumni-develop-smoke-alarm-for-the-bush/SustainabilityfalseGloria tackles climate challenge in China through virtual internshipGloria tackles climate challenge in China through virtual internshipSwinburne student Gloria Lai has stepped out of her comfort zone and helped promote climate action in China with the help of Swinburne Abroad.
Swinburne student Gloria Lai has stepped out of her comfort zone and helped promote climate action in China with through Swinburne Abroad. Swinburne Abroad’s Climate Action Project is a virtual overseas internship where students work in groups to consult for organisations to develop a climate action plan and help the business improve performance. Students who undertake virtual overseas internships report improved employability and cultural intelligence Swinburne student Gloria Lai has stepped out of her comfort zone and helped promote climate action in China through Swinburne Abroad. The Bachelor of Screen Production student has enriched her degree with a virtual overseas internship at world-leading sustainable energy company, Sungrow. Film-making is Gloria’s first passion and main study area, but she is also keenly aware of the global climate crisis, and wanted to educate herself on the issue through an internship. Working with a global leader Through Swinburne Abroad, Gloria was placed with Sungrow, a global firm spanning six continents that specialise in the research, development and production of renewable energy equipment like solar panels and batteries. This opportunity was facilitated through Swinburne Abroad’s Climate Action Project, a virtual overseas internship where students work in groups to consult for organisations to develop a climate action plan and help the business improve performance. The program is supported by Swinburne partners Virtual Internships and Pomegranate Global. Gloria said she feels more work-ready after completing the placement earlier this year, having never been exposed to a professional working environment before. “Getting to collaborate with higher up representatives is daunting, but makes you feel your work is valued and you are being heard,” she said. “They understand that the interns are students who are willing to learn, so they offered a sense of support throughout the internship.” Harnessing tech to overcome travel barriers While international travel hampered most students’ plans to study overseas in recent years, Swinburne students have leveraged the opportunities of their technology-focused and globally-connected university to undertake virtual placements throughout the pandemic. Swinburne Global Mobility Associate Director, Stewart Collins, said virtual overseas programs are likely to be part of the university’s study abroad options long after the pandemic ends. “When students couldn’t leave the country due to Covid-19, we provided students with virtual programs through Swinburne Abroad,” Stewart said. “Working globally, whether it be physically or virtually, is an excellent way for students to get that experience, intercultural understanding, networking opportunities, and learning a language. “We think there’s a place for virtual programs long term. It’s great for sustainability and accessibility for students who can’t afford to travel, or have family commitments, or who have a disability.” The virtual overseas programs are offered in summer and winter break, and students who have participated report the experience was worthwhile, saying they think the opportunity has increased their employability and cultural intelligence. “It wasn’t just students doing an internship online with an organisation in Asia, for example,” Stewart said. “They would do cooking classes, have virtual catch ups, do trivia, and other activities to engage with people in another country as well.” Zero emissions travel for Swinburne staff and students As part of Swinburne’s Net Zero 2025 Pathway, all Swinburne university-related travel is now carbon-neutral through purchasing of carbon offset units equivalent to the emissions generated from our travel. In 2022, Swinburne’s carbon offsets are being purchased through the Arnhem Land Fire Abatement project which is Aboriginal owned and a not for profit delivering carbon emission abatement outcomes. “We think studying abroad is a meaningful experience, so it’s important that students continue to travel,” Stewart said. “But we can be more sustainable in the way we do that. “We go through a predeparture briefing with students that includes their impact on environment. “For example, if a student goes to study in Germany for a semester, we would talk with them about thinking about where they can get a bus or train rather than a taxi or some budget airlines.” Beyond the classroom Gloria urges all Swinburne students to consider undertaking internships during their studies. Whether to enrich learning in your primary study area or pursuing interests outside of studies, she said it would help students to seek out new perspectives. “It doesn’t matter what your background is,” she said. “I’m studying media and film, but I’m learning about a world issue which is very different to my normal studies. “It’s great tapping into other interests and passions because it provides a really good balance.” Contact Swinburne Abroad for more information on overseas study options.
20 September 2022 16:26
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/09/gloria-tackles-climate-challenge-in-china-through-virtual-study-tour/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/09/gloria-tackles-climate-challenge-in-china-through-virtual-study-tour/Sustainability|TechnologyfalseNew report highlights alarming lack of hydrogen trainingNew report highlights alarming lack of hydrogen trainingThe Victorian Hydrogen Hub’s (VH2) Hydrogen Skills Roadmap has revealed a glaring lack of hydrogen skills and training needed to achieve Australia’s carbon reduction targets.
A new report by the Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) highlights the urgent need for hydrogen skills and training across Australia The Hydrogen Skills Roadmap identifies the jobs impacted and skills required to achieve Australia’s carbon emission reduction targets Sectors across the nation, from primary schools, to retailers, to engineers, are in critical need of reskilling and upskilling From secondary schools to university, trades to big business, Australia lacks the hydrogen skills and training capabilities it needs to achieve its newly legislated carbon reduction targets, according to new research by Swinburne University of Technology’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2). Mechanics and drivers, gas and electrical workers, plumbers and technicians are just some of the people VH2’s Hydrogen Skills Roadmap says are likely to be impacted, making skilling new workers and upskilling existing workers a pressing issue facing the nation. Heavy vehicle transport was identified as an area for urgent attention, as the hydrogen transition requires diesel mechanics to update their skills in the near term. In collaboration with over 37 industry representatives, VH2’s Hydrogen Skills Roadmap identifies the jobs impacted and the skills required for the burgeoning hydrogen sector, which will be critical to achieving Australia’s carbon emission reduction targets. It also collates existing education and training in Australia and overseas. The report analysed hydrogen-related jobs advertised online from October 2021 to April 2022 and found that, despite the serious lack of hydrogen skills and training available, the majority of roles required extensive experience and knowledge. Swinburne’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Karen Hapgood says, “as we move towards a more innovative and sustainable planet through hydrogen technology, we must be focused on teaching the skills required to make this technology a reality. “At Swinburne, we are committed to ensuring we develop the skills that industry needs and that students require for the jobs of the future, across vocational education, higher education and research.” Throughout a period of seven months, most job advertisements in the Australian hydrogen industry required employees with extensive experience, despite the lack of training available. The next steps to a hydrogen economy The implementation of hydrogen into the Victorian economy is a key strategy in the state government’s plan to reach zero emissions by 2050. To ensure Victoria and the rest of Australia remains engaged in the growing hydrogen economy, the report urgently recommends: Hydrogen content to be introduced to primary and secondary school curriculum Hydrogen subjects and industry engagement programs to be included in higher education National ‘train-the-trainer’ program to be designed and implemented in collaboration with industry groups and hydrogen hubs National suite of micro-credentials to be made available to address immediate skills gaps Further research to be undertaken to analyse specific skill sets within the gas and hydrogen economy A Hydrogen Skills Centre to be established to leverage research and grow skills and knowledge. Project Manager of the Hydrogen Skills Roadmap Kerrin Pryor says, “after nearly 12 months of consultations, surveys and research, I'm so pleased to share this work publicly. “Spreading the word about the urgent requirements needed in Australia to upskill and in some cases, re-skill the workforce to work safely and effectively with hydrogen is so important in helping to achieve the nation's emission targets within the hydrogen trajectory. “These recommendations, particularly the need for a ‘train the trainer’-style hydrogen course, are incredibly important to our future. It is clear that Australia is nowhere near where it needs to be, and that everyone, from retail workers to engineers, will play vital parts in the hydrogen economy.” The Hydrogen Skills Roadmap is available here.
20 September 2022 10:14
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/new-report-highlights-alarming-lack-of-hydrogen-training/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/new-report-highlights-alarming-lack-of-hydrogen-training/SustainabilityResearchfalseA rapid shift to electric vehicles can save 24,000 lives over the next two decadesA rapid shift to electric vehicles can save 24,000 lives over the next two decadesAnalysis for The Conversation by Professor Hussein Dia, Associate Professor Andi Nygaard, Dr Krysztof Dembek and Associate Professor Magnus Moglia
Analysis for The Conversation by Professor Hussein Dia, Associate Professor Andi Nygaard, Dr Krysztof Dembek and Associate Professor Magnus Moglia Reducing air pollution from road transport will save thousands of lives and improve the health of millions of Australians. One of the quickest ways to do this is to accelerate the current slow transition to electric vehicles. Our newly published research evaluated the costs and benefits of a rapid transition. In one scenario, Australia matches the pace of transition of world leaders such as Norway. Our modelling estimates this would save around 24,000 lives by 2042. The resulting greenhouse emission reductions over this time would almost equal Australia’s current total annual emissions from all sources. We also calculated the total costs and benefits through to 2042. Australia would be about A$148 billion better off overall with a rapid transition. Air pollution causes thousands of deaths Every year, around 2,600 deaths in Australia are attributed to fine-particle air pollution. The main sources of this pollution are transport and industrial activities such as mining and energy generation. An estimated 1,715 deaths were attributed to vehicle exhaust emissions in 2015. This was 42% more than the road toll that year. Vehicle emissions increase respiratory infections as well, particularly in young children. Transport pollution contributes to many diseases, including lung cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, asthma and diabetes. It has also been linked to Alzheimer’s disease. A 2019 study by the Electric Vehicle Council and Asthma Australia found vehicle emissions had 21,000 serious health impacts each year in New South Wales alone. A Grattan Institute study last month showed exhaust-pipe pollutants from trucks kill more than 400 Australians every year. Cities around the world have imposed bans on polluting trucks to reduce the harm to public health. Shutterstock The benefits greatly outweigh the costs Our new Swinburne University of Technology research evaluated the benefits of a transition to electric vehicles by considering public health, household and emissions reductions savings. We compared the benefits with costs, including charging infrastructure outlay, higher purchase prices for electric vehicles and green energy package costs – for household solar panels, battery storage and charging points. Each electric vehicle was considered to have been bought along with a green energy package. The package minimises emissions and demands on electricity grid capacity, while increasing the benefits for households. The study explored three scenarios: slow scenario – business-as-usual, with electric vehicle sales increasing slowly from the current rate (a 5% increase in the first year, followed by a 10% yearly increase) accelerated market-based scenario – aligns with the highest rates of adoption around the world like those in Norway (where 64% of new vehicles sold in 2021 were battery-powered), increasing by 5% every year aggressive regulatory scenario – assumes all new vehicle sales would be electric in the base year as a result of government regulation. The main differences between the scenarios are the rate of electric vehicle uptake (once consumers decide to retire their current vehicles) and the degree of government intervention. The research found the business-as-usual scenario undermines national efforts to reduce the loss of life and cut emissions. It also found the aggressive strategy would have to overcome massive barriers given Australia trails many other countries in adopting electric vehicles. The accelerated adoption strategy, however, is well aligned with uptake in other nations. Their example shows it can be achieved using progressive policies and incentives. If implemented, the accelerated scenario could reduce the loss of life by around 24,000 by 2042. The reduction in emissions over this time would be 444 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, or 91% of Australia’s emissions from all sources in 2021. The cost would be around $118 billion, less than half of the total benefits of $266 billion. Putting us on track for emissions targets The new Climate Change Act mandates targets of a 43% cut in emissions by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050. Our research shows effective electric vehicle policies can help achieve these targets. Such policies can be adopted from nations that have made rapid progress on electrifying their transport sectors. These policies include strict and mandatory fuel efficiency standards, investment in electric vehicle charging stations and standardisation of charging infrastructure. They also include financial incentives to buy and run electric vehicles, and cheap loans to help households and freight operators with purchase costs. Importantly, these nations recognise that electric vehicles are not a remedy for all transport challenges. They should be complemented by strategies to manage travel demand, reduce the numbers of cars and journeys by car, and improve access to public transport. We shouldn’t accept so many avoidable deaths Without a rapid shift to electric vehicles, Australia risks losing at least 1,200 lives a year – deaths that we could avoid – over the next 20 years. The loss of life would be equivalent to six planes, each carrying 200 passengers, falling out of the sky every year and killing everyone on board. We don’t accept this in air travel, and we should not accept the loss of life to preventable air pollution. Australia has a feasible rapid pathway to decarbonise its transport sector. Our findings show the benefits to society and the planet are hard to dismiss. This article was originally published on The Conversation.
15 September 2022 17:41
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/09/a-rapid-shift-to-electric-vehicles-can-save-24,000-lives-over-the-next-two-decades/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/09/a-rapid-shift-to-electric-vehicles-can-save-24,000-lives-over-the-next-two-decades/Health|SustainabilityfalseCommunity acceptance of hydrogen up, but still long way to goCommunity acceptance of hydrogen up, but still long way to goEducation is boosting community acceptance of a future hydrogen economy, but there are still barriers to attracting the wider public.
Hydrogen resources, education and media prevalence is having a positive impact, though there still obstacles in the way of achieving broader acceptance of hydrogen technology Climate change, safety and future careers were all common concerns for those surveyed about hydrogen technology Swinburne’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) is boosting community knowledge and acceptance of hydrogen from industry and students Hydrogen has the potential to create a more decarbonised world, reduce the impacts of climate change, and create new jobs in sectors such as engineering, gas, transport, electrical and mobility. Recent work by Swinburne’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) reveals that while progress is being made in community acceptance of a future hydrogen economy, further education is crucial for greater adoption. Working with Design Factory Melbourne, VH2 ran Hydrogen 101 sessions for the community and collected data on their feelings towards hydrogen. The results told a story of concerns about climate change, future careers and accessible information, which are driving both positive attitudes and ongoing fears about the technology. VH2 Social Licence Research Fellow, Dr Kim Beasy, says that understanding the way people feel about an energy source is just as important as developing the technology to utilise it. “Over the next five years, hydrogen is likely to become a significant part of our lives, especially in some sectors such as transport,” says Dr Beasy. “It's really important that we put the work in now to ensure the whole of our community is able to understand and benefit from what hydrogen has to offer, both environmentally as a decarbonisation strategy, and socially through the creation of new jobs.” Participants of VH2’s Hydrogen 101 event shared their thoughts on hydrogen before and after the session. Current hydrogen perspectives Climate change is a driving factor behind people’s interest in hydrogen. “I wish we would figure out something soon so we can fight back climate change,” one participant said. “There are more ways that hydrogen can be produced or that can be utilised. It’s a really excellent solution…that quite possibly can solve almost all environmental problems,” another commented. A large number of participants at VH2’s Hydrogen 101 session were concerned with how hydrogen would affect them: their jobs, cars, homes and environment specifically. Notes such as “I like the idea of driving a hydrogen car” and “I wonder if I will be a future employee under this technology” were common among Hydrogen 101 attendees. However, technical topics such as hydrogen storage, distribution and technology were rarely mentioned in participants’ feedback, suggesting disinterest or a lack of accessible information. There was also a discrepancy between worries of hydrogen safety. For younger generations, hydrogen safety was not so much of a concern whereas older generations often reflected on events such as the fatal Hindenburg disaster, where an airship caught fire because it was inflated with hydrogen. “It was interesting to observe differences in people’s perceptions of hydrogen safety broadly correlating to age,” says Dr Beasy. “This shouldn’t be unexpected because we all draw on our lived experiences to make sense of new situations; those that are older have more experiences to draw on! We know that safety is one of the main themes that the public mention when talking about hydrogen, but we also know that these concerns reduce with education.” Activities such as VH2’s Hydrogen 101 are great for “dispelling any misconceptions about hydrogen,” says Dr Beasy. “Research tells us that the more opportunity people have to learn and talk about hydrogen technologies, the more accepting of the technologies they become. At VH2, we find innovative ways of explaining how hydrogen is part of our broader energy system that go beyond scientific facts.”
24 August 2022 10:23
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/08/community-acceptance-of-hydrogen-is-up-but-still-long-way-to-go/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/08/community-acceptance-of-hydrogen-is-up-but-still-long-way-to-go/SustainabilityfalseSwinburne partners with ZERO Living on sustainable housing projectSwinburne partners with ZERO Living on sustainable housing projectSwinburne is collaborating with ZERO Living to engineer a series of inner urban zero energy homes.
Swinburne is collaborating with ZERO Living to engineer a series of inner urban zero energy homes The homes are wired to monitor major appliances in real-time, with Swinburne engineers analysing the data and suggesting energy-saving opportunities Each home is also 100 per cent carbon negative For the past three years Swinburne University of Technology’s School of Engineering has been collaborating with Melbourne-based company ZERO Living to develop smart energy monitoring systems for the company’s all-electric, battery-powered homes. ZERO Living has partnered with Enphase Energy to build sustainable, energy efficient houses in Melbourne. Fitted with Enphase Energy microinverter-equipped solar panels and Tesla batteries, each house generates more than twice as much energy as it consumes. Each home is also 100 per cent carbon negative. ZERO Living’s partnership with Enphase Energy allows them to deliver a system that provides longevity, scalability, advanced analytics and reliability. The homes are wired to monitor major appliances in real-time, with Swinburne engineers analysing the data and suggesting energy saving opportunities to the resident via a smartphone app to ensure zero living. Lecturer in Swinburne’s Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Dr Morshed Alam, commends the ZERO Living model for engineered energy efficiency. “This model is a world first and we're thrilled to act as scientific partners to monitor continuing performance throughout the life of the dwellings,” says Dr Alam. Three years ago, ZERO Living built three fully-engineered houses in Footscray, which it rents out through AirBnB as ‘living laboratories’ to monitor their energy use. Data collected from almost 600 short-term guests has been used to compare the performance of various solar panels, appliances and equipment. Monitoring of these ‘living labs’ by Swinburne confirmed they produce significantly more energy than they consume and achieve zero energy bills. ZERO Living now has five of these houses for sale in the western Melbourne suburb of Albion, with more in the pipeline in neighbouring suburbs. The company can also design and build a ZERO energy home on a client’s block of land. “In a previous project funded by the Australian Research Council’s Industrial Transformation Research Hub, we found that buildings consume two to three times more energy than predicted during the design stage, which is a threat to reach our 2050 climate target,” says Dr Alam. “We identified key factors behind the energy performance and implemented those in this study to ensure zero living is achieved in real life. One of the key lessons we have learned in this experiment is appliances are as important as heating and cooling.” Swinburne engineers monitor the energy use of the ZERO Living homes in real time. ZERO Living co-founder Tom Graze says: “Our zero-energy house is fully monitored, right down to separate circuits for the fridge, oven and heat pumps, with that data transferred to Swinburne to update the ZERO smartphone app. We also provide tips and tricks to reduce energy use even further. “As more fully monitored ZERO Living homes come online, that data will help continually improve future homes, so each ZERO Living homeowner is paying it forward to help improve the world.”
23 August 2022 15:59
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/08/swinburne-partners-with-zero-living-on-sustainable-housing-project/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/08/swinburne-partners-with-zero-living-on-sustainable-housing-project/Technology|Sustainability|EngineeringfalseNew centre to drive next-gen architectureNew centre to drive next-gen architectureThe new $9 million ARC Centre for Next-Gen Architectural Manufacturing will help address the massive amounts of waste and carbon emissions created by the construction industry.
The new ARC Centre for Next-Gen Architectural Manufacturing has received $9million in government and industry funding. Swinburne is co-leading the centre, administered by the University of New South Wales (UNSW). The centre will help the building and construction sector be more sustainable and productive by training the next-gen of architects in advanced manufacturing techniques and technology. Leading Swinburne researchers will work with colleagues around the world to help transform the architectural profession and deliver architectural manufacturing that can address Australia’s increasingly ambitious climate targets, through the new ARC Centre for Next-Gen Architectural Manufacturing. Swinburne is co-leading the centre, administered by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), which has received $9 million in funding through the ARC Industry Transformation Training Centre scheme, including over $4 million in matched funding from industry. The centre will bring together world-leading researchers, visionary partners and talented graduates, including 21 PhD scholarships and three postdoctoral fellowships, to help the sector deliver complex, high value-add and carbon positive architectural manufacturing. Swinburne Professor of Urban Futures, Mark Burry AO, and Dean of the School of Design and Architecture, Professor Jane Burry, are two of the Key Chief Investigators for the centre. “While advanced manufacturing has made huge strides in the past three decades, the construction industry has struggled to fully leverage these gains for sustainability, quality and productivity,” they said. “To access the environmental and productivity benefits of these advances, architects need the complex skills to help steer their projects towards advanced manufacturing. “The centre draws on both Swinburne and UNSW’s world class expertise in the digitalisation of professional practice to accelerate this necessary transition and continue Australia’s international reputation for innovation in this field.” In addition to the Swinburne leads, Professor Mark Burry and Professor Jane Burry, a number of researchers from Swinburne’s Smart Cities Research Institute and School of Design and Architecture are part of the research consortium, including Professor Mark Taylor, Professor Marcus White, Dr Pantea Alambeigi, Dr Mehrnoush Latifi Khorasgan, Daniel Prohasky, Dr Sascha Bohnenberger and Professor Blair Kuys. Creating a more sustainable future Through digitisation and skills development, the centre will help address the massive amounts of waste and carbon emissions created by the construction industry, and support Australia’s immediate productivity needs and climate goals. The centre’s program of industry-embedded PhDs, national and international placements, short courses, and post-doctoral projects will help develop the human capital needed to transform the architectural profession in Australia and around the world. The centre will integrate research into practice through digital business strategies, augmented intelligence, and computing domains of expertise, working closely with industry and university partners around the world. Swinburne’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Karen Hapgood, said the new centre was a perfect example of how leading experts from industry and universities can work together to leverage advanced technology and create sustainable solutions for architecture and the built environment. “The ARC Centre for Next-Gen Architectural Manufacturing will help drive digital transformation in this critically important industry and develop the next-gen workforce required to power it,” said Professor Hapgood. “We are delighted to have the support of the ARC and our university and industry partners as we work to create a more sustainable and innovative planet.”
10 August 2022 11:03
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/08/new-centre-to-drive-next-gen-architecture/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/08/new-centre-to-drive-next-gen-architecture/University|Sustainability|DesignArchitecture,School of DesignfalseGreening the greyfields: how to renew our suburbs for more liveable, net-zero citiesGreening the greyfields: how to renew our suburbs for more liveable, net-zero citiesA new kind of urban regeneration is needed to transform ageing residential areas into more liveable and sustainable suburbs.
Analysis for The Conversation by Emeritus Professor Peter Newton and Dr Stephen Glacking from Swinburne's Centre for Urban Transitions, Professor Peter Newman from Curtin University and Dr Giles Thomson from Blekinge Institute of Technology Our ageing cities are badly in need of regeneration. Many established residential areas, the “greyfields”, are becoming physically, technologically and environmentally obsolete. They are typically located in low-density, car-dependent middle suburbs developed in the mid to late 20th century. Compared to the outer suburbs, these middle suburbs are rich in services, amenities and jobs. But the greyfields also represent economically outdated, failing or undercapitalised real-estate assets. Their location has made them the focus of suburban backyard infill development. Unfortunately, the current approach typically cuts down all the trees and creates more car traffic as resident numbers grow. A new kind of urban regeneration is needed at the scale of precincts, rather than lot by lot, to transform the greyfields into more liveable and sustainable suburbs. It calls for a collaborative approach by federal, state and local governments. How do we do this? Our free new e-book, Greening the Greyfields, sets out how to do this. It draws on ten years of research that led to a new model of urban development. This approach integrates two goals of urban research: ending the dependence on cars caused by a disconnect between land use and transport accelerating the supply of more sustainable, medium-density, infill housing to replace the current dysfunctional model of urban regeneration. Greening greyfields will help our cities make the transition to net zero emissions. Why do we need to regenerate these areas? We need to shrink the unsustainable urban and ecological footprints of “suburban” cities. Neighbourhoods need to become more resilient, sustainable, liveable and equitable for their residents. Urban regeneration must also allow for the COVID-driven restructuring of the work–residence relationship for city residents. This involves relocalising urban places so they become more self-sufficient as “20-minute neighbourhoods”. Their residents will have access to most of the services they need via low-emission cycling and walking, as well as public transport. Current attempts to increase residential density and limit sprawl in most Australian cities tend to focus on blanket upzoning in selected growth zones. The resulting backyard infill involves a few small homes, which is all that is allowed on each block. Density increases only marginally, so there are still too few housing options for residents who want to be close to city services and opportunities. Piecemeal infill redevelopment often degrades the quality of our suburbs. The loss of trees and increase in hard surfaces worsen urban heat island effects and flood risk. And a lack of convenient transport options for the extra residents reinforces car dependence. We need more strategic models of suburban regeneration. Greyfield regeneration compared to conventional approaches Greening the Greyfields, Author provided Why do this at the precinct scale? Urban regeneration is best tackled at the scale of precincts. They are the building blocks of cities: greenfield sites continue to be developed, and old brownfield industrial sites are redeveloped, at this scale. Design-led precinct-scale regeneration can maximise co-ordination of aspects of urban living neglected by piecemeal lot-by-lot redevelopment. Think local health and education services, small shops, social housing, walkable open space, public transport and even regenerated biodiversity. Model precincts like WGV, in a greyfields suburb of Fremantle, have very successfully demonstrated how regeneration can produce high-quality, medium-density housing and net-zero outcomes. However, this development was on an old school site, so there was no need to combine individual blocks into a precinct-scale site. There were also no residents that needed to be engaged – though WGV became very popular because of its attractive architecture and treed green spaces. WGV in Fremantle is a model project for precinct-scale greening of the greyfields. What are the key elements of this model? Greyfield precinct regeneration has two sub-models: place-activated and transit-activated. A place-activated precinct may shorten travel distances for residents by providing services and amenities, but does not in itself increase public transport. For transit-activated precincts, good public transport increases land values, which makes these regenerated greyfields even more attractive. Mid-tier transit like trackless trams is an ideal way to enable precinct developments along main road corridors. Local governments are recognising this around Australia. Greyfield regeneration can begin with a strategy of district greenlining. Redlining was an American planning tool to exclude people of colour from a neighbourhood. Greenlining is the opposite: it includes the whole community in greening their neighbourhood. This strategic process would identify neighbourhoods in need of next-generation infrastructure. Projects of this sort require a precinct-scale vision and plan. State and municipal agencies can do this work. It would include: physical infrastructure – energy, water, waste and transport social infrastructure – health and education green infrastructure – the nature-based services we get from planting and retaining trees and enabling open space and landscaped streets. The City of Maroondah in Victoria provided an early demonstration of how this can happen. It produced a set of playbooks to show how other municipalities, developers and land owners can replicate the process. Redevelopment additions for a precinct undergoing greyfields regeneration in the City of Maroondah. Greening the Greyfields/City of Maroondah, Greening the greyfields will deliver the many benefits associated with more sustainable and liveable communities. However, these outcomes depend on more comprehensive, design-led, integrated land use and transport planning. Property owners, councils, developers and financiers will have to work together much more closely and effectively than happens with the business-as-usual approach of fragmented, small-lot infill, which is failing dismally. New laws and regulations will be needed to change this approach. Better Cities 2.0? Precinct-based projects offer a model for net zero development of our cities. Greyfield regeneration is an increasingly pervasive and pressing challenge for our cities. It calls for all levels of government to work on a strategic response. We suggest a Better Cities 2.0 program, led by the federal government, to establish greyfield precinct regeneration authorities in major cities and build partnerships with all major urban stakeholders. It would set us on the path to greening the greyfields. This article was originally published on The Conversation.
29 July 2022 11:42
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/07/greening-the-greyfields/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/07/greening-the-greyfields/SustainabilityfalseSwinburne travel now entirely carbon neutral Swinburne travel now entirely carbon neutral Swinburne has officially made approved travel – including individual staff flights, student flights, and indirect travel (accommodation and group transport) – carbon neutral, through the purchase of carbon offsets.
Swinburne’s travel is now completely carbon neutral An estimated 17,000 tonnes of carbon emissions created by travel will be offset each year Swinburne is purchasing carbon offsets through organisations such as Arnhem Land Fire Abatement which removes CO2 from the atmosphere through its savanna cool fire burning project Swinburne University of Technology has made university-related travel entirely carbon neutral. As restrictions have eased, university-related travel has gradually resumed, and data shows a return to pre-pandemic levels of staff and student travel would make up almost a quarter of Swinburne’s entire carbon footprint. However, new agreements with Indigenous-led land management groups will see emissions from all university-related travel entirely offset. This includes all travel completed in the conduct of University business, including staff flights, student flights and indirect travel (accommodation and group transport), and based on pre-pandemic trends is estimated to contribute an estimated 17,000 tonnes of carbon emissions into the atmosphere per annum. This is equivalent to over 4,800 cars being driven on the road over this period. It’s the next big move for Swinburne towards reaching its goals of having carbon neutral emissions by 2025, as part of its Net Zero 2025 Pathway commitment. Now operating on 100 per cent renewable energy since 2020, reducing almost 50 per cent of the university’s total emissions (approximately 30,000 tonnes of CO2 each year) it demonstrates Swinburne’s commitment to continuously reducing its carbon footprint. Indigenous partnerships In line with Swinburne’s commitment towards Indigenous engagement, the university is purchasing carbon offsets through organisations such as Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (ALFA) in 2022, which offsets carbon emissions through their cool fire savanna burning projects. ALFA is an entirely Aboriginal-owned, not-for-profit carbon farming business created by Aboriginal Traditional Owners in Arnhem Land. ALFA currently supports Traditional Owners to manage five fire projects across an 80,000km2 area of Arnhem Land. Through this work and the prevention of large-scale bushfires, ALFA protects and preserves invaluable biodiversity that removes carbon from the atmosphere. ALFA also provides employment and training opportunities for local Indigenous rangers while supporting Aboriginal people in returning to, remaining on and managing their country. Indigenous communities are supported in the preservation and transfer of knowledge, the maintenance of Aboriginal languages and the wellbeing of traditional land custodians. Preventing bushfires also reduces the risk of wildlife loss and protects the areas surrounding ancient rock art sites. Chief Operating Officer Nancy Collins said the agreements were entirely in line with Swinburne’s Elevate Reconciliation Action Plan. “Purchasing carbon offsets from Arnhem Land Fire Abatement for each tonne of carbon dioxide Swinburne created through travel in 2022 is not only extremely rewarding for the university and our goals of reaching net zero emissions by 2025 but also for the university’s support of Indigenous engagement,” said Collins. “Swinburne is committed to self-determination, Indigenous knowledge and cultural safety. Investing in ALFA aligns strongly with our strategic priorities as a university with an Elevate Reconciliation Action Plan – this plan is to go above and beyond in ensuring reconciliation is in core business practices and decision-making at all levels.” As part of Swinburne’s ongoing commitment to net zero, the university switched to renewable electricity in 2020, which to date has reduced carbon emissions by an estimated 50,000 tonnes. Swinburne also updated waste management procedures in 2021 and committed to fully upgrade to LED lighting across the Hawthorn campus in 2022, in addition to upgrades already completed at Croydon and Wantirna. Furthermore, Swinburne is a signatory to the University Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals and has a responsible investment charter which commits the university to take account of environmental and social impacts in every investment choice made.
28 June 2022 12:07
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/06/swinburne-travel-entirely-carbon-neutral/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/06/swinburne-travel-entirely-carbon-neutral/University|SustainabilityfalseComic tackles climate change through hydrogen educationComic tackles climate change through hydrogen educationGames, Interactivity and Animation student Stephanie Hartono has created a comic as part of her professional placement to raise awareness about hydrogen and how it could be a solution towards zero emissions energy.
Stephanie Hartono is a third year Bachelor of Games and Interactivity/ Bachelor of Animation student Stephanie was tasked with visualising hydrogen during her three-month internship at Design Factory Melbourne (DFM) working on Swinburne’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) project Her comic, ‘When the water splits’, explains how hydrogen is produced and can help create a more sustainable environment When third year Bachelor of Games and Interactivity/ Bachelor of Animation student Stephanie Hartono began her internship at Design Factory Melbourne (DFM) working on Swinburne’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2), she didn’t know much about hydrogen. “It was a bit intimidating and a little challenging at first, considering I lacked knowledge about it,” she says. “Hydrogen is a chemical element that cannot be seen by eyes, so I had to find a way to creatively represent it in an engaging manner.” Having finished her professional placement three months later, she has “visualised hydrogen” through an engaging comic, helping to raise awareness about how this green energy technology could shape the future. ‘When the water splits’ tells the story of how hydrogen can help tackle the increasing threat of climate change. Hydrogen is a renewable energy source that reduces the associated carbon emissions to potentially zero. In the comic, the narrator explains the process of electrolysis. In order to create hydrogen, water is added to the electrolyser, which is split into hydrogen and oxygen. While the oxygen is released into the atmosphere, the hydrogen is stored, transported and used in various way. Visualising the future Research Fellow in the Social Impacts of Hydrogen Technology at VH2, Dr Kim Beasy, says that her research highlights that the community, and particularly young people, “just don’t really know what hydrogen is all about”. “Creating materials to clearly and concisely show what hydrogen is and how it works is really important. Hydrogen will be a part of Australia’s efforts to decarbonise and we need a community that understands and supports this,” she says. “It’s great to see such engaging and easy to understand materials helping young people to understand the hydrogen future that they will inherit.” The DFM team, who specialise in the early stages of innovation and exploration, worked with Stephanie to understand how to visualise and target different audiences to share visual information on hydrogen. VH2 Community Facilitator, Amelia Iverson, says DFM saw the importance of iterating and testing different visual identities in targeted demographics. “We really wanted to use a cross-disciplinary approach in this project and harness Stephanie’s skills and capabilities in visual arts and animation to translate the complex material on hydrogen technology. She absolutely rose to the occasion.” Stephanie says the internship got her out of her “comfort zone” and allowed her to grow professionally, whilst creating something meaningful that can help the environment. “I tried to make the graphic narrative able to visualize hydrogen in a simpler way while still being straightforward and clear in its delivery. I hope it can help those who view it to be more aware of hydrogen and be kind towards our planet.”
03 June 2022 17:17
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/06/comic-tackles-climate-change-through-hydrogen-education/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/06/comic-tackles-climate-change-through-hydrogen-education/Education|SustainabilityfalseAutomated composting system wins Swinburne’s ‘Design for Change’ competitionAutomated composting system wins Swinburne’s ‘Design for Change’ competitionAn automated composting system designed by Bachelor of Computer Science students has won Swinburne’s 2022 ‘Design for Change’ competition.
A team of Bachelor of Computer Science students has won Swinburne’s 2022 ‘Design for Change’ competition They developed a mobile app to control motors and sensors of a composter prototype called LIDA, created by a new start-up industry partner The prototype speeds up the decomposition rate of organic matter to produce compost in as little as 60 days An automated composting system designed by Swinburne Bachelor of Computer Science students has won Swinburne’s 2022 ‘Design for Change’ competition. Final year students Nick French, Alex Morris, Jackson Semmens, and Trung Doan collaborated with second year student Ben Szekely. Expanding on a project that was started in 2021, the five students developed a mobile app to control motors and sensors of a composter prototype called LIDA, created by a new start-up industry partner. The in-vessel prototype speeds up the decomposition rate of organic matter by adjusting the carbon to nitrogen levels to provide ideal conditions for microorganisms to thrive and produce compost in as little as 60 days. Diverting organic waste from landfills to produce compost When organic waste is left to decompose in landfill it doesn’t get the proper aeration it needs, producing greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide. “If more households composted we would drastically reduce the waste going to landfill,” says LIDA team leader Nicholas French. “Typical household composting takes months to complete. Our client found that by optimising the carbon to nitrogen levels of the input and using a closed vessel system this total composting cycle can be reduced to just 60 days.” LIDA creates a controlled environment for the food producing organisms to thrive. Sensors collect data about oxygen, carbon dioxide, temperature and moisture levels. This information is uploaded to the cloud and can be viewed on a mobile app. “With LIDA we believe we can produce a carefree household composting system without the tedious maintenance or knowledge required for typical home composting, allowing Australia to start reducing its household waste and get us on track for a more sustainable future,” French says. “We will continue with development and testing in the coming semester, and hope to complete a full trial run which will give us valuable data for further improvements to the process.” The Design for Change competition challenges students to design and pitch STEMM prototypes that will make the world a better place. It is the brainchild of Dr Bita Zaferanloo, who aims to empower students as science communicators to lead and shape the future of STEMM. Dr Zaferanloo leads Work Integrated Learning initiatives and collaborates intensively with industry, community organisations and university services to develop students’ employability skills and showcase best practice. “To create real change, we need more than just brilliant scientific minds – we need our students to be trained to contribute to social change as global citizens,” Dr Zaferanloo says. Swinburne’s Bachelor of Computer Science involves the use of the most up-to-date technology and methods, and includes a major emphasis on software development. All of Swinburne’s bachelor degrees include a guaranteed Work Integrated Learning opportunity, which could be a placement, internship or industry-linked project.
03 June 2022 15:08
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/06/automated-composting-system-wins-swinburnes-design-for-change-competition/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/06/automated-composting-system-wins-swinburnes-design-for-change-competition/Student News|Technology|SustainabilityCurrent Students (Higher Education)falseThe colours of hydrogen explainedThe colours of hydrogen explainedWe hear more about hydrogen every day. But did you know that there are eight different colours? We break down each type of hydrogen, from most to least sustainable.
Hydrogen requires energy to release it from the material forms where it is found such as water, methane and ammonia Hydrogen is assigned different colours based on the source it was produced from and the process used to separate it The colour discussion is currently dominated by grey, blue and green hydrogen, though there are eight colours formally acknowledged, including pink and turquoise Hydrogen has emerged as the energy technology that could help nations like Australia to decarbonise their economies. But did you know that, beyond green and blue hydrogen, there’s a whole rainbow of hydrogen types? Swinburne University of Technology’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) is delving deeper than anyone has before to explore the extreme limits of what hydrogen can deliver, including investigating the capabilities of the hydrogen rainbow. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, a colourless, odourless, tasteless yet flammable substance. Despite its massive abundance throughout the universe, it is virtually non-existent in its original form on Earth and requires energy to release it from the material forms where it is found. It forms part of other common chemical compounds such as water (H₂O), methane (CH₄) and ammonia (NH₃), which is often found in fertiliser and cleaning products. Several chemical processes have been invented to harness the energy of hydrogen, all of which have environmental strengths and weaknesses. The hydrogen industry has assigned coloured nicknames to each hydrogen process, based on the source it was produced from and the process used to separate it from that source. One of the VH2’s leading hydrogen experts, Dr Kim Beasy, takes us on a journey over the rainbow, starting with some of the most commonly-discussed types of hydrogen, ordered from most sustainable to least, before exploring a few more experimental and emerging types. Green hydrogen Green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis, a process where electric currents from surplus renewable energy sources (such as solar or wind power) separate water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The hydrogen is then stored as an energy vector, which allows the transferring, in space and time, of a quantity of energy. Because the energy used in this process comes from renewable sources, the process does not release any carbon emissions into the atmosphere. However, green hydrogen is more expensive than grey hydrogen, another promising form in the industry. Yellow hydrogen Yellow hydrogen is a relatively new concept, referring to hydrogen that is specifically produced through electrolysis using solar energy. Blue hydrogen Blue hydrogen is produced through steam reformation, a process that uses steam to separate hydrogen molecules from natural gas. This process produces carbon emissions, though most are stored underground or repurposed. It is sometimes described as ‘low-carbon hydrogen’ as the steam reforming process doesn’t actually avoid the creation of greenhouse gases. But unlike grey hydrogen (described below), it promises the cost benefits of steam reformation without the pollution. Grey hydrogen Grey hydrogen is produced through steam reformation of natural gas in the same way as blue hydrogen. However, none of the carbon is captured in this process. Instead, all of the carbon emissions are released into the atmosphere. Brown hydrogen Brown hydrogen is produced by gasification, where carbonous materials are heated into a gas. This extraction process involves turning coal into gas and produces large quantities of carbon emissions that are released into the atmosphere. Any hydrogen made from fossil fuels via gasification is often called black hydrogen or brown hydrogen interchangeably. Turquoise hydrogen Turquoise hydrogen is extracted through methane via a process called methane pyrolysis, where fossil fuels are heated to such high temperatures that the fuel decomposes into hydrogen and solid carbon, emitting no carbon emissions. Turquoise hydrogen is similar to blue hydrogen but has only been used experimentally. The hydrogen is captured as a gas, and the solid carbon that falls to the ground can be buried underground or used in industrial processes. The entire process still results in fugitive methane emissions from natural gas extraction. Pink hydrogen Pink hydrogen, also known as purple hydrogen or red hydrogen, uses the electrolysis method. However, instead of being powered through renewable energy, it is powered through nuclear energy. While there are few carbon emissions produced with this method, there can be other environmental impacts such as the production of radioactive nuclear waste. White hydrogen White hydrogen is naturally-occurring geological hydrogen found underground through the by-product of industrial processes such as oil or natural gas extraction (fracking). There is not much known about white hydrogen, with research currently underway. In its production, there are few carbon emissions created. But, like pink hydrogen, there can be other environmental impacts. For more information about the future of hydrogen, visit the Victorian Hydrogen Hub website and Instagram.
17 May 2022 16:21
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/05/the-colours-of-hydrogen-explained/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/05/the-colours-of-hydrogen-explained/Science|SustainabilityfalseGreen hydrogen is coming - and these Australian regions are well placed to build our new export industryGreen hydrogen is coming - and these Australian regions are well placed to build our new export industryDr Steven Percy explains how Australia can become a world leader in renewable energy over the next 20 years, through the implementation of green hydrogen.
You might remember hearing a lot about green hydrogen last year, as global pressure mounted on Australia to take stronger action on climate change ahead of the COP26 Glasgow summit last November. Analysis for The Conversation by Dr Steven Percy, Swinburne University of Technology. The government predicts green hydrogen exports and domestic use could be worth up to A$50 billion within 30 years, helping the world achieve deep decarbonisation. But how close are we really to a green hydrogen industry? And which states are best placed to host it? My research shows that as of next year, and based on where the cheapest renewables are, the best places to produce green hydrogen are far north Queensland and Tasmania. As ever more renewable energy pours into our grid, this picture will change. By the end of the decade, the north Queensland coast could become the hydrogen powerhouse. By 2040, dirt-cheap solar should make inland areas across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia the lowest cost producers. Renewable energy you can store and transport Why is there so much buzz around green hydrogen? In short, because it offers us a zero emissions way to transport energy. Take cheap renewable energy and use it to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using an electrolyser. Store the hydrogen on trucks, ship it overseas, or send it by pipeline. Then use the hydrogen for transport, manufacturing or electricity production. Pathways for the production and use of green hydrogen. Author provided All the technology exists – it’s the cost holding the industry back at present. That’s where Australia and its wealth of cheap renewable energy comes in. Making hydrogen is nothing new – it has a long history of use in fertiliser production and oil refining. But until now, the main source for hydrogen was gas, a fossil fuel. In the last few years, however, there has been a sudden surge of interest and investment in green hydrogen, and new technology pathways have emerged to produce cheap green hydrogen. As global decarbonisation gathers steam, Japan, South Korea and parts of Europe are looking for clean alternatives to replace the role fossil fuels have played in their economies. Australia is exceptionally well placed to deliver these alternatives, with world-beating renewable resources and ports set up for our existing fossil fuel exports, such as coal and LNG. In 2019, we sold almost $64 billion of black coal, with most going to Japan, South Korea, India and China. As these countries decarbonise, the coal industry will shrink. Green hydrogen could be an excellent replacement. How competitive is Australian hydrogen? At present, Australia is a long way from producing green hydrogen cheap enough to compete with fossil fuels, given we seem to have no appetite for taxing carbon pollution. Does that mean it’s a non-starter? Hardly. It was only a decade ago sceptics ridiculed solar and wind as too expensive. They’ve gone awfully quiet as renewable prices fell, and fell, and fell – as tracked by the International Renewable Energy Agency. Now renewables are cheaper than coal. Battery storage, too, has fallen drastically in price. The same forces are at work on the key technology we need – cheaper electrolysers. By 2040, the CSIRO predicts an 83% fall in electrolyser costs, according to its Gencost 2021-22 report. By contrast, gas-derived hydrogen with carbon capture is predicted to reduce in cost only slightly. That means green hydrogen is likely to capture much of the market for hydrogen from 2030 onwards. Which states could benefit? My research with the Victorian Hydrogen Hub) shows as of next year, the lowest cost location for green hydrogen would be Far North Queensland ($4.1/kg) and Tasmania ($4.4/kg) due to high renewable resources. But this picture will change. By 2030, northern Queensland’s coastal regions could be the Australian hydrogen powerhouse due to a combination of cheap solar and access to ports. Western Australia and the Northern Territory could also have similar advantages, though the modelling for these areas has not yet been done. As solar energy and electrolyser costs continue to fall, new states could enter the green hydrogen economy. In CSIRO’s cost predictions, electricity from solar is predicted to become much cheaper than wind by 2040. This means sunny areas like central and northern Queensland ($1.7/kg) and inland NSW, Victoria and South Australia ($1.8/kg) could be the best locations for green hydrogen production. In making these estimates, I do not consider supply chain and storage infrastructure required to deliver the hydrogen. Transport could account for between $0.05/kg to $0.75/kg depending on distance. Comparing my modelling to price thresholds set out in the National Hydrogen Strategy indicates we can produce green hydrogen for trucking at a similar cost to diesel within four years. Fertiliser would take longer, becoming competitive by 2040. The levelised cost of hydrogen at renewable energy zones in Australia for 2023, 2030 and 2040. (source: Steven Percy, Victorian Hydrogen Hub) Does our dry country have the water resources for green hydrogen? If we achieved the $50 billion green hydrogen industry the government is aiming for, how much water would it consume? Surprisingly little. It would take only around 4% of the water we used for our crops and pastures in 2019-20 to generate an export industry that size – 225,000 megalitres. Much more water than this will be freed up as coal-fired power stations exit the grid. In Queensland and NSW alone, these power stations consume around 158,000 megalitres a year according to a 2020 report prepared for the Australian Conservation Foundation. Coal mining in these two states takes an additional 224,000 megalitres. As the cost of renewable energy falls and falls, we will also be able to desalinate seawater along our coasts to produce hydrogen. We estimate this would account for only about 1% of the cost of producing hydrogen, based on Australian Water Association desalination cost estimates. How can we get there faster? This decade, we must plan for our new hydrogen economy. Government and industry will need to develop and support new hydrogen infrastructure projects to produce, distribute, use and export hydrogen at scale. We’re already seeing promising signs of progress, as major mining companies move strongly into green hydrogen. Now we need governments across Australia to rapidly get optimal policy and regulations in place to allow the industry to develop and thrive. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article
21 January 2022 15:30
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/01/green-hydrogen-is-coming---and-these-australian-regions-are-well/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/01/green-hydrogen-is-coming---and-these-australian-regions-are-well/Science|SustainabilityfalseSTEMM students propose sustainability solutions STEMM students propose sustainability solutions At Swinburne’s 2021 STEMM Infographic competition, students Kirthanaa Sakthi and Alwi Widyananda’s won for their sustainability presentation ‘This bacteria wants to eat your plastic waste’.
The 2021 STEMM Infographic competition encouraged students to create an infographic presentation that enhances community knowledge with their ideas to solve sustainability issues Kirthanaa Sakthi and Alwi Widyananda’s won with presentation ‘This bacteria wants to eat your plastic waste’ Miss Sakthi and Miss Widyananda pitched the addition of plastic (PET) eating bacteria in a microplastic removal chamber to improve the wastewater treatment system Swinburne Sarawak students Kirthanaa Sakthi and Alwi Widyananda have won the 2021 student STEMM Infographic competition with their presentation ‘This bacteria wants to eat your plastic waste’. Using their science communication skills, students from around the world collected data and created a digestible infographic video presentation with the Adobe Creative Cloud to boost community knowledge on how to solve sustainability problems. Forming a part of Swinburne’s Shaping STEMM Futures Initiative, the competition aims to enhance communication and digital literacy skills and build employability. It also provides students with training on how to use the Adobe Creative Cloud. Convenor of Swinburne’s Communication for Scientists unit and event organiser, Dr Bita Zaferanloo, says the winning presentation addresses ‘one of the most pressing environmental issues’. ‘Their animated video visualising scientific data was able to inspire and inform the community to know more about problem and potential STEMM solution and its sustainable impact. Kirthanaa Sakthi and Alwi Widyananda made an inspiring, creative and inclusive video.’ Kirthanaa Sakthi and Alwi Widyananda won the 2021 STEMM Infographic competition with their presentation ‘This bacteria wants to eat your plastic waste’ Miss Sakthi and Mr Widyananda are currently in their second year of the Bachelor of Science majoring in Biotechnology. Hoping to reduce plastics that are toxic to marine life in waterways, Miss Sakthi and Miss Widyananda pitched the innovative idea to add plastic (PET) eating bacteria in a microplastic removal chamber to improve the wastewater treatment system. If implemented, it would reduce the amount of microplastics from reaching waterways, resulting in cleaner water and boosting the ability to make new PET plastic for industrial recycling. ‘Teamwork, collaboration and planning are ingrained in us from studying at Swinburne. These vital skills enabled us to come up with our STEMM idea for the infographic,’ Mr Widyananda says. Miss Sakthi and Mr Widyananda feel ‘extremely grateful to win’, particularly after working through time pressures and a six hour time difference, with them living in Malaysia and Zimbabwe respectively. The STEMM Infographic competition provided us the opportunity to express our knowledge in a fun and new format for others to learn.’
07 December 2021 10:21
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/12/STEMM-students-propose-sustainability-solutions/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/12/STEMM-students-propose-sustainability-solutions/Technology|Science|SustainabilityfalseSwinburne holiday gift guide Swinburne holiday gift guide This holiday season give your loved ones a gift while supporting Swinburne affiliated small businesses.
Support small businesses this holiday season with Swinburne affiliated gifts From sustainable products to fashion and art, our gift guide features something for everyone on your list There’s a lot going on this time of year, with work drawing to a close and the holiday season upon us! To save you time and stress, we’ve rounded up the best gifts for every person and every budget from Swinburne affiliated small businesses. Cardigang Cardigang founder is Bachelor of Business alum Cat Bloxsom. The luxury knit kits give you the tools you need, including 100% Australian Chunk Merino wools to produce a knitted sweater you can be proud of. From Christmas sweaters to stylish beanies, there’s something that even beginner knitters can create in just a few days. Little Green Panda If you’re looking for something small with a big impact, look no further than Little Green Panda. Swinburne business management and communications design gradate Manon Beauchamp-Tardieu leads the startup that took part in Swinburne Innovation Precinct’s 2020 Accelerator Program. The sustainable straws are made from the waste products of agricultural processes, such as sugarcane and bamboo, and are 100 per cent plant-based. Little Green Panda sells affordable sustainable straws that help the planet memobottle Product design engineering graduate turned sessional lecturer Jesse Leeworthy is one of the minds behind iconic flat re-usable water bottle memobottle. Their environmentally conscious bottles and accessories help provide clean water and end throwaway culture while providing customers with sleek and modern designs that even the most stylish would be happy to tote around. And for the person who is impossible to buy for, there are a range of gift packs and gift cards available. memobottle’s stylish designs help reduce plastic waste and provide clean water with every purchase Indigenous artwork Bachelor of Education (Secondary) student Katie Bugden is selling her beautiful prints in the lead up to Christmas. As a Wiradjuri/ Kamilaroi artist who grew up on Bundjalung land in Northern NSW, her art tells the stories of her ancestors and draws inspiration from the colours of the land, soil, rivers and wildlife. You can find vibrant canvas bags, stickers, bookmarks and premade or custom canvases available on her website. Katie Bugden's personal artwork includes prints, all of which are for sale on her website currently DG Designs Communications and graphic design graduate Dominique Gauci’s business DG Designs produce irresistible prints, cards and wrapping. From athletic champions to Hollywood stars and iconic ice creams, the geometric art prints are perfect for the pop culture obsessed – no matter their niche. Better yet, personalise your portrait with whatever or whoever deserves a spot on the wall! Miniscape Projects Interest in gardening has boomed since the pandemic. Give your green-thumbed loved ones expert knowledge on how to create their own terrarium garden with simple instructions, plants, propagations and inspiration. Miniscapes by Clea Cregan, a Swinburne multimedia and design graduate, is the ideal book to take your summer gardening to the next level. Eloments tea Business and administration graduate and 2021 Alumni Impact Award winner Nicole Lamond is the co-founder of tea company Eloments. With a range of flavours from Summer Orange to Bourbon Vanilla, the organic vitamin teas create an enjoyable way to boost nutrient intake. Can’t decide which one? Gift packs are available to help the pickiest of loved ones find their perfect fit!
01 December 2021 11:53
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/12/Swinburne-holiday-gift-guide/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/12/Swinburne-holiday-gift-guide/Design|University|SustainabilityfalseHow to ex-seed your garden expectations this summer How to ex-seed your garden expectations this summer Swinburne Horticulture teacher Kate O’Grady shares her top gardening tips just in time for summer.
Learn how to get the most out of your plants this summer from Swinburne Horticulture teacher Kate O’Grady It’s not too late to plant veggies for your summer salads Remember to take care of your plants as the weather gets warmer As social plans grow and the weather heats up, it’s important to take care of the garden you spent time nurturing during winter. From perfectly timed vegetables to beautiful blooms, find out how to get the most out of your garden this summer from Swinburne Horticulture teacher Kate O’Grady. Get your summer veggies in now Because the weather hasn’t warmed up as quickly this year, it’s not too late to plant vegetables (particularly tomatoes and basil) in the garden if you want them in time for your summer salads and BBQs. ‘We have a general rule in the Horticulture department: when the water running out of your tap becomes tepid (lukewarm), this indicates it’s the right time to plant vegetables for the summer.’ Ms O’Grady recommends planting seedlings at this stage of the season as it’s a bit late to propagate your veggies from seed. Some spring and summer veggies are particularly sensitive to temperature though, such as basil. ‘Basil is very sensitive to temperature. If you got your basil in at the start of spring and it has died or turned yellow, it’s not you, it’s the weather!’ Keep hydrated Ensuring your garden is regularly and thoroughly watered is more important than ever as the weather heats up. Remember to give you garden a deep water at the root zone (soil) of the plants rather than watering the foliage and do so during the morning if you can. ‘Watering later in the day can create humidity around the plants overnight as the water may not have evaporated. This can become the perfect environment for fungal diseases like powdery mildew and black spot.’ Remember to keep your plants hydrated as the temperature increases Embrace mulch Ms O’Grady says now is a good time to use mulch and recommends using a bush mulch for the general areas within your garden and pea straw on vegetable patches. ‘Mulch acts as a weed suppressant, provides organic matter to the soil, regulates soil temperature and helps the soil retain moisture, so it’s great to mulch your garden at any point during the year, but particularly import during the hot months.’ Pick your days to garden Plants can become stressed during hot days. If you are deciding what days to garden, it’s best to look at the weather forecast and pick a day that is cooler to complete any gardening tasks. ‘Any planting should especially be avoided on hot days, so get up early, water the garden then spend the days at the beach,’ she says. ‘While we can do our best to take care of our garden, there will always be plants that will develop problems or even die. Don’t be disheartened and see it as an opportunity to grow something new!’ The Horticulture Department will be having a plant sale on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 December. The sale will be held at the Wantirna campus in the nursery. There will be plenty of plants available including the Christmas favourite Poinsettia as well as Ms O’Grady and her team providing gardening advice.
01 December 2021 11:46
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/12/How-to-ex-seed-your-garden-expectations-this-summer/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/12/How-to-ex-seed-your-garden-expectations-this-summer/SustainabilityfalseSwinburne students pitch to make the world a better place Swinburne students pitch to make the world a better place As part of Swinburne’s 2021 Start Talking competition, science communication students presented their ideas to make the world a better place to live.
With the vision of making the world a better place to live, Swinburne students pitched their STEMM based ideas as part of the 2021 Start Talking competition The science communication presentations develops a student’s skill in breaking down complex STEMM concepts and communicating them to large audiences Matthew Schipper won first place for his presentation ‘Mmm…Plastics…’ while Celestina Jillian-Mae was voted People’s Choice for her presentation ‘Malaysia, Electricity and the Ocean’. Swinburne’s science communication competition Start Talking was held virtually on 14 October with the vision of making the world a better place to live. Matthew Schipper was crowned the winner of the $400 prize by the judges for his presentation ‘Mmm…Plastics’ and Celestina Jillian-Mae was awarded People’s Choice and $100 for her presentation ‘Malaysia, Electricity and the Ocean’. The competition aims to develop students’ progression from science communication theory to professional practice and forms part of Swinburne’s Shaping STEMM Futures Initiative. All Swinburne students can submit a STEMM based idea and work with staff and Adobe Digital Coaches to record a four-minute video presentation. For the first time students from Swinburne’s Sarawak campus competed, and they were well represented, with more than 100 registrations and 10 semi-finalists presenting at the virtual ceremony. ‘I believe community knowledge is a powerful force, my aim is to empower students to act as science communicators to lead, shape and make a difference to communities and the future of STEMM,’ says convenor of Swinburne’s Communication for Scientists unit and event organiser, Dr Bita Zaferanloo. Reducing plastic waste Mr Schipper is a third year Bachelor of Science (Professional) student who felt inspired by the little known fact that particular types of bacteria can break down plastic. His presentation ‘Mmm…Plastics…’, based off Homer Simpson’s iconic quote in The Simpsons ‘Mmm…Donuts…’, discusses how certain bacteria found on plastic can actually eat the plastic and be used strategically to minimise the environmental impact of plastic waste. ‘Plastic isn’t something anything alive should be able to eat, that’s part of why plastic waste is an issue. And yet here we are, with an actual living organism that isn’t just able to digest plastic but can do so in a way that’s not only advantageous to itself, but literally everyone involved.’ Matthew Schipper’s presentation ‘Mmm…Plastics…’ breaks down an environmentally friendly way of using bacteria to eat plastic Mr Schipper was able to create his presentation through applications and software such as Photoshop. He was surprised about how time consuming the process was, although it was ‘worth it without a doubt’. 'It's insane how much time, focus and skill is required to make a high quality, professional presentation. Finishing this now makes me realise how vaguely I understood that, watching these things from afar.' ‘It goes without saying, I didn’t expect to win at all!’ Improving hydroelectricity Ms Jillian-Mae is in her second year of the Bachelor of Science majoring in Biotechnology at Swinburne Sarawak and joined the competition to push herself out of her comfort zone. ‘It had been quite some time since our studies went online, and I have been raring for a challenge. While I was still anxious as it had been my first competition in a long time, I liked that it required us to convey information for everyone, which, in truth, is quite challenging.’ Her presentation ‘Malaysia, Electricity and the Ocean’, discusses how hydroelectricity can be used more efficiently though the use of the ocean’s heat to power turbines that produce energy (known as Ocean Thermal Energy Conversation). Celestina Jillian-Mae’s presentation ‘Malaysia, Electricity and the Ocean’ helps to boost renewable energy usage Winning People’s Choice was ‘surprising’ for Ms Jillian-Mae. ‘It inspires me to want to learn even more about STEMM so I can convey it to others,’ she says. ‘It’s exciting to be involved in these events - there is so much more that I can do as a STEMM student to spread knowledge.’
03 November 2021 10:29
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/11/Swinburne-students-pitch-to-make-the-world-a-better-place/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/11/Swinburne-students-pitch-to-make-the-world-a-better-place/Technology|Science|SustainabilityfalseCurvecrete awarded Accelerating Commercialisation GrantCurvecrete awarded Accelerating Commercialisation GrantSwinburne lecturer in architectural engineering, Daniel Prohasky awarded Accelerating Commercialisation Grant for Curvecrete venture.
Swinburne lecturer in architectural engineering, Daniel Prohasky has received funding for robotic curved concrete moulding Curvecrete helps to embrace zero waste via advanced manufacturing and fit-for-purpose robotic technologies Swinburne lecturer in architectural engineering and co-founder of Curvecrete, Daniel Prohasky with co-founder Warren Rudd have won an Accelerating Commercialisation Grant from the Australian government. Simpler, faster and zero-waste production Swinburne awarded Prohasky was a Swinburne Innovation Fellow in 2019, for his work in establishing and developing Curvecrete. With Swinburne’s support, Curvecrete has created a robotic concrete moulding technique to produce bespoke curved concrete panels – making production simpler and faster with zero waste. The $325,158 grant will assist Curvecrete to develop a pilot manufacturing facility in Melbourne. Video by Swinburne Curvecrete intern Daniel Shawyer, Travis Gemmill, Marcus Cher, Paul Meeuwsen and Daniel Prohasky. Multiple and flexible applications Curvecrete panels can be used in non-structural cladding applications like facades, rain screens and non-combustible cladding replacement; in structural applications – modular curved homes, urban art work, seating and balustrading; and in infrastructure – curved pedestrian bridges, highway sound barriers and pylons. The Swinburne Innovation Precinct supports Curvecrete’s focus on accelerating Australia’s construction industry to embrace zero-waste, with low or zero embodied carbon emissions, via advanced manufacturing and fit-for-purpose robotic technologies. Prohasky also works with the Precinct and School of Design and Architecture to encourage students to participate in Swinburne’s Venture Cup and Accelerator Program. Prohasky (right) testing concrete in the lab at Swinburne. Low-carbon cement alternatives His role as Robotics in Construction theme leader at Swinburne’s Smart Cities Research Institute has led to collaboration with Swinburne’s Digital Construction Laboratory – supporting Curvecrete’s mission to use low-carbon cement alternatives. Curvecrete has subsequently developed expertise in creating commercially viable low-carbon, light-weight fibre-reinforced geopolymer concrete. It is building on research in geopolymer materials development at DCL, for real-world scenarios as non-combustible cladding with official AS1530.1 compliance. Algorithmically CNC milled geopolymer, image supplied by Daniel Prohasky Students helping to solve the construction waste crisis Swinburne students have assisted Curvecrete through internships and industry projects. Design students have developed media and branding content to promote Curvecrete’s mission to help solve the construction waste crisis in a beautiful way. ‘Getting the word out is important to Curvecrete. We want to engage with property developers and private clients looking to build something innovative using sustainable modes of construction can be beautiful!’ says Prohasky. Advanced manufacturing and fit-for-purpose robotic systems ‘Curvecrete’s new factory will be an advanced manufacturing facility,’ he adds. ‘We’re expanding our manufacturing capabilities to deliver on multiple commercial and infrastructure projects.’ The facility is a huge step in the right direction for scaled manufacture of low carbon construction, enabled through fit-for-purpose robotic systems. ‘Curved architecture has been imagined by architects for centuries. It’s always been complex to build. Curved forms like the Sydney Opera House inspire us,’ says Prohasky. Traditionally, manual formwork needs to be constructed to create a form to cast concrete. The material and labour required to create formwork is generally discarded after one use. ‘Adaptive mould technology or robotic formwork that’s completely reusable eliminates this waste and effort, making the process simpler and more cost effective,’ explains Prohasky. He envisions a more sustainable future enabled by making curvature in a totally reusable way. ‘Traditionally manufactured curvature for architecture is like manually building a boat then discarding it when you get to your destination!’ In the not-too-distant future, he hopes to make curved architecture at cost parity with flat panels, and continue to develop manufacturing techniques that minimise waste. ‘Reducing Australia’s construction waste stream is a huge shared goal to avoid and help reverse environmental contamination,’ says Prohasky. Want to discover more about what the future holds for Curvecrete? What Is The Future For Cities is a podcast created by architect and Swinburne PhD candidate Fanni Melles. In this episode, she interviews Prohasky about what lies ahead for Curvecrete.
28 October 2021 13:09
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/10/Curvecrete-awarded-Accelerating-Commercialisation-Grant/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/10/Curvecrete-awarded-Accelerating-Commercialisation-Grant/Design|Sustainability|EngineeringResearch,School of Design,Innovation PrecinctfalseSwinburne start-up receives $1.5m investment to help make mining environmentally saferSwinburne start-up receives $1.5m investment to help make mining environmentally saferSwinburne start-up mDetect has received a $1.5 million investment from the Federal Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre Commercialisation Fund to fast-track production of its hazardous waste early warning system.
mDetect, a spin-out company from Swinburne is using muon technology to help mining companies detect weaknesses in dams that secure highly toxic mining waste by-products The company has received a $1.5 million investment grant from the Federal Government's Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre Commercialisation Fund and partners to mass manufacture this device mDetect's early warning system will help make mining environmentally safer Australian start-up, mDetect, a spin-out company from Swinburne University of Technology, is using particles from space, known as muons, to help mining companies detect weaknesses in dams that secure highly toxic mining waste by-products, making them environmentally safer. The ground-breaking hazardous waste early warning system, using muon technology will revolutionise how mining companies monitor the stability of tailings dams, thanks to mDetect’s technology and a $1.5 million co-investment grant from the Federal Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) Commercialisation Fund and partners to fast track its commercial production. Tailings dams are used by mining companies around the globe to manage potentially dangerous by-products. It is estimated that around three tailings dams fail worldwide every two years, with potentially damaging environmental outcomes. Until now there have been no detectable early warning signs from deep within the walls to prevent failure. Creating positive impact Swinburne University of Technology’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Pascale Quester said research and education into space technologies and their terrestrial applications have extraordinary potential for positive economic and social impact. ‘Swinburne is focused on ensuring that the vital research we do has significant positive impact. The important work of mDetect, led by Swinburne’s Professor Alan Duffy, is emblematic of Swinburne’s cutting-edge research and our ability to market innovative ideas. This is paving the way for successful research commercialisation that provides real solutions for industries,’ Professor Quester said. ‘It is projects like this that best exemplify our vision of bringing people and technology together to build a better world. We thank the AMGC for their support and commitment to this important initiative,’ she said. This aligns with the proactive nature of key industry partner, OZ Minerals who will deploy the device at their tailings dam at the Carrapateena Province. ‘OZ Minerals recognises our responsibility to meaningfully contribute to regional economic and social wellbeing as stronger communities create value for all stakeholders. By ethically and responsibly exploring for and mining copper, we contribute to a low carbon future and economic wellbeing, which helps us achieve our purpose and contribute to a better future. We congratulate mDetect on being awarded the AMGC grant, and the team at Carrapateena is excited to be collaborating with mDetect on the development of a fully supported, flexible 3D muon monitoring system,’ Myles Johnston, General Manager of OZ Minerals Carrapateena Province said. ‘mDetect is proof of the power of collaboration and what can be achieved when researchers and industry come together to commercialise world leading ideas. Their product offers a world-leading solution that has the potential to detect, prevent and mitigate failure of tailings dams across the world. Any investment in the prevention of tailings dam failures not only ensures mining operators can operate safely, but also reduces the chance of untold ecological, social and financial impacts from such adverse events,’ Managing Director of AMGC, Dr Jens Goennemann said. The mDetect team pulls together the deep technical expertise and research of Professor Alan Duffy, Dr Shanti Krishnan and Craig Webster, along with the business acumen and start-up experience of Dr Eryadi Masli and Dr Jerome Donovan. The mDetect team from (from left to right) Dr Jerome Donovan, Craig Webster, Professor Alan Duffy, Dr Eryadi Masli and Dr Shanti Krishnan. ‘Muons are heavier versions of electrons, that are made when cosmic rays slam into atoms in Earth's atmosphere. We have patented new detectors, that combined with powerful AI techniques, take an X-ray style scan through solid rock revealing different density structures,’ Professor Duffy said. An innovative solution The patented muon technology can provide intelligence on the internal structures and substances of buildings, infrastructure, and subterranean and aquatic features, opening up a range of commercial opportunities for the construction and mining industries. Simply put, muon technology can look through rock to create underground images and detect abnormalities which will provide the early warning signs needed to prevent potential structural failures. mDetect will work with local manufacturing company Elgee Industries and Swinburne’s Factory of the Future to produce the muon devices at scale. Connecting these devices and turning detections into underground images will be undertaken by Swinburne’s Astronomy Data and Computing Services (ADACS) software development team. ‘Elgee Industries is excited to participate in this cutting-edge project. Australia has the capacity to undertake advanced manufacturing onshore, and with the support from AMGC, this project will open up opportunities to propel Australia as a location that can offer advanced solutions to global issues,’ Managing Director, Elgee Industries, Andrew Mitchell said.
07 October 2021 15:18
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/10/swinburne-start-up-receives-backing-to-make-mining-environmentally-safer/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/10/swinburne-start-up-receives-backing-to-make-mining-environmentally-safer/Astronomy|Technology|SustainabilityfalseSchool kids develop smart bins for better waste management School kids develop smart bins for better waste management Swinburne’s KIOSC program is supporting school students to use innovative technology to improve waste management in their schools with the Maker Project: TrashBot Challenge.
KIOSC’s Maker Project: TrashBot Challenge is helping students to improve waste management practices in schools with innovative smart bins The program enables Year 9 and 10 students to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to create a prototype that can be implemented to promote sustainability Swinburne and the Knox Consortium of Secondary Schools developed KIOSC to educate and inspire students to prepare for the careers of the future, with a strong focus on STEM Swinburne is supporting school students to create sustainable waste management practices using smart bins with KIOSC’s Maker Project: TrashBot Challenge. The Maker Project: TrashBot Challenge is a design thinking program for Year 9 and 10 students to identify and tackle waste management issues in their schools. KIOSC (Knox Innovation Opportunity and Sustainability Centre) provides a smart rubbish bin prototype, which can be customised. Students design and build the bin using artificial intelligence and machine learning. For example, they can have the bin categorise rubbish or use sensors to notify maintenance teams when the bins need to be collected. Preparing for careers of the future The Maker Project: TrashBot Challenge inspires students to use ‘problem solving, creative thinking and technology’ to find a solution to a global issue, says KIOSC Systems Coordinator Brendan Kroon. ‘Students learn vital skills such as programming and wiring circuit boards, that not only can be used in this project, but also in their future careers,’ he says. KIOSC began in 2012 and is a partnership between Department of Education, Swinburne and the Knox Consortium of Secondary Schools, funded by the Victorian Government. It aims develop an innovative facility that inspires students to prepare for the careers of the future, with a strong focus on STEM. The Maker Project: TrashBot Challenge received grant funding from the Australian Government. Project Lead at KIOSC, Leanne Caira, says there is no textbook for what they do. ‘It is truly unlike any school and there is always a new project. We are so fortunate to have the ability to have such innovative technology, most of which does not even exist in schools.’ Engaging online With ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns, KIOSC ran the Maker Project: TrashBot Challenge as an online program. The team 3D-printed 184 kits to distribute to students, teachers and staff. They shared detailed lesson plans to provide additional support to teachers and livestreamed lessons. ‘Effective communication was key to success and students were very adept at being prepared,’ Caira says. Eighty-five per cent of participating teachers indicated that they would continue to deliver similar multidisciplinary projects in the future to engage students. ‘The students have been engaged with this work and they enjoyed the hands-on kit that they were given and the challenge to get their bin to open. I had one of my disengaged students participate and take an interest for the first time and get his bin to work,’ one says. Caira says that sparking interest in students is incredibly rewarding after spending time researching, developing and implementing new and innovative technologies. ‘We have a talented team, and everyone works to better what they have done. Our clients are incredibly special to us and inspiring learners is the best job ever.’
28 September 2021 09:02
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/school-kids-develop-smart-bins-for-better-waste-management/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/school-kids-develop-smart-bins-for-better-waste-management/Technology|Science|SustainabilityfalseSwinburne first Australian uni in World Retail Congress contest Swinburne first Australian uni in World Retail Congress contest Tara Anastasia, Keasha McGowan and Julian Kozulin are the first Australian students to present an innovative strategy at the World Retail Congress’ Future Retail Challenge student competition.
Swinburne is the first Australian university to have a team compete in the World Retail Congress’ Future Retail Challenge student competition Tara Anastasia, Keasha McGowan and Julian Kozulin presented their creative strategy for the plastic-free product company Pure Planet Club’s first bricks and mortar store Students worked with mentors from Swinburne and industry on a strategy and presentation for the London-based judges Swinburne University of Technology is the first Australian university to send a team to the World Retail Congress’ Future Retail Challenge student competition. The congress is a key event for the global retail industry. This year, the hybrid event was hosted from London on September 14. Swinburne students Tara Anastasia, Keasha McGowan and Julian Kozulin were invited to present their innovative bricks and mortar strategy for plastic-free product company Pure Planet Club. Mr Kozulin, a Bachelor of Business student, signed up for the challenge to develop his skills and test himself against international competition. ‘It was an amazing experience to represent Swinburne on such a global platform and I’m really glad I got to be a part of it,’ he says. Dr Carla Ferraro, Professor Sean Sands and Dr Jason Pallant - all from Swinburne’s Department of Management and Marketing - mentored the team. ‘Each mentor brought their own unique skills and perspectives to the group, which made our collaboration and editing a potent process,’ Mr Kozulin says. Landor & Fitch created a computer-generated image of the Pure Planet Club’s store concept. Creating a sustainable future The theme of the Future Retail Challenge was ‘Back to the Future – Reimagining Retail for the Post-Pandemic World’. Teams were invited to select a ‘new generation online-only brand or retailer’ bringing new products to their customers during the pandemic in a creative and sustainable way. Teams were judged on a 10-page strategy for the launch of the brand’s first brick and mortar store and an eight-minute pitch to investors, followed by three minutes of live questions. The students had to show how they would develop and enhance the business’ sustainability and ethical strategies in a post-COVID world where consumer behaviour has changed and there is an opportunity to create something new and unique in a physical store. Each team worked with a designer from international design agency Landor & Fitch. The designer mentored the students in designing a physical retail space and created a computer-generated image of the store concept. Unlike most teams who had sixth months to develop their submission, Swinburne received the brief less than two months before the deadline. ‘The workload for the challenge was big and constant, and this was over and above their university studies,’ says Dr Ferraro. Bachelor of Business student Julian Kozulin represented Swinburne with Tara Anastasia and Keasha McGowan. A global experience The team performed ‘exceptionally well’, according to Dr Ferraro. She says their written report and presentation was ‘very strong’ and reflected their hard work, despite not placing. ‘They each expanded their immediate marketing knowledge base to deeply apply this to a retailing context, including familiarising themselves with the industry sector.’ Mr Kozulin gained confidence during the challenge, which solidified his love for the retail industry. ‘I’ve never worked with students who were as motivated and driven as Tara and Keasha and, as cheesy as this may sound, they made this whole experience a highlight,’ he says. ‘This was an extremely rewarding experience and there’s not a reason I can think of that would not make me urge people to enter.’
27 September 2021 11:42
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/swinburne-first-australian-uni-in-world-retail-congress-contest/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/swinburne-first-australian-uni-in-world-retail-congress-contest/Student News|Business|SustainabilityfalseSustainability at SwinburneSustainability at SwinburneSwinburne continues to explore new ways to embed sustainability practices across the university as we strive to create a more sustainable future.
Swinburne’s commitment to sustainability is one of our core values and is embedded across everything we do at the university We have committed to be carbon neutral by 2025 and have implemented a number of initiatives in our daily operations to achieve this goal Our research community continues to explore tangible ways to fight climate change Swinburne’s commitment to sustainability is one of our core values. It’s embedded across our university, in our daily operations and research activities, as we strive to ensure a sustainable future. As a signatory to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Swinburne has committed to be carbon neutral by 2025. This pledge has led to several initiatives to reduce emissions across our campuses. Running on renewables In July 2020 Swinburne began using renewable electricity across all of our campuses. Through a contract with energy company Iberdrola Australia, Swinburne has been procuring our electricity from the Cherry Tree Wind Farm, which is located near the town of Seymour in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley. Swinburne’s arrangement with Iberdrola Australia to procure renewable electricity from Cherry Tree Wind Farm is also an opportunity to support a Victorian project and employment in the region. Converting to renewable electricity has saved the university 23,000 tonnes of carbon emissions over the last 12 months, with emissions from electricity representing more than 70 per cent of our carbon footprint. Fighting modern slavery Today, more than 40 million people are estimated to be trapped in modern forms of slavery around the world. Modern slavery can take many forms, including: being forced to work for free or to pay off a debt, child slavery forced marriages domestic servitude. Swinburne has committed to taking the necessary steps to identify and resolve any form of modern slavery in the university’s operations, our suppliers and our partner organisations. Our modern slavery statement outlines Swinburne’s commitments and approach to identifying areas of risk and key activities to combat this important human rights issue. Swinburne, along with 34 other universities, has recently committed to implementing a sector-wide modern slavery technology solution, called FRDM Inc. This social tech solution will integrate the sector’s efforts in combating modern slavery and allow for greater collaboration and increased transparency across the universities’ supply chains. Exploring hydrogen as a clean energy source for the future Members of our research community have been exploring the use of hydrogen as a clean energy source for the future. In 2021, Swinburne received $10 million from the Victorian Government to build the Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2), in partnership with CSIRO and Germany’s ARENA 2036. The hub will bring together researchers, industry partners and businesses to test, trial and demonstrate new and emerging hydrogen technologies. VH2 will also support sustainable manufacturing practices and the ability to store clean energy from renewable sources, striving to create a sustainable future for all. ‘With the world increasingly looking to decarbonise, the quest for net zero emissions is as strong as ever. Policymakers, energy firms and scientists are hoping to use hydrogen as fuel for the future of power generation, long-haul transportation and industry,’ says Gordon Chakaodza, Director of VH2. Incorporating sustainability principles into procurement In August 2021, Swinburne launched a new procurement policy and procedure that supports sustainability. Our new procurement framework is designed to drive better environmental, social and economic outcomes. This includes considering the carbon neutrality of the products and services offered, the risks of modern slavery along the supply chain, as well as the diversity and inclusion priority of our suppliers. ‘In this cost-constrained environment, it is more important than ever to ensure that every dollar we spend delivers sound commercial and social outcomes that fulfil our requirements,’ explains Swinburne’s Director of Sustainability and Procurement, Rhiannon Jones. ‘To help us reach out net zero by 2025 goal, it is critical that we prioritise ways to reduce emissions across our supply chain and be more thoughtful about how we use our resources,’ she says. For more information on our sustainability initiatives, visit Swinburne’s sustainability and environment page.
16 September 2021 08:38
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/sustainability-at-swinburne/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/sustainability-at-swinburne/University|SustainabilityfalseExpert tips for being sustainable at homeExpert tips for being sustainable at homeSwinburne experts from across the university share their top tips on how we can be more sustainable at home and reduce our impact on the environment.
There are many things we can do at home to be more sustainable and reduce our impact on the environment Swinburne experts share their tips on how we can be more green at home With spring upon us it’s a great time to think about what you can do at home to live in a more green and sustainable way. Not sure where to start? Don’t worry, our experts have you covered. Here they share their top tips to help you reduce your impact on the environment from home. Turn your waste into valuable organic matter Composting is a great way to convert your waste products into organic matter for your garden. ‘It’s all about balance with your compost – you need to have a balance of green and brown materials,’ says Swinburne horticulture teacher Kate O’Grady. ‘Green materials include fresh grass clippings, food scraps and coffee grounds, while your brown materials are things like dry leaves/grass, dead plant clippings, newspaper and cardboard.’ To get started, Ms O’Grady recommends investing in a compost bin that you can rotate, or one where you can easily get in to turn over the contents. ‘You will also need a compost bucket for your kitchen bench, as well as a gardening fork or aerator tool. Turn your contents regularly (aim for once a week) to help them compost faster,’ she adds. Composting not only reduces waste going to landfills, but turns them into valuable organic materials for your garden. ‘Remember, the smaller the materials, the quicker they will break down, so make sure anything you add to your compost bin is cut up into small pieces,’ says Ms O’Grady. Make the switch from single-use plastics Did you know that single-use plastic will be banned in Victoria by February 2023? Consider making some changes now to more sustainable products. ‘Many plastic products are designed to be discarded after one use. Given the resources used to produce them this is very wasteful, especially when you consider that these products take a long time to break down,’ says Swinburne’s Sustainability manager Nadine Ponomarenko. Instead of using single-use plastics, consider these options: keep a reusable water bottle rather than purchasing bottled water use a reusable cup for your favourite takeaway coffee use paper straws take your own reusable bag to the shops. Recycling e-waste Did you know that electronic waste – or e-waste – is banned from landfill in Victoria? This means we need to dispose of these potentially hazardous materials safely. Search for your local e-waste drop-off points. For example, your local council may have a schedule for e-waste or end-of-life electronic collection or disposal. Officeworks also accepts some e-waste products. Professor of Extractive Metallurgy and Metals Recycling Akbar Rhamdhani shares some advice for disposing of your e-waste: Group similar items together, such as laptops. When recycling a laptop, make sure the battery is removed. Place household and laptop batteries into a separate pile from other electronics. If possible, separate the different type of batteries, for example, alkaline and lithium ion batteries, or rechargeable and non-rechargeable batteries. Keep mobile phones separate from general electronics. Lightbulbs, fluorescence lamps and compact fluorescence lamps can also be recycled. In fact, compact fluorescence lamps contain rare, valuable earth elements and phosphorus, so it’s important to recycle them. Don’t wait until you have a big pile of e-waste before taking it to your nearest drop-off points. It’s dangerous to stockpile batteries, especially those still with charge as they can catch fire. Be more thoughtful with your purchases Ethical purchasing is the practice of considering the potential negative consequences of your consumption on people, animals and the environment. ‘It’s important to be more thoughtful about our consumption practices, as we all have a responsibility to avoid negative impacts on the environment and the people involved along the supply chain. We may feel that our contribution is too small to make a difference, but everyone acting together to change our purchasing practices can influence change on a grander scale,’ says Swinburne’s Director of Sustainability and Procurement, Rhiannon Jones. How can we be more conscious about how and what we purchase? There are many things we can do, Ms Jones explains: consider reusing before buying new, or buy products farmed or produced locally look for certified products, such as Fairtrade or B Corporation do your research to identify products with high energy and water efficiency ratings use reusable bags for your fruit and veggies instead of pre-wrapped packs don’t buy products from brands that exploit animals demand that your favourite brands demonstrate how they are avoiding slavery across their supply chains think about whether you are contributing to demand across a supply chain that is negatively impacting our environment or people. ‘There’s a lot to consider and it can sometimes feel too hard, so start with just one or two priorities, and build from there,’ Ms Jones advises. Conserve water and electricity There are several ways we can reduce our water footprint, as expert in sustainable water use Associate Professor Monzur Imteaz shares. ‘Compare your water usage with the standard amount for sustainable water use, which is 155 litres per person per day,’ says Associate Professor Imteaz. If you’re using more than the recommended amount of water, consider the following tips: Try to reduce at least one minute from your total shower time. Adjust your gardening watering schedule based on rainfall forecast. Avoid hosing down your driveway, use a broom or air-blower instead. Wipe your dishes with a paper towel before rinsing them. When it comes to conserving electricity, there are multiple things you can do. Swinburne’s Sustainability Manager Nadine Ponomarenko suggests looking for energy saving opportunities; for example, switching off the lights and appliances when not in use. ‘PowerPal is a great, free tool that helps increase awareness of your electricity use. It's connected to your electricity metre and paired with an app to give you real-time insight into your energy use,’ says Ms Ponomarenko. What’s more, as part of the Victorian Energy Upgrades program, Victorians are eligible to have their existing light bulbs switched over to energy efficient LED lights for free.
15 September 2021 13:39
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/expert-tips-being-sustainable-at-home/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/expert-tips-being-sustainable-at-home/SustainabilityfalseIndigenous technology is often misunderstood. Here’s how it can be part of everyday lifeIndigenous technology is often misunderstood. Here’s how it can be part of everyday lifeThe COVID-19 pandemic poses many problems for our modern, technological world, but also provides an opportunity to embrace ancient and valuable Indigenous technology. Analysis for The Conversation by Andrew Peters, Swinburne University of Technology.
The COVID-19 pandemic poses many problems for our modern, technological world, but also provides an opportunity to embrace ancient and valuable Indigenous technology. Analysis for The Conversation by Andrew Peters, Swinburne University of Technology. The COVID pandemic has highlighted our need for connection and forced billions of people to adapt to a changed world. Much of this adaptation is heavily reliant on technology, and in particular information technology, which is being used to keep many people connected. Although the pandemic is posing many problems for our modern, technological world, it also presents an opportunity to embrace ancient and valuable Indigenous knowledges and identify potential within them in different ways. The notion of Indigenous technology is one such opportunity. A history of Indigenous technology Indigenous technology is a relatively misunderstood phenomenon. This isn’t the use of technology by or for the benefit of Indigenous peoples. It refers to the multiple ways that Indigenous knowledges are used to improve the lives of humans – ancient practices that have existed in various parts of the world that are still relevant, and prevalent, today Indigenous knowledges and technology have been linked from the beginning of time. Fundamental concepts of Indigenous knowledges can and should underpin the development and role of technology in multiple ways. These concepts include: relationality and connection reciprocity reflexivity Country Relationality/connection refers to the Indigenous understanding of all things being connected. One action can impact many others – similar to the fundamental Western scientific concept of “cause and effect”. Embracing and understanding reciprocity ensures the benefits of the use of technology don’t come at the expense of others (including people, plants, animals and the broader environment). Reflexivity involves the constant cycle of learning and listening that underpins knowledge creation and transfer for Indigenous peoples and cultures. It is also seen as an important element of research and development in the world of technology (particularly relevant now as we are developing ways to treat COVID. And Country refers to the grounding of knowledges in our land and all it contains. Our knowledges and languages come from the land, and this is where they belong. This makes our knowledges contextual and specific to a certain group. Understanding the specifics of a certain group is crucial to gaining cultural knowledge. In the world of business technology, this relates to knowing and understanding your market and their specific wants and needs – a fundamental principle of marketing. Aboriginal woman showing the traditional bush seeds used for food and agriculture. Shutterstock. Native foods and food technology Native foods and food technology have sustained Indigenous communities all over the world for thousands of years. Today, native foods are used in a variety of ways, including connecting people with culture through culinary experiences such as the Tasmanian “Wave to Plate” project. In southeast Australia, the Wurundjeri people’s name comes from the Witchetty grub found in the Manna gum that is rich in Vitamin C and good for skin wounds. Wurundjeri people still use plants such as the Manna gum (Eucalyptus), murrnong and tee tree (melaleuca) for both nutritional and medical purposes. Native groups in North America have practised plant-based medicinal practices for thousands of years, and continue to this day. This includes the direct consumption of plant parts, using them as ointments, and boiling them as part of tea drinks. Some groups also use conifer needles to create tonics rich in vitamin C for treating diseases. Agriculture and aquaculture Thousands of years ago, the Gunditjmara people of Budj Bim in western Victoria modified natural features and created a series of artificial ponds, wetlands and networks of channels. These practices allowed water flows between dams to accommodate the farming of eels. The Gunditjmara people also built substantial stone structures close to work sites to shelter from chilly southerly winds that can still be seen in various parts of western Victoria today. Fire management Indigenous cultural burning and fire management is another ancient practice that lives on today. These practises are increasingly being used as tools for national park management, emergency services and other organisations to better understand our native environment and connect with Aboriginal cultures, peoples and histories. Dhimarru Indigenous Rangers teaching traditional fire making at Garma Festival. Shutterstock. Astronomy and geology Traditional Indigenous storytelling has enabled modern-day scientists to discover meteorites they might not otherwise have found. And in New Zealand, geologists are continuing to use Maori traditions to better understand earthquakes and tsunamis. Health and well-being Concepts of Indigenous and Western health and medicine have long differed. Western health has primarily focused on “problem correction” and the patient’s physiology. Whereas for Indigenous people, health and well-being have long included physical, mental, spiritual and environmental issues for both individuals and communities – what Western health now calls “holistic care”. Scar trees are formed when Aboriginal people remove sections of bark for shelters, shields, and rafts. Shutterstock. Transport Indigenous peoples have found innumerable ways to physically navigate their Country, including with the bark canoe, a symbol of transport technology. Using the bark from an appropriate tree, the process today revisits ancient traditions and provides direct cultural connection for many young Aboriginal people. The prevalence of scar trees in many parts of the country shows just how widespread this practice still is. These continued uses of Indigenous technology are an affirmation of culture and history for Aboriginal peoples. It’s also a clear way for all Australians to connect with a culture that not only has a deep, deep history on our land, but continues and is still growing today. This piece was produced as part of Social Sciences Week, running 6-12 September. A full list of 70 events can be found here. Andrew Peters will appear on the panel discussion “Indigenous Peoples and Technology” on Wednesday, September 8 at 10.30am. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
07 September 2021 16:03
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/Indigenous-technology-is-often-misunderstood-Heres-how-it-can-be-part-of-everyday-life/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/Indigenous-technology-is-often-misunderstood-Heres-how-it-can-be-part-of-everyday-life/Astronomy|Technology|Health|SustainabilityfalseFive things that set Swinburne's new Bachelor of Arts apartFive things that set Swinburne's new Bachelor of Arts apartStarting in 2022, Swinburne's new Bachelor of Arts will offer more variety, more choice and more real-world opportunities to set our students apart.
Swinburne’s new Bachelor of Arts launches for semester 1, 2022 Six new interdisciplinary majors support students to pursue a meaningful career they’ll love Work experience, in the form of industry projects and internships, is built into the degree Swinburne has created a new-look Bachelor of Arts, offering students more variety, more choices and more real-world opportunities from 2022. ‘The new Bachelor of Arts is part of Swinburne’s next_gen focus, with humans and technology working together for a better world. It draws on the university’s expertise in the future of work and strong partnerships with industry and community,’ says Dean of Social Sciences, Media, Film and Education, Professor Mia Lindgren. The changes will bring even more work experience and focus on the future to the degree. Graduates will be confident communicators, ready to unpack problems, influence the conversation and make change. Discover the five ways we’ve improved the Bachelor of Arts. Keep your eyes peeled for the new Bachelor of Arts in Swintopia. Students build the degree they want With only four core subjects and opportunities to study topics from across the university, students are given more flexibility to discover their talents and passions. ‘The new degree is elegant and simple. It combines structure, flexibility and choice – focusing on project-based learning, with key skills and knowledges needed for the future of work,’ says Professor Lindgren. Four core subjects prepare students to use their arts degree to engage in important conversations, communicate confidently and build industry-relevant skills. The subjects include two industry opportunities – one collaborative project and one internship. Students then have eight units to deep dive into a major and 12 units they can use however they like – perhaps another major or a co-major from across the university, such as animation, biotechnology, computer science, HR management, finance, marketing, motion design, neuroscience, screen production or space technology. These units could also be used to add minors, electives, study tours, overseas internships, internships, semesters abroad or exchanges. New interdisciplinary majors Problems don’t exist in a vacuum and people shouldn’t think in boxes. Swinburne’s revamped Bachelor of Arts brings social science disciplines together in majors that focus on important and interesting issues. The new majors are: Climate and social justice Ethics and technology Perspectives on globalisation Politics, power and technology Professional and creative writing Screen studies and popular culture With more traditional arts degree, you get a broad range of choice in majors – but each major is a discipline and you’re usually restricted to about two. Swinburne’s new arts degree is different. The interdisciplinary majors pull from several disciplines, empowering students to address the challenges facing society from many perspectives. Besides, students can combine an interdisciplinary major with one of 22 co-majors across the university, more than 50 minors and scores of electives. Work experience guaranteed ‘Employability and experiences of work is at the heart of the new Swinburne Bachelor of Arts, with all students offered an internship unit,’ says Professor Lindgren. There are no exams in the workplace, and there won’t be any in the Bachelor of Arts. Depending on the topic, students will build a job-relevant portfolio of podcasts, briefing papers, campaigns and more. Assessments reflect real-life, so students are prepared to deliver what’s asked of them in the workplace. In their final year, students of the Bachelor of Arts will undertake the Arts Internship – one of four core subjects – which includes a professional job application process. This subject, and every other, was designed to deliver the essential transferrable skills for employability in 2025 and beyond, as identified by the World Economic Forum. These include problem-solving, self-management, working with people and technology use. A tech-rich arts degree Swinburne is a university of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, so of course these strengths would be integrated in the new Bachelor of Arts. It starts with new majors with technology at their core, including ‘Ethics and Technology’ and ‘Politics, Power and Technology’, which explores topics such as social surveillance, data mining and social media. Swinburne became Australia’s first and only Adobe Creative Campus in 2019. All students have access to the Adobe Creative Suite, free training and Adobe Digital Coaches are available to help one-on-one or in workshops. Adobe application skills are a huge asset in the workplace, and student will be able to test their skills in assessments and projects throughout their arts degree. New double degree in 2022 If new majors weren’t enough, Swinburne will also launch a new double degree option that can be combined with the Bachelor of Arts. From 2022, students can enrol in a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Psychological Sciences. The new double degree will suit those interested in not just how a person’s mind works, but the role they play in society. Plus, it’s still a pathway to become a psychologist. The Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Psychological Sciences joins a number of existing arts double degrees. Students will discover exciting combinations with the new majors. For example, the Politics, Power and Technology major will be a great match for students in the Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Arts with topics like ‘Space and Extra-Terrestrial Ethics’, ‘Bioethics and Biotechnology’ and ‘Digital Justice’.
06 September 2021 10:43
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/five-things-that-set-swinburnes-new-bachelor-of-arts-apart/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/09/five-things-that-set-swinburnes-new-bachelor-of-arts-apart/Film and television|Technology|Social Affairs|University|Politics|Sustainabilityfalse1 in 2 primary-aged kids have strong connections to nature, but this drops off in teenage years. Here’s how to reverse the trend1 in 2 primary-aged kids have strong connections to nature, but this drops off in teenage years. Here’s how to reverse the trendBuilding connections to nature in young people is vital to tackling climate change, among other environmental problems. Analysis for The Conversation by Ryan Keith, Dieter Hochuli and John Martin, University of Sydney and Lisa M Given, Swinburne University of Technology.
Building connections to nature in young people is vital to tackling climate change, among other environmental problems. Analysis for The Conversation by Ryan Keith, Dieter Hochuli and John Martin, University of Sydney and Lisa M Given, Swinburne University of Technology. Parents and researchers have long suspected city kids are disconnecting from nature due to technological distractions, indoor lifestyles and increased urban density. Limited access to nature during COVID-19 lockdowns has heightened such fears. In fact, “nature-deficit disorder” has become a buzzword, driving concerns about children’s well-being and their ability to understand and care for the natural world. Yet, there’s been surprisingly little investigation to directly test whether a disconnect exists between children and nature – and if it does, how this might affect their environmental behaviours. Our recent research, focused on Australian children in urban areas, sought to address this knowledge gap. We found most younger children, especially girls, reported strong connections to nature and commitment to pro-environmental behaviours. But by their teenage years, many children have fallen out of love with nature. Understanding and reversing this trend is vital to tackling climate change, species loss and other grave environmental problems. Young people are key to addressing environmental problems. Henry Lydecker What we did Our research involved more than 1,000 students aged 8-14 years, attending 16 public schools across Sydney. We measured the students’ connections to nature using a questionnaire which asked about their: enjoyment of nature empathy for creatures sense of oneness with nature sense of responsibility towards nature. The survey also canvassed students’ current environmental behaviours, such as whether they recycled waste and conserved water and energy, as well as their willingness to: volunteer to help protect nature donate money to nature charities talk to friends and family about protecting nature. A girl volunteers her opinion in a group discussion at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens. Ryan Keith What we found Contrary to the conventional wisdom about nature-deficit disorder, we found one in two children aged 8 to 11 felt strongly connected to nature, despite living in the city. However, only one in five teens reported strong nature connections. Children in the younger age group were also more likely to engage in pro-environmental behaviours. For example, one in two were committed to saving water and energy on a daily basis, and two in three recycled each day. Girls generally formed closer emotional connections to nature than boys did – a difference especially apparent in the final stage of primary school. Connection to nature by age and gender. CNI = Connection to Nature Index. Author provided Importantly, girls differed from boys in their responses to questions about sensory stimulation. Girls particularly liked to see wildflowers, hear nature sounds and touch animals and plants. This finding echoes previous research which found motivation for sensory pleasure is greater in women than men. Girls also felt greater empathy for nonhuman animals than did boys, even after accounting for differences in sensory experience. Children with strong nature connections were much more likely to demonstrate pro-environmental behaviours. This helps explain why girls were more willing than boys to volunteer for nature conservation. Girls felt greater empathy for nonhuman animals than boys did. www.pisquels.com What does all this mean? These findings suggest parents, educators, and others seeking to “reconnect” youth with nature should focus on the transition between childhood and the teenage years. Adolescence is a period of great change. Children move from primary to high school, switching peer groups and struggling through puberty. They gain independence and must adapt to a maturing brain. Relationships with nature easily fall by the wayside when teens prioritise other aspects of their busy lives. In fact, evidence of the adolescent dip in nature connection is emerging across different cultures. Educators and parents hoping to engage girls with nature might give them activities focused on sensory stimuli. Girls’ greater empathy for nonhuman animals may result from societal norms that socialise girls to be more caring, cooperative, and empathetic than boys. Boys can be encouraged to have more empathy for nonhuman animals through activities focused on perspective-taking and role-playing. Even when locked down at home, both girls and boys can cultivate empathy for animals and nourish their connections to nature by taking mindful note of their surroundings. Though cities can appear to be concrete jungles, they still contain urban wildlife, parks and other green elements. Children are the future Recent research has demonstrated that stronger nature connections are associated with improved health and wellbeing in children. The benefits of connecting to nature should be distributed among youth in a just and equitable way. That means working with groups often marginalised in discussions about nature, such as ethnic minorities. Conservation is increasingly reliant on young citizens forming meaningful connections with urban nature. Many environmental leaders, such as Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, are teenage girls. Ensuring urban children maintain nature connections through adolescence is crucial to tackling Earth’s serious environmental problems. But it will also require more young people to confront the difficult realisation that the world’s climate is in crisis. For this, we need to develop better ways to help them cope. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
16 August 2021 09:11
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/08/1-in-2-primary-aged-kids-have-strong-connections-to-nature-but-this-drops-off-in-teenage-years-heres-how-to-reverse-the-trend/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/08/1-in-2-primary-aged-kids-have-strong-connections-to-nature-but-this-drops-off-in-teenage-years-heres-how-to-reverse-the-trend/Health|SustainabilityfalseSwinburne researchers contribute to world-first approach to cleaning waterwaysSwinburne researchers contribute to world-first approach to cleaning waterwaysSwinburne researchers have contributed to a world-first organic solution to creating clean and healthy waterways.
The solution involves three floating wetlands known as ‘mushi’ The interlocking modules are created using mycelium and organic matter, which becomes a habitat for wildlife and allows plants to absorb pollutants in the water Mushi will be on display at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne until June 2021 Swinburne University of Technology researchers have contributed to a world-first organic solution to creating clean and healthy waterways. The solution is being trialled at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne and is the result of a research and design collaboration by Swinburne, studio edwards and Arup. Cleaning our waterways: a living solution The team’s solution involves three floating wetlands, known as ‘mushi’, which are a series of interlocking triangular-shaped modules about 80 centimetres in diameter. Three mushi modules ready to be floated in a waterway at Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens. Source: Arup Rather than following the traditional approach using plastic, mushi wetlands use mycelium, the fast-growing feeding body of fungi, combined with other organic matter. The mycelium, from reishi or lingshi fungi, provides a robust, versatile and sustainable material that is set within specially designed moulds and expands as it dries to form the structure of the floating wetlands. The Swinburne researchers – architectural design lecturer Canhui Chen and architectural engineering lecturer Daniel Prohasky – along with research assistant Joshua Salisbury-Carter contributed to the artificial wetland's structural design and fabrication. They investigated the relationship between the geometric design and the buoyancy of the wetland, as well as the material durability of the mycelium composite for outdoor use. "The final product was prototyped and manufactured at Swinburne’s ProtoLAB, with the support of Swinburne architecture graduates," says Canhui Chen. From concept to reality Swinburne researchers, Daniel Prohasky (left) and Joshua Salisbury-Carter (middle) floating mushi modules. Source: Arup The team has taken the mycelium wetlands from a theoretical concept that was shortlisted at the Victorian Design Waste Challenge 2019 to a living prototype, testing structural options and plant types. They will be monitoring and assessing it over the next three months. “We were looking for ways to replace plastic in waterways: floating wetlands are a proven technology to help clean water but the traditional way of producing them, using plastic, creates other contamination issues when it inevitably degrades,” says Alex Reilly, Environmental Engineer at Arup Melbourne. “The objective was to find an alternative to plastics using organic matter and waste to produce a product that would become a habitat for wildlife and allow the plants to absorb pollutants in the water. Mycelium can be strong, light, resilient, non-toxic and moulded into different shapes.” Architectural design lecturer Canhui Chen (middle) creating a mushi module. Source: Arup See for yourself Mushi will be on display at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, between Picnic Point and Long Island, until June 2021. An online presentation of the mushi project is also available through Open House Melbourne. Three mushi modules floating at the Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens. Source: Arup
16 April 2021 15:52
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/04/swinburne-researchers-contribute-to-world-first-approach-to-cleaning-waterways/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/04/swinburne-researchers-contribute-to-world-first-approach-to-cleaning-waterways/Design|Science|Sustainability|EngineeringfalseNew research into soil used for buildingNew research into soil used for buildingDr Gergana Rusenova commences an Australia-Germany research project into textile-reinforced granular materials that are more sustainable and efficient.
Swinburne lecturer Dr Gergana Rusenova commences an exciting joint research project into sustainable and efficient granular materials. The project is funded by the Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme. Dr Rusenova will use the robotic arms at Swinburne’s ProtoLAB to build a prototype in Melbourne. Using robotic arms to build a prototype, Dr Gergana Rusenova will be breaking new ground on the use of soil in building. She has commenced an exciting joint research project with Professor Dr Karola Dierichs at Weissensee School of Art and Design, Berlin, funded by the Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme. Dr Rusenova is a lecturer in architecture in the School of Design. For this project on textile-reinforced granular materials, she’ll be drawing on her expertise in how granular materials are used in architectural structures. “With the support of the Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme this year, Professor Dr Dierichs and I will be looking at soil as a granular material. Existing techniques such as rammed earth require cement to be added to the soil mix. This building technique is labour-intensive, time-consuming and expensive. “Our collaboration with Weissensee School of Art and Design involves using the robotic arms at Swinburne’s ProtoLAB to build a prototype in Melbourne. We’ll investigate alternative computational design techniques and how to automate the production by using advanced manufacturing methods,” Dr Rusenova says. Dr Rusenova worked on her Masters thesis at the University of Stuttgart where she delved into the physical versus virtual behaviour of granular matter. Images by Gergana Rusenova. “I have worked on simulations of this non-standard building material and constructed a mechanical device to connect digitally simulated behaviours with the structural performance of physical prototypes. The device facilitates this connection in real time,” explains Dr Rusenova. Building with sustainable materials For Dr Rusenova, the beauty of granular materials is the reversible logic behind them. They represent a different branch of building materials that solidify based only on the interaction between the individual particles. “There is no need for permanent bonding, and structures built with them can be fully recycled. For example, grains of sand are not bonded to each other but still manage to form a pile. In the context of the built environment, the challenge is to move away from the pile and build functional and simultaneously, reversible architectural elements,” she explains. She is interested in finding ways to use materials that already exist, rather than using lots of energy, time and resources to manufacture new materials that cannot be easily recycled. Dr Rusenova stands in front of the Rock Print Pavilion at Kirchplatz, Switzerland which formed part of her PhD project with Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich. Image by Martin Rusenov. Creating architectural structures In 2016, Dr Rusenova joined the group of Gramazio Kohler Research at ETH Zurich to further investigate recyclable materials as part of an ongoing research project called ‘Jammed Architectural Structures’. “We stacked alternating layers of loose stones and textile string, arranged in loops, to create three-metre-tall structures. In 2018, we built a large-scale loadbearing structure as part of a public outdoor exhibition called ‘Hello, Robot!’ at the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur. The structure was assembled with a mobile robotic arm programmed in collaboration with researchers at ETH Zurich,” she says. Dr Rusenova worked with architecture students in Swinburne’s ProtoLAB. Image by Bailey Wentworth, Swinburne Design Bureau. “Simulations and the use of robotics underpin how we will build and dismantle our structures, but the greater focus is about how we can create something new, and how we can create something that is better for the universe, for the environment,” says Dr Rusenova.
30 March 2021 15:20
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/03/new-research-into-soil-used-for-building/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/03/new-research-into-soil-used-for-building/Design|SustainabilityfalseSwinburne joins new sustainability and waste consortiumSwinburne joins new sustainability and waste consortiumSwinburne joins a new Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub consortium spearheading research into sustainable communities and waste.
Swinburne joins a new Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub consortium. Swinburne’s contributions will be led by Professor Marcus White. The consortium is supported by the federal government’s $149 million second phase of the National Environmental Science Program. Swinburne has joined a new Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub that is spearheading sustainability research, supported by a successful $17 million submission to the federal government’s National Environmental Science Program. The hub is led by UNSW Sydney and composed of six world-class research institutions, also including the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Monash University, Curtin University and the University of Tasmania. The Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub is led by Australian Research Council Laureate Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla, a materials scientist, engineer, inventor and a founder and director of UNSW’s Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology. Swinburne School of Design’s Professor Marcus White is leading the Swinburne team with researchers across the university taking part. Together, they will be demonstrating the power of multidisciplinary design thinking to resolve complex problems. Architectural design rapid prototypes printed from waste plastics, ready to be recycled again. Image supplied by Daniel Prohasky. The Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub will deliver: targeted information and management tools to reduce the impact of plastic and other material on the environment applied scenario-modelling to support sustainable people-environment interactions in communities including urban heat island impacts and liveability analysis effective and efficient management options for hazardous waste, substances, and pollutants throughout their lifecycle to minimise environmental and human-health impacts research that supports maintained and improved air quality. Swinburne is looking forward to contributing game-changing research that improves the future of our world.
18 March 2021 13:14
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/03/swinburne-joins-new-sustainability-and-waste-consortium/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/03/swinburne-joins-new-sustainability-and-waste-consortium/Design|University|SustainabilityfalseIndonesia can earn US$14 billion from old mobile phones and other e-waste in 2040Indonesia can earn US$14 billion from old mobile phones and other e-waste in 2040Professor in Extractive Metallurgy and Metals Recycling, Akbar Rhamdhani, discusses how the economic potential of e-waste in Indonesia is predicted to reach US $14 billion
Analysis for The Conversation Professor Akbar Rhamdhani, Swinburne University of Technology Indonesia is the fourth-most-populous country and one of the largest electronics consumers in the world. As a result, it has a sizeable share of used electronics and electrical equipment, known as e-waste. This e-waste ranges from end-of-life mobile phones, tablets, laptops, personal computers and batteries, to televisions and white goods such as refrigerators and washing machines. Our new paper estimates Indonesia could produce about 2 million tonnes of e-waste in 2021, which is the most in Southeast Asia. By 2040, the economic potential of e-waste in Indonesia is predicted to reach US$14 billion E-waste. techbirmingham/flickr, CC BY How we can generate money from e-waste E-waste offers economic opportunities for Indonesia if we can recycle it. While it contains hazardous elements that need to be processed and contained, it also includes valuable metals such as copper, gold, silver, platinum, palladium and other strategically valuable metals for technologies we use every day. The concentration of selected metals in e-waste is, in some cases, higher than in their primary minerals/ores underground. One example: it takes about 0.5-1 tonnes of gold ores to produce the gold in a wedding ring (about 2 grams). This same amount of gold can be obtained from just 15-30kg of end-of-life mobile phones. Hence this “urban” resource can be an alternative source for metals production. Indonesia’s annual e-waste generation is projected to increase to 3.2 million tonnes in 20 years. That’s about 10kg of e-waste per person in 2040, an increase from 7.3kg/person now. The study mentioned above also highlights that most of the e-waste is in major islands with large populations. Java, the country’s most populated island, is estimated to produce about 56% of the nation’s e-waste. What can be done I believe the key to capitalising on the economic value of e-waste starts with developing an appropriate recycling system. The government is developing a National Circular Economy Strategy. Comprehensive management of e-waste is one of the aspects being considered. Unlike plastic wastes, e-waste should be considered as metals resources – like the primary minerals mined underground. We should focus on processing the e-waste to recover these valuable metals. The strategy of e-waste processing can be aligned with the national strategy for mining and minerals processing. Sustainable and environmentally friendly recycling and recovery of the valuable metals from e-waste, however, are not straightforward because of the complexity of the resource and the need to manage the hazardous elements. In developed countries such as Belgium, Germany, South Korea and New Zealand, the major route for recycling and recovery of valuable elements is through combined chemical processes where the e-waste is sent to large centralised smelting facilities. There the e-waste is co-processed with the production of common basic non-ferrous metals of copper, lead and zinc. These metals act as solvent to absorb the valuable elements, which are later separated in downstream chemical processes. In such large facilities, it’s easier to manage hazardous elements as existing equipment to process primary minerals can also be used to handle hazardous emissions during e-waste processing. As an archipelago, Indonesia’s geography makes it difficult to apply the same centralised model. Fortunately, a number of smelters or refineries are already available in major islands across the archipelago to be part of an overall recycling system and infrastructure. I believe the solution will include technical and logistical integration of suitable technologies to form a complete recycling chain with the introduction of mobile recycling facilities. These facilities operate at small capacity and represent each stage of the e-waste processing – dismantling, mechanical processing and metallurgical processing. They can be placed in major islands to support the key major smelters. These facilities can be integrated with e-waste collection, both formally by provincial governments and by scavengers, taking into account local situations and conditions. There can also be multiple metallurgical facilities operating as individual operations that produce semi products. They can serve as feeders to the next mobile facilities or to larger integrated smelters/metals industries. Breaking down the overall recycling process into smaller operations means smaller capital investments will be needed. This will help attract smaller industries and stimulate the creation of many new recycling industries supporting the circular economy. A caveat is that the smaller industries will have to be better regulated and supported. Developing a comprehensive strategy and recycling system for e-waste is not easy. There are many factors to consider beyond technical aspects, including economical, logistical, environmental and sociocultural aspects. But, with concerted and strategic efforts, we can capitalise on its elusive economic values by turning this waste into wealth. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
04 March 2021 09:23
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/03/indonesia-can-earn-us-14-billion-from-old-mobile-phones-and-other-e-waste-in-2040/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2021/03/indonesia-can-earn-us-14-billion-from-old-mobile-phones-and-other-e-waste-in-2040/SustainabilityFaculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET)EngineeringfalseDrive to football? Take your kids to the pool? You’re probably emitting an astonishing amount of CO₂Drive to football? Take your kids to the pool? You’re probably emitting an astonishing amount of CO₂Swinburne's Sport Innovation Research Group investigates the carbon emissions linked to travelling to and from sporting activities in Victoria.
Analysis for The Conversation by Dr Tim Breitbarth, Senior Academic in Management, Associate Professor Adam Karg, Sport Innovation Research Group, and Dr Kasey Symons, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology Few people would stop to consider if their sporting activities damage the environment. But our research shows Victorians use a huge chunk of their “personal carbon budget” driving to and from sport events each year – either to watch or participate, or to transport children. To have any hope of limiting global warming to 2℃ this century – the upper limit of the Paris Agreement – each person in the developed world should only be emitting about two tonnes of CO₂ per year. We must start getting used to this lifestyle change now. But through sports-related travel alone – mostly driving – some Victorians are emitting almost one tonne of CO₂ a year. These sport-related emissions equal the total CO₂ a person in Pakistan or Africa emits in a year. Obviously, sport participation is to be encouraged. But Australian sport policy is usually all too quiet on its contribution to the climate emergency, and finding solutions. Ferrying kids to and from sport contributes substantial carbon emissions. | Shutterstock. Driving the climate problem The data was gathered by our Swinburne University Sport Innovation Research Group. It is based on self-reported travel data in November 2019, from a sample of 300 people representing the Victorian population. Travel for soccer, swimming, cricket, football, basketball and tennis featured most commonly, followed by gym, jogging, walking and golf. Our analysis assumed walking and biking to an activity emits no greenhouse gases. Public transport accounts for less than 0.02 kilograms per kilometre (kg/km). A combustion engine car produces an average 0.29 kg/km. Among Victorians actively engaged in sport, 43% of mobility was related to their own participation, 36% to being a spectator and 21% to driving or accompanying others, such as children. Research into swimming clubs suggests children’s sport participation results in a bigger carbon footprint than that of adults, due to parent drop-offs and pickups. ars were used on 39% of all trips, and public transport on 41% of trips. This means just one of every five kilometres was walked or cycled. Consider a person who exercises, attends sporting events as a spectator and takes their kids to the oval or swimming pool. On average, we found such a person creates 935kg (almost a tonne) of CO₂ per year if using their car. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has led to a renewed reliance on cars. A tree, if planted today, would take more than 40 years to absorb that one tonne of carbon. Clearly, mitigating emissions should be given priority over carbon offsetting. Such sport-related travel behaviour may be due to various factors, including: a long distance to sporting facilities sports facilities not served by public transport and not connected to safe cycle paths lifestyle choice and convenience persistent habits due to lack of awareness and role models. Survey findings on CO₂ emissions from own sport participation and spectating, and accompanying others to sport. | Author supplied. Rare sporting leaders Achieving climate action requires improving people’s “climate literacy” - their understanding of how humans are affecting the climate, and how the climate affects human systems and associated costs. Here, professional sport has a big role to play. The AFL and NFL, Swimming Australia, Cricket Australia, Football Australia, Motor Racing Australia and others can do more to promote climate literacy within and beyond their organisations. Environmental sporting initiatives have been shown to foster loyalty and turn supporters into environmental ambassadors. And some organisations are real leaders. For example, in 2012, German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg became the first professional sports club to publish a sustainability report approved by the Global Reporting Initiative, a leading sustainability standards organisation. Wolfsburg recently published its fifth report. It shows of the 9,500 tonnes of CO₂ produced during the 2019-20 season, fan travel was responsible for 60%, team and business travel for 6% and employee travel for 2%. It plans to reduce emissions by 55% within the decade, while acknowledging remaining emissions must be negated through credible carbon offset schemes. Importantly, the club does not shy away from initiating discussions and positive environmental action within its industry, region and fan base. Wolfsburg is not alone; the United Nations has declared English professional football team Forest Green Rovers the first carbon-neutral professional sports organisation. Its policies include offsetting all fan travel through certified sustainable development projects, such as a solar-powered rural electrification project. At the time of writing, 174 sport organisations have signed the UN’s Sport for Climate Action framework. These include Tennis Australia, Bowls Australia, the Australia SailGP Team, Richmond Tigers and, most recently, the Australian Olympic Committee. But most sport signatories - including all the Australian ones - are yet to craft “best on ground” sustainability strategies, or adopt environmental consciousness as a normal part of their business. VfL Wolfsburg (in green) puts sustainability at the forefront of its sporting business. | Shutterstock. Turning climate literacy into innovation Human-caused climate change and global warming will bring fundamental structural change to societies and economies. Drastic measures could be taken to force sporting organisations to change. For example, public funding of sports could be contingent on meeting environmental targets. Australian sports organisations should not need be dragged to taking climate and environmental action. They are known for their innovative and ambitious mindsets, which they’ve traditionally directed towards improving sporting and commercial performance. Now it’s time sports organisations turned their collective minds to better understanding the costs and damage caused by CO₂ emissions – and finding solutions. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
23 December 2020 10:45
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/12/drive-to-football-take-your-kids-to-the-pool-youre-probably-emitting-an-astonishing-amount-of-co2/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/12/drive-to-football-take-your-kids-to-the-pool-youre-probably-emitting-an-astonishing-amount-of-co2/Business|SustainabilityfalseWhat is low-carbon steel?What is low-carbon steel?Swinburne's Professor of Engineering, Geoff Brooks provides a low-carbon steel explainer.
Swinburne Professor of Engineering, Geoff Brooks provides a low-carbon steel explainer. The Australian Government’s new energy roadmap includes a plan to produce ‘low carbon steel’. Is this just a buzz word or some pipe dream? Steel is one of the most important materials used by humanity, utilised in everything from trains to cutlery. Last year, we produced over 1860 megatonnes of steel in the world, dwarfing the second most used metal in the world, aluminium by a factor of 30. Steel is very useful, but its production also generates nearly 1.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every tonne of steel produced and accounts for up to five per cent of total world carbon dioxide emissions. Clearly, reducing the carbon dioxide emissions of steel would be important in the shift to a low carbon economy and most significant to Australia with our giant iron ore and coal industry. Why is low-carbon steel important? The great majority of the world’s steel is produced from ore using the blast furnace route to produce iron and oxygen steelmaking to make steel from the iron. In this two-step process, the carbon (in the form of coke) provides both the energy to fuel the production of iron but also to chemically remove the oxygen from the iron ore to produce iron and carbon dioxide. Carbon plays some role in the steelmaking process, but the great majority of carbon dioxide generated is in this ironmaking stage. Simply put, if we can replace carbon in the ironmaking stage of the process, we would largely de-carburise (remove the carbon from) the steelmaking process and ‘low-carbon steel’ would not just be a politician’s buzz word. Can low-carbon steel be achieved? There is some very good news on this front. Yes, hydrogen can be used to replace carbon. In fact, it has been demonstrated at industrial scale that hydrogen can entirely place carbon as a fuel and reactant to remove oxygen in the ironmaking process. As recently as 2005, a plant operated in Trinidad and Tobago produced several hundred thousand tonnes of iron made from Hydrogen and this was successfully converted into commercial grade steel. Now the bad news (or at least the complicated part). Whilst this is technical feasible, there are several serious barriers to this becoming the new way to make steel namely: The current dominant technology for making iron, the blast furnace, is not necessarily suitable for the hydrogen production of iron, and so with so much investment in that technology, changing to another technology would be economically difficult for industry. The technology that is most easily adapted to hydrogen is direct reduced ironmaking (DRI) of which there are several variants. This technology is not suited to dealing with high gangue ores (unwanted minerals or other material in which valuable minerals are found), that are common around the world, so the introduction of hydrogen DRI production would also be challenging to the iron ore industry and likely to lead extra costs and energy in the subsequent steelmaking step. Current ‘green’ routes to making hydrogen (i.e. using renewable energy) are themselves expensive and not currently anywhere near the scale of hydrogen production required by steel plants. The so called ‘grey’ route for making hydrogen (i.e. using natural gas as the feedstock) is currently less expensive than green production but also generate significant carbon dioxide. Some industry experts advocate that the grey route is a good intermediate while renewables and electrolysis technology for mass production of hydrogen are developed. There are significant research programs in the EU, North America and emerging in Australia to address these issues. In my own laboratories at Swinburne, we have active projects looking at these different aspects of the potential hydrogen revolution for metal production. These projects require not only scientific investigation of how hydrogen behaves at high temperature with different ores, but also techno-economic analysis of different options. Any shift to low-carbon steel will require both technical and economic know-how. In summary, ‘low-carbon steel’ is not a silly buzzword. One of the world’s major industries could be effectively decarburised but there are significant technical and economic hurdles that need to be addressed.
02 October 2020 10:58
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/10/what-is-low-carbon-steel/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/10/what-is-low-carbon-steel/Sustainability|EngineeringHigh Temperature Processing Group (HTP),Manufacturing Futures Research Institute,Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET)falseStartup combats single-use plastic crisis with sustainable strawsStartup combats single-use plastic crisis with sustainable strawsFemale-led startup, Little Green Panda has created a range of sustainable drinking straws made from agricultural waste products.22 July 2020 08:31
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/07/startup-combats-single-use-plastic-crisis-with-sustainable-straws/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/07/startup-combats-single-use-plastic-crisis-with-sustainable-straws/SustainabilityInnovation PrecinctSocial AffairsfalseReducing our carbon footprint in a 100 per cent renewable electricity dealReducing our carbon footprint in a 100 per cent renewable electricity dealSwinburne has signed a contract with Iberdrola Australia to procure the equivalent of 100 per cent renewable electricity across our Melbourne campuses
Swinburne has signed a contract with Iberdrola Australia to procure 100 per cent renewable electricity from 1 July 2020. This will drastically reduce Swinburne’s carbon emissions footprint as emissions from our electricity represents over 70 per cent of our total emissions (approximately 30,000 tonnes CO2e/year). Through this arrangement, we will be procuring the equivalent of 100 per cent of our electricity load from the Cherry Tree Wind Farm, which is located near the town of Seymour in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley. This latest development underpins Swinburne’s long-standing commitment to sustainability, as well as supporting a Victorian project and employment in the region. “This agreement is a significant milestone for us as we continue to demonstrate our resolve to ensure a sustainable future by significantly reducing our carbon footprint. This also brings us a step closer to our goal of being carbon neutral by 2025,” says Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Linda Kristjanson AO. Professor Kristjanson adds: “I look forward to collaborating with like-minded organisations, such as Iberdrola, as we continue to focus on embedding sustainability across Swinburne and our daily operations”. “Swinburne is leading by example, proving that a clean and environmentally sustainable future is possible for Australia. Swinburne joins a growing list of Australian businesses who are proactively decarbonising their operations for the long-term benefit of their stakeholders. We are delighted to be partnering with Swinburne and we look forward to working closely together over the coming years,” says Iberdrola Australia’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ross Rolfe AO. Securing a sustainable future Swinburne’s commitment to sustainability is one of our core values - it is embedded across everything we do. “We ensure sustainability is incorporated into our strategic planning and are constantly seeking new ways to reduce our impact on the environment,” Professor Kristjanson explains. In June 2018, Swinburne became a signatory to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Since then, the university has announced it would enhance its existing sustainability initiatives by: committing to 100 per cent renewable electricity procurement by 31 July 2020 and to be carbon neutral by 2025; investing in relevant research and engagement focused on sustainability; and providing courses relevant to the environment and sustainability across the curricula, campus and community programs. Earlier this year, we became the first university in Victoria to sign the Global Climate Emergency Letter and the first universities in Australia to implement a Responsible Investment Charter, which ensures environmental and social impacts are taken into account in the our investment choices. A clean energy giant Iberdrola is a global leader in renewable energy, the number one producer of wind power and one of the biggest electricity utilities in terms of market capitalisation. The Cherry Tree Wind Farm comprises 16 wind turbines and has an installed capacity of 57.6MW, which can generate enough electricity to supply up to 37,000 Victorian homes a year. Infigen Energy has a long-term offtake agreement in relation to 100 per cent of the electricity and large-scale generation certificates produced by the wind farm.
15 May 2020 12:40
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/05/reducing-our-carbon-footprint-in-a-100-per-cent-renewable-electricity-deal/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/05/reducing-our-carbon-footprint-in-a-100-per-cent-renewable-electricity-deal/SustainabilityUniversityfalseSwinburne partners with Scope3 on world-first logistics emissions projectSwinburne partners with Scope3 on world-first logistics emissions projectSwinburne and Scope3 are developing a system to collect and report real-time greenhouse gas emissions in the transport and logistics supply chain.
Swinburne has partnered with Melbourne start-up Scope3 to develop a prototype system that will accurately collect and report real-time greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data in the transport and logistics supply chain. The data gathered will provide insights into transport-generated GHG information, which is required by businesses to complete carbon accounting and climate risk analysis. Founder and CEO of Scope3, Michael Blake, says business, government and the community are uniting in concern about the impact of human activity on climate change. "But, in order to deal effectively with the problem, we must understand the causes of and the relative contributions to GHG generation," Mr Blake says. "The collaboration aims to develop a GHG measurement system for all modes of road transport, including the last leg of the delivery process known as ‘last mile delivery’. It will also develop a prototype digital platform to report, organise and manage the data, and machine learning models to automatically identify improvement opportunities," says Deputy Director of Swinburne's Smart Cities Research Institute, Professor Hussein Dia. "The data analytics capabilities of the platform will provide for greater real time management and reporting of nationally critical data for long term sustainability." Managing the collection and analysis of GHG emissions data is a complex and diverse challenge for businesses, governments and industry. In particular, accurate GHG emissions data from transport emissions, accounting for the ‘last mile’ of a global supply chain, is not readily available and accessible for use. GHG Protocol Corporate Standard The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard classifies a company’s GHG emissions into three 'scopes'. Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions (not included in scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream transport emissions. This is the focus of the Swinburne-Scope3 project.
27 April 2020 10:18
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/04/swinburne-partners-with-scope3-on-world-first-logistics-emissions-project/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/04/swinburne-partners-with-scope3-on-world-first-logistics-emissions-project/SustainabilityFaculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET),Smart Cities Research Institute,ResearchTechnologyfalseBuildings kill millions of birds. Here’s how to reduce the tollBuildings kill millions of birds. Here’s how to reduce the tollResearch into building-related bird deaths increase as high-rise cities grow upwards and outwards.
As high-rise cities grow upwards and outwards, increasing numbers of birds die by crashing into glass buildings each year. And of course many others break beaks, wings and legs or suffer other physical harm. But we can help eradicate the danger by good design. Most research into building-related bird deaths has been done in the United States and Canada, where cities such as Toronto and New York City are located on bird migration paths. In New York City alone, the death toll from flying into buildings is about 200,000 birds a year. Across the US and Canada, bird populations have shrunk by about 3 billion since 1970. The causes include loss of habitat and urbanisation, pesticides and the effects of global warming, which reduces food sources. An estimated 365 million to 1 billion birds die each year from “unnatural” causes like building collisions in the US. The greatest bird killer in the US remains the estimated 60-100 million free-range cats that kill up to 4 billion birds a year. Australia is thought to have up to 6 million feral cats. But rampant global urbanisation is putting the reliance on glass buildings front-of-stage as an “unnatural” cause of bird deaths, and the problem is growing exponentially. In the line of flight Most birds fly at around 30-50km/h, with falcons capable of up to 200km/h. When migrating, birds generally spend five to six hours flying at a height of 150 metres, sometimes much higher. And that’s where the problems start with high-rise buildings. Most of them are much taller than the height at which birds fly. In Melbourne, for example, Australia 108 is 316 metres, Eureka 300 metres, Aurora 270 metres and Rialto 251 metres. The list is growing as the city expands vertically. The paradigm of high-rise gothams, New York City, has hundreds of skyscrapers, most with fully glass, reflective walls. One World Trade is 541 metres high, the 1931 Empire State is 381 metres (although not all glass) and even the city’s 100th-highest building, 712 Fifth Avenue, is 198 metres. To add to the problems of this forest of glass the city requires buildings to provide rooftop green places. These attract roosting birds, which then launch off inside the canyons of reflective glass walls – often mistaking these for open sky or trees reflected from behind. Reflections of trees and sky lure birds into flying straight into buildings. Frank L Junior/Shutterstock A problem of lighting and reflections Most cities today contain predominantly glass buildings – about 60% of the external wall surface. These buildings do not rely on visible frames, as in the past, and have very limited or no openable windows (for human safety reasons). They are fully air-conditioned, of course. Birds cannot recognise daylight reflections and glass does not appear to them to be solid. If it is clear they see it as the image beyond the glass. They can also be caught in building cul-de-sac courtyards – open spaces with closed ends are traps. At night, the problem is light from buildings, which may disorientate birds. Birds are drawn to lights at night. Glass walls then simply act as targets. Some species send out flight calls that may lure other birds to their death. White-throated Sparrows collected in a University of Michigan-led study of birds killed by flying into buildings lit up at night in Chicago and Cleveland. Roger Hart, University of Michigan/Futurity, CC BY We can make buildings safer for birds Architectural elements like awnings, screens, grilles, shutters and verandas deter birds from hitting buildings. Opaque glass also provides a warning. Birds see ultraviolet light, which humans cannot. Some manufacturers are now developing glass with patterns using a mixed UV wavelength range that alerts birds but has no effect on human sight. New York City recently passed a bird-friendly law requiring all new buildings and building alterations (at least under 23 metres tall, where most fly) be designed so birds can recognise glass. Windows must be “fritted” using applied labels, dots, stripes and so on. The search is on for various other ways of warning birds of the dangers of glass walls and windows. Combinations of methods are being used to scare or warn away birds from flying into glass walls. These range from dummy hawks (a natural enemy) and actual falcons and hawks, which scare birds, to balloons (like those used during the London Blitz in the second world war), scary noises and gas cannons … even other dead birds. Researchers are using lasers to produce light ray disturbance in cities especially at night and on dark days. Noise can be effective, although birds do acclimatise if the noises are produced full-time. However, noise used as a “sonic net” can effectively drown out bird chatter and that interference forces them to move on looking for quietness. The technology has been used at airports, for example. A zen curtain developed in Brisbane has worked at the University of Queensland. This approach uses an open curtain of ropes strung on the side of buildings. These flutter in the breeze, making patterns and shadows on glass, which birds don’t like. These zen curtains can also be used to make windows on a house safer for birds. However, such a device would take some doing for the huge structures of a metropolis. More common, and best adopted at the design phase of a building, is to mark window glass so birds can see it. Just as we etch images on glass doors to alert people, we can apply a label or decal to a window as a warning to birds. Even using interior blinds semi-open will deter birds. Birds make cities friendlier as part of the shared environment. We have a responsibility to provide safe flying and security from the effects of human habitation and construction, and we know how to achieve that. This article has been updated to correct the figure for the estimated number of birds killed by the cats in the US to “up to 4 billion”, not 4 million. By Norman Day, Lecturer in Architecture, Practice and Design, Swinburne University of Technology. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
11 February 2020 12:27
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/02/buildings-kill-millions-of-birds-heres-how-to-reduce-the-toll/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/02/buildings-kill-millions-of-birds-heres-how-to-reduce-the-toll/SustainabilityTechnologyfalseWhy government needs to take lead role in decarbonisationWhy government needs to take lead role in decarbonisationThe private sector has a crucial role in to play in reaching a zero-emissions future, but regulations, subsidies and programs are needed to get there.
Despite what Barnaby Joyce and his supporters in the National Party might believe, concern about climate change has reached new heights following Australia’s shocking bushfires. The national debate is moving from whether there is a problem to what more we should do about it. If serious action is not taken, my new granddaughter will enter the 22nd century having lived in a seriously changing climate for decades. Her energy security may also be compromised because the world will have gambled on finding new fossil fuel resources and extraction technologies at an unprecedented rate over the intervening decades. The good news is that plausible paths to zero carbon emissions are emerging. Electricity supply will move to renewables, along with nuclear power in some countries. Electricity will increasingly power city cars and space heating. Hydrogen will fuel heavy and long-distance transport, industries such as steelmaking, and the stabilisation of power grids. Energy use will become more efficient. However, it’s easier to guess where we’ll finish than to work out how we’ll get there. Australia needs a decarbonisation strategy that chooses our next steps based on realistic options and sound assumptions. Our strategy should recognise that decarbonisation will be the first energy transformation driven by public good. Previous transformations (coal-fired steam, internal combustion engines, electrification) were aimed directly at growing wealth and improving living standards. This one will provide services we already enjoy, often at higher cost and with most benefits going to our descendants.
06 February 2020 14:09
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/02/why-government-needs-to-take-lead-role-in-decarbonisation/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2020/02/why-government-needs-to-take-lead-role-in-decarbonisation/SustainabilityfalseMessage from the VC: Bolstering our commitment to sustainabilityMessage from the VC: Bolstering our commitment to sustainabilityA message from Swinburne Vice-Chancellor, Professor Linda Kristjanson AO, on Swinburne's commitment to sustainability.
As you may be aware, Swinburne is a signatory to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and we have undertaken focused energy conservation initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint. At Swinburne, commitment to sustainability remains one of our core values. It is embedded across our university and our daily operations, as we seek ways to accelerate our efforts, goals and actions to arrest climate change. Swinburne was one of the first universities in Australia to implement a Responsible Investment Charter, which ensures environmental and social impacts are taken into account in our university's investment choices. Swinburne recognises and acknowledges the growing scientific consensus that global temperatures are rising. Our professoriate has stated that the most recent scientific evidence shows we are already in a climate emergency. As outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this rise in temperature demands urgent action on the part of individuals, organisations and governments to preserve our planet and way of life for future generations. As a world-class institution committed to creating positive impact, Swinburne is well-placed to find and implement innovative solutions and lead developments across research, education and operations. To this end, Swinburne will enhance its existing sustainability initiatives and act urgently to: commit to 100 per cent renewable energy procurement by 31 July 2020 and to be carbon neutral by 2025 invest in relevant research and engagement focused on sustainability provide courses relevant to the environment and sustainability across curricula, campus and community programs. Our staff and students will be central to this effort, and your feedback on these commitments and suggestions for further actions are always welcome.
16 December 2019 11:38
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2019/12/message-from-the-vc-bolstering-our-commitment-to-sustainability/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2019/12/message-from-the-vc-bolstering-our-commitment-to-sustainability/SustainabilityUniversityfalseMessage from the VC: Sustainability and climate actionMessage from the VC: Sustainability and climate actionA message from Swinburne Vice-Chancellor, Professor Linda Kristjanson AO, on sustainability and climate action.
I have learned that there will be climate action events on Friday 29 November, as part of the ongoing global campaign on climate change. My statement from September 2019 stands as an ongoing message of support for you, our students and staff, to take action on matters of importance. Students, if you decide to attend this or future climate actions, we will work with you to ensure your education is not adversely affected. For our staff, our flexible working arrangements support you to have your voice heard while meeting operational requirements. Sustainability update As you are aware, one of our core values is a commitment to sustainability. Swinburne has signed up to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, joined the global Green Impact program and undertaken focused energy conservation initiatives. We continue to thoughtfully consider ways in which we can accelerate our efforts, goals and actions. We are updating our Responsible Investment Charter and Vice President (Operations) and Chief Financial Officer, Nancy Collins, is ensuring our procurement protocols accelerate our progress and demonstrate leadership for sustainability. I have asked our outgoing Vice President (Strategy and Innovation), Richard Bolt, to take on a new role helping to create a sustainability roadmap for the university, making optimum use of our research and education talent and capability. This work will be completed over the next three months and will inform our future planning. Senior staff and I meet regularly with concerned students and staff to share learnings and discuss actions and in December, Council will consider ways in which we can accelerate our efforts, goals and actions. I look forward to continuing the conversation about sustainability with you in 2020.
26 November 2019 10:45
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2019/11/message-from-the-vc-sustainability-and-climate-action/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2019/11/message-from-the-vc-sustainability-and-climate-action/SustainabilityUniversityfalsePhD candidate wins prestigious Green Talents award for contribution to sustainable development PhD candidate wins prestigious Green Talents award for contribution to sustainable development Swinburne PhD candidate Mohammad Ramezani Taghartapeh has received a Green Talents award in recognition of his contribution to sustainable development.
Swinburne PhD candidate Mohammad Ramezani Taghartapeh has been recognised for his contribution to creating a more sustainable future, receiving a prestigious Green Talents award. The annual Green Talents competition – established by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research – celebrates emerging researchers in sustainable development and promotes the international exchange of innovative green ideas. Mohammad is one of 25 young researchers chosen to receive the award. He was selected by a panel of renowned German sustainability experts from a record 837 applicants across 97 countries. Mohammad, who is completing a PhD in Chemistry and Materials Science, aims to design a fully rechargeable organic battery with high capacity and long cycle life that can compete with current lithium-based batteries. This will contribute to the sustainability of energy storage systems. “Recent statistics show Australian lithium-ion battery waste is increasing by 20 per cent each year and only two per cent of this waste has been recycled over the past few years. Moreover, the materials used in these batteries like cobalt, magnesium and nickel are becoming rarer due to overuse, and the significant amount of battery waste ending up in landfill is causing contamination of soil and water,” says Mohammad. “Hence, there is a need for greener and more sustainable energy storage systems that meet the increasing energy storage requirements, while keeping the world safe and clean.” Exploring the German research landscape As an awardee, Mohammad was invited to participate in the Green Talents International Forum for High Potentials in Sustainable Development – a two-week tour of Germany’s sustainability hotspots, which ran from 14 – 26 October. The tour gave the awardees unique access to some of the country’s leading sustainability researchers from renowned companies and institutions, including the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence; the United Nations University’s Institute for Environment and Human Security; environmental NGO, Germanwatch; RWTH Aachen University; the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy; and high-tech polymer materials manufacturer, Covestro. “I was honoured to visit these fantastic places where people are working on different aspects of sustainability in a variety of research fields,” says Mohammad. “It provided me with ideas for how my own research could be improved by applying the technologies I encountered and harnessing the expertise of the people that I met.” The tour concluded in Berlin with a networking conference bringing together the awardees, German sustainability experts and Green Talents alumni, as well as ambassadors and representatives of the awardees’ home countries. There, Mohammad was presented with his award by Germany’s Parliamentary State Secretary, Dr Michael Meister. The 25 awardees, including Mohammad, are invited to return to Germany in 2020 for a fully-funded three-month research stay at an institution of their choice.
06 November 2019 13:38
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2019/11/phd-candidate-wins-prestigious-green-talents-award-for-contribution-to-sustainable-development-/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2019/11/phd-candidate-wins-prestigious-green-talents-award-for-contribution-to-sustainable-development-/SustainabilityFaculty of Health, Arts and Design (FHAD)SciencefalseRecycling: it’s complicatedRecycling: it’s complicatedProfessor Geoffrey Brooks says other industries can learn a lot from the examples of the steel industry and its successes in the recycling space.
Most people are in favour of recycling. Recycling as a concept is appealing to almost everybody. You do not need training in life cycle analysis or sustainability engineering to grasp the basic idea and inherent appeal of recycling materials, rather than simply dumping or burying our consumer goods that we know longer want. But to quote Meryl Streep, “it’s complicated”. Recycling does not just depend on goodwill and nice intentions. Successful recycling systems require investment in collection infrastructure, regulatory frameworks to support the activity, investment in processing technology, and often a lot of business and technical innovation to succeed. Steel recycling A good example of a successful recycling industry is steel recycling. Steel is the most recycled material in the world, with an overall recycling rate of 86 per cent, according to the Steel Recycling Institute. This has not happened by accident, as most first-world countries have good systems for collecting and processing steel scrap. We also have laws in place to prevent people from simply dumping large steel items (e.g. you are not allowed to just dump an old car where you want) and governments have been supportive of setting up scrap processing facilities. The steel industry has also embraced steel recycling and there has been strong investment in steel recycling technology and R&D. For a long time, steel recycling was associated with low-grade steel products, but in the last 30 years, there has been a shift towards making higher grade steel (e.g. automotive sheet) from scrap steel. This push has also put pressure on scrap merchants to be cleverer in sorting steel and for steelmakers to develop new techniques for controlling quality. And this happy story keeps on giving, because the steel recycling industry has also become much better at limiting the environmental impact of its processes. In our country, the steel recyclers have been active in finding ways of using the residues from the process in building materials. In the last 10 years, OneSteel (now Liberty) developed a process for including recycled rubber materials in the steelmaking process, which they have commercialised internationally. Of course, there are still challenges, such as the issues around recovering valuables from the dusts generated (they often contain significant zinc) and there are impurities in the steel that are very difficult to remove (amusingly called ‘tramp elements’), an issue that my research team at Swinburne is currently working on. There has been business innovation in this industry as well. In the US during the 80s and 90s, Nucor successfully challenged the traditional management model associated with big steel companies by emphasising teamwork, community involvement and reducing the layers of management in their steel recycling plants. Many of these approaches have been adopted across the industry, so in a sense, innovation in the management of scrap processing lead the way for the industry as a whole. Underlying this success story is a basic value proposition – recycling steel makes economic and environmental sense. When you recycle steel, you use approximately half the energy required compared to starting from the ore. Because you can make good quality steel from scrap, investment can be attracted to the technology. Governments encourage the industry because it provides worthwhile employment for its citizens. What can we learn from the success of steel recycling? Firstly, there needs to be a basic value proposition that drives the investment. Secondly, you want the recycling technology to produce high-value products (or at least has the prospect of doing so), as this also will encourage investment and R&D. Finally, you need to get government support, so that the laws and infrastructure investment supports the development of the industry. It’s the issues that we need to address in our push to develop better recycling processes for plastics and e-waste. E-waste In the case of e-waste, it is clear that there is a value proposition in place with the prospect of high-value products being extracted from the waste, namely, the gold, silver, copper and rare earth elements present. Precious metals make up almost 80 per cent of the value of circuit boards and are many times richer than ores that we mine for these materials. However, the intermingling of the valuable components with the less valuable plastic and ceramic parts of the waste stream, means any e-waste processor needs to find a way to find value for the plastic and ceramic portions without excessive investment in processing equipment and infrastructure. Recently, a techno-economic analysis of e-waste processing technologies carried out at Swinburne found that profitable enterprises could be set up in Australia above the scale of 30,000 tonnes per annum. These calculations suggest that Australia could have two or three profitable e-waste processing plants set up in our three biggest population centres. In this case, I think what is lacking is the right regulatory environment and government support to get the industry established. There are successful e-waste recycling industries in other countries (Belgium is notable) and it is clear that in these countries, there is strong government support for the industry. Plastics and composites In the cases of plastic and composite recycling, there are many complex and varied issues associated with each type of material, i.e. the prospects for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) recycling are very different from low-density polyethylene (LDPE). But in general, there are problems with the value proposition because of the relatively low-value of products generally made from plastic recycling. This suggests that even with strong government support to process these materials, we will struggle to find investment and long-term solutions. Simply put, waste plastics are not generally attractive enough as a source of wealth to encourage investors to build new processing facilities. I think this is why some countries simply use these materials as fuel for energy generation, as combustion is a relatively low-cost method of getting some value from polymer-based materials. Of course, breaking down complex polymeric materials to carbon monoxide and water molecules is a crude way to extract value and this is where there is space for new and innovative ideas. Experience shows that goodwill alone will not improve these recycling dilemmas, as long-term solutions require investment and innovation. In short, it’s complicated.
27 November 2018 14:52
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2018/11/recycling-its-complicated/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2018/11/recycling-its-complicated/SustainabilityResearchSustainabilityfalseChinese migrants follow Australians giant ecological footprintsChinese migrants follow Australians giant ecological footprintsSwinburne researchers have found conspicuous consumption is one of the main ways that China-born migrants come to mirror Australian society.
Political debate about a “big Australia” has re-emerged in response to high levels of immigration, increasing congestion and high property prices in Sydney and Melbourne, where 90% of migrants settle. In 2010, China overtook the United Kingdom as Australia’s largest source of permanent migrants (a position now held by India). Since then, China-born migrants have averaged around 15% of the annual intake. That’s a significant contributor to the “Asianisation” of Sydney and Melbourne that Peter McDonald pointed to a decade ago. In this context, our research focused on the much-neglected dimension of the environmental impact on cities of population and immigration. Australian cities are world-leading – in the worst sense – in terms of the size of their ecological footprints, a measure of their resource use and greenhouse gas emissions. And we found China-born residents more than triple their average levels of consumption compared to when they lived in China, even surpassing Australia-born residents’ consumption. What did the study find? We were interested in understanding the urban consumption behaviour of China-born 21st-century migrants (as measured by their ecological footprint) when they settled in Box Hill. This is a middle-class middle-ring suburb of Melbourne with the greatest concentration of China-born residents. We compared their consumption to their pre-migration footprint (when living in China) and to that of Australia-born residents in the same suburb. Our findings are based on an extensive face-to-face survey of 61 China-born and 72 Australia-born residents. The main findings were as follows. Within a decade of arrival in Melbourne, China-born urban consumption patterns were more than three times their consumption before their migration. They even surpassed the consumption levels of other residents of the suburb. Their housing consumption was 5.4 times higher than when in China, food consumption 4.7 times higher and carbon footprint 2.7 times bigger. In part this is due to higher incomes, settling in a city with housing sizes and costs among the highest in the world and where the private car is the dominant form of transport. But cultural influences are also in play. Figure 1. The gap in the CALD Index between residents born in China and in Australia suggests a strong cultural influence on consumption behaviours. (Click to enlarge.) Ting, Newton & Stone (2018), Author provided It is apparent that consumer acculturation is the major process by which Chinese migrants have come to mirror the host society in Australia. Cultural integration is less evident – it lags consumer acculturation. This was clear from a comparison of scores on a Cultural and Linguistic Difference (CALD) Index. The index incorporated measures of birthplace, English proficiency, religion, food preferences, participation in entertainment and festivals, avenues of social interaction and engagement with neighbourhood communities. The gap between the China-born and Australia-born groups’ scores on the CALD Index was significant (see Figure 1). This suggests a strong cultural influence on the China-born group’s urban consumption behaviours is likely. Figure 2. China-born residents in Melbourne tend to have much larger housing in all categories than they had in China. (Click to enlarge.) Ting, Newton & Stone (2018), Author provided A comparison of the different components of the ecological footprints of China-born and Australia-born residents was also revealing. Housing footprints measuring the size and type of dwelling occupied by the China-born residents were 18% larger overall. This may be due to the role housing plays in reflecting an attained status (mien-tzu, or “to save face”) within the host society. Consumption levels that outstrip those of Australia-born residents indicate the potential danger of housing consumption being used to indicate “successful” settlement in Australia. Food footprints of the China-born were 16% larger than the Australia-born. This reflected higher consumption of meat and dairy products and lower consumption of home-grown vegetables. Carbon footprints of the China-born were 37% bigger, mainly as a result of more frequent overseas travel. A rising burden on the planet The global implications of these findings are potentially huge. The rise of incomes among China’s population into the range of those in developed countries can be expected to unleash new levels of urban consumption as this population aspires to the urban liveability enjoyed by people in Australia and North America. In these countries, however, city liveability ratings are closely related to ecological footprints that are almost triple those of China. Based on the rate of growth of the mainland Chinese middle class and the increase in consumption by the China-born middle class now living in Australia, the ecological footprint of China’s population of 1.4 billion can be expected to more than double over the next 10 to 20 years. This has significant consequences for planetary ecosystems and geopolitics. Written by Peter Newton, Research Professor in Sustainable Urbanism, Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology; Christina Ting, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Swinburne Business School, Swinburne University of Technology, and Wendy Stone, Associate Professor, Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
07 November 2018 09:38
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2018/11/chinese-migrants-follow-australians-giant-ecological-footprints/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2018/11/chinese-migrants-follow-australians-giant-ecological-footprints/SustainabilityCentre for Urban Transitions,Faculty of Business (FBE)BusinessfalseUrban policy and climate changeUrban policy and climate changeProfessor Peter Graham discusses the building sector’s potential to contribute to mitigating and adapting to climate change.
The Global Climate Action Summit held last month in San Francisco was a conference for leaders from cities determined to take action on climate change initiatives. Over three days, municipal policymakers compared notes on how they are faring with implementation of action plans, how effective those actions are in both energy savings and emission reductions, and to see what other ideas may help them to achieve their targets. Swinburne’s Centre for Urban Transitions played its part by convening an official affiliate event at the Summit in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme’s Cities Unit, the UN Global Alliance on Buildings and Construction, and the Global Buildings Performance Network. “Until the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, national governments had struggled to forge an international agreement on climate, so many sub-national governments and particularly cities began to lead on climate action commitments,” says Professor Peter Graham, Deputy Director of Swinburne’s Centre for Urban Transitions and program leader of future urban decision making in the Smart Cities Research Institute. Municipal policymakers can make a big difference in meeting climate targets because of their influence in a key area – building and construction. “The building sector contributes around 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions due to building energy consumption,” says Professor Graham. Additionally, cement manufacturing contributes around five per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions, but everything from materials manufacturing and building design to how energy is consumed within buildings are contributing factors. The sector needs to reduce its energy demand by about 80 per cent by 2030 to meet the Paris climate target of limiting global warming to well below 2°C. Ambitious changes to climate policy in relation to buildings makes good sense, given both the industry’s intense energy use and the fact that it’s ubiquitous – the common denominator for the residential, business, education and government sectors is the buildings in which human activity takes place. Decarbonising the Building Sector “Decarbonising is about making buildings net producers of renewable energy rather than net consumers, so that the building stock is helping the city reduce emissions over time,” says Professor Graham. “Old buildings need to be retrofitted so they’re at least four times more energy efficient than they currently are, and all new buildings need to be near or net zero energy – that is either super low energy consuming buildings and/or buildings that have integrated renewable energy supply.” Many energy efficiency solutions for both retrofitted and new buildings already exist. However, one of the challenges decision-makers face is determining what solutions work best in a given situation. Not all options have been analysed closely for evidence of their effectiveness. This has an impact on investment. Significant innovations in materials, design and integration exist, but without clear evidence of their effectiveness, it’s harder to convince investors to get involved. People looking to build or renovate don’t always know where to find examples of best practice either. Research indicates decision-makers rely on internet searches or their peers for advice, a tactic which can bypass more in-depth knowledge. “It’s very hard to discern opinion from fact, and it’s very hard to discern information from evidence,” says Professor Graham. City Knowledge Centre project Swinburne’s City Knowledge Centre (CKC) project aims to change that by providing evidence-assessed resources for urban policymakers that have been reviewed and validated by experts. Commissioned by UK philanthropic organisation, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, the CKC is due to be launched at the end of 2018. Professor Graham presented the CKC at the Climate Action Summit’s Sustainable Building Codes Day – a joint initiative of the UN Global Alliance on Buildings and Construction and the Global Buildings Performance Network, to both showcase how the Centre can help municipal policy makers, and to invite new groups to join the partnership and share their resources to add to the body of evidence. While the commitment of cities around the world to taking action on creating sustainable built environments is important and commendable, it may not be enough to halt the climate decline in time. “The missing ingredient is a real sense of policy ambition. In Australia, we don’t have the energy policy framework that enables those solutions to get to market and scale up. The European Union has a directive requiring all member states to have near net zero energy building standards. Some countries are going much further than that.” Professor Graham notes that the building industry is practical, and if standards change it would retool to meet those standards. Policy that resets the baseline to ambitious energy and sustainability performance would have a powerful effect. Australia’s building standards are developed at the federal level. The mandatory codes are then adopted by the states and implemented at the city level. Change, therefore, has to come first at the national level. “Unless we can get some federal action to improve our building codes, we’re a bit stuck.” The issue is urgent “Every building constructed to Australia’s existing codes locks us in to energy demand and high emissions, and locks out a lot of opportunities for integrating renewables. It’s a race against time to get this innovation happening. 2030 is key. If we haven’t got near or net zero energy building codes mandated by then, it is going to be more costly and less likely that we will meet our climate change targets.” Two policy courses have proven very effective. The first is to update building codes. The other course is the introduction of energy performance rating and labelling for buildings – not unlike appliance energy ratings. The Australian Capital Territory already has a ratings system for residential buildings, and nationally the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) has star ratings for commercial buildings. “Work is being done to investigate the feasibility of a national mandatory energy rating and labelling scheme on these lines,” says Professor Graham. “Legislation could require energy and greenhouse gas performance to be displayed whenever you’re advertising a house for rental or purchase. At the point of sale or change of lease, the owner might need to improve the energy efficiency the next ratings level. That’s what’s going on in Europe.” Mandatory building codes and labelling would have benefits beyond the environmental, too. “We’ve modelled the economic benefits of introducing ambitious building codes,” says Professor Graham. “It’s a huge potential economic boom. The return on investment after 2030 is more than 125 per cent globally. There are also key-benefits like job creation, and improved health and wellbeing.” “The building sector’s potential to contribute significantly to mitigating and adapting to climate change really, really positive. The trick is finding the political will to make some important decisions on energy policy. The doom and gloom scenario is that we are not making change quickly enough. 2030 is the tipping point. If we haven’t got ambitious building energy policies in place by 2030, we may have missed the boat.” Learn more about the Smart Cities Research Institute program led by Professor Graham that aims to engage citizens in the design and management of the urban environment.
05 October 2018 11:39
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2018/10/urban-policy-and-climate-change/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2018/10/urban-policy-and-climate-change/SustainabilityFaculty of Health, Arts and Design (FHAD),Centre for Urban Transitions,Smart Cities Research Institute,Smart Cities Insights and AnalysisfalseSorry, burning our recyclables isn't the solutionSorry, burning our recyclables isn't the solutionSwinburne sociology lecturer and researcher Dr Vivienne Waller offers a solution to Australia’s waste and recycling problems.
Burning recyclable material to produce energy is about as smart as burning your antique furniture to keep warm. Both practices ignore the potential value of what is being burned, instead seeing only a waste product that can be used as fuel. Even so, there have been calls recently for building waste-to-energy plants now that China will no longer receive our waste or recyclables. The distinction between waste and recyclable material is not obvious as much of the ''waste'' that currently goes to landfill could be easily recycled here in Victoria. Let’s start with the low hanging fruit of food waste. Roughly half of what is sent to landfill is food waste, and half of this is generated by households. Already, some councils in Victoria are collecting food ''waste'' from households for composting. The resulting compost is bought by growers who, as a result, enjoy improved soil and more abundant crops. These crops need less water, less synthetic fertiliser, and less herbicide. Another benefit is that carbon is returned to the soil, where it is badly needed, rather than to the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. This win-win approach to dealing with food waste is an example of what is called the circular economy, a strategy of extracting the maximum value of any so-called waste. The European Commission has officially adopted the circular economy as waste management policy, and more than 3500 industrial composting plants in Europe produce compost from separately collected food waste and green waste. In Australia, food waste makes up half of the contents of an average Australian’s landfill bin. A key objective of the circular economy is to avoid waste in the first place, with reuse where possible, and recycling the next best option. Some waste-to-energy plants are still in operation in Europe but the intention is to phase them out, in recognition that waste-to-energy is only appropriate for that which cannot be recycled. Meanwhile, this category of ''unrecyclable'' is steadily shrinking with each innovation that harnesses a ''waste'' product as a resource. In the past, Victoria recycled all of its own plastics, glass, paper and cardboard and this recycling industry, has never quite disappeared. However, it is in dire need of revitalisation, through a regulatory framework that provides incentives for production of, and downstream purchase of, recycled goods. This could ensure that almost all of what is currently dumped as waste to landfill was recycled. There are also a range of possibilities for businesses to immediately start recycling a large amount of their ''waste'' on-site. For example, OSCA is an on-site composter that doesn’t live in a garbage can but, rather, reduces the need for them. On a steady diet of food scraps and used paper, cardboard, and soiled napkins, OSCA can produce compost in two weeks, powered only by the sun. For some, the burning question remains: isn’t burning waste better than burning coal? The question is misplaced. Australia’s energy needs can be met by a combination of solar PV, solar thermal and wind energy. Burning recyclable material does not only destroy valuable resources, it is expensive and produces toxins that are extremely dangerous to human health. So, rather than burning resources to produce energy, we should apply our own energy into avoiding waste and recycling everything else. Written by Dr Vivienne Waller is a senior sociology lecturer and researcher at Swinburne University of Technology. She is currently leading a multidisciplinary research project on composting food waste for growing food. This article was originally published in The Age. Read the original article.
06 March 2018 09:45
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2018/03/sorry-burning-our-recyclables-isnt-the-solution/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2018/03/sorry-burning-our-recyclables-isnt-the-solution/SustainabilityFaculty of Health, Arts and Design (FHAD)SustainabilityfalseClimate experts discuss how to transition to low-carbon livingClimate experts discuss how to transition to low-carbon livingSwinburne experts will meet with leaders in climate science in a bid to influence public policy.
Swinburne experts will meet with leaders in climate science in a bid to influence public policy at a national forum in Melbourne this week. The ‘Engaging Citizens in Transitions to Low-Carbon Living’ forum to be held on 24 November will explore ways to encourage citizens to embrace low-carbon living, with the insights developed into a discussion paper for Australian policymakers. “We have the technology and expertise available to achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment,” says Swinburne’s Professor Peter Graham, Node Leader Smart-Low Carbon Cities at the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living (CRC-LCL). “However, issues such as perceived lack of demand for low carbon solutions, lack of public and business awareness of potential benefits, and a disorganised evidence-base are impeding the implementation of low-carbon solutions.” Discussing the future The forum will present the latest research and tools from the CRC-LCL, partners and collaborators that address these issues, says Professor Graham. “It will provide an interactive discussion about new opportunities for businesses, communities and individuals to be engaged and empowered to transition to low-carbon behaviours and practices.” Panel discussions include: ‘Can we Influence Behaviour and Social Practice to Live More Sustainably in Cities?’ ‘How Do we Learn and Share Knowledge on Low-Carbon Urban Living in Ways that Support and Influence Big Decisions and Innovation?’ ‘How can we Harness the Influence of Traditional and Social Media, and the ‘Internet of the Things’ to Facilitate Sustainable Urban Transitions?’ ‘How do we Better Target Government Policies to Influence Citizens and what Behaviour Research could Help Mitigate the Climate Impacts of Cities?’ Australian leaders There will be a number of leading researchers in attendance including Leonie Walsh, former Victorian Chief Scientist; Hon. Robert Hill AC, Chairman of CRC for Low Carbon Living; Scientia Professor Deo Prasad AO, CRC CEO; Professor Jane Farmer, Director Swinburne Institute for Social Innovation; and Professor Peter Newton, Swinburne Centre for Urban Transitions. For full details of the forum, see: ‘Engaging Citizens in Transitions to Low-Carbon Living’
22 November 2017 14:43
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2017/11/climate-experts-discuss-how-to-transition-to-low-carbon-living/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2017/11/climate-experts-discuss-how-to-transition-to-low-carbon-living/SustainabilityFaculty of Health, Arts and Design (FHAD)Social AffairsfalseSwinburne VCAL students connect with local communitySwinburne VCAL students connect with local communitySwinburne senior students have collaborated on two local council projects.
Swinburne senior students have collaborated on two local council projects to encourage creativity and engage with those outside their generation. Working with Knox City Council, the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) students from Swinburne’s Wantirna Year 12 class hosted a ‘Make – Do – Play – Connect’ space as part of the Stringybark Festival. The festival focuses on ways to inform and empower the local community that contribute to a more sustainable way of living. They engaged with young children to decorate billycarts they had made out of reusable household items that are often thrown away in hard rubbish collections. “The purpose was to show today’s generation of children how much fun can be had from getting outside, being creative, and working with your hands to make something out of materials perceived to have no further value,” says Susan Elmasri, Swinburne Senior Secondary Programs Manager. “Youngsters visiting the festival checked out the ‘skateboard’ cart and delighted in decorating the ‘blank canvas’ cart,” she says. Students drew a crowd to their final presentation which culminated in two billycarts being awarded as prizes for two families at the festival. Intergenerational connections Swinburne ‘s Croydon Year 12 Students were involved in a project with the Maroondah City Council and Croydon’s local library, helping to break down intergenerational barriers. The students created an interactive art installation designed to challenge the image of young people in the community. “Students made individual contributions through short narrative and poetry writing, and shared art pieces that included drawing, sculpture and photography,” says Ms Elmasri. “It was then up to the community to contribute, as visitors interacting with students were asked to add their dreams to the dream board, and inspirational thoughts to leaves on the community tree.” She says that the students took great pride in their work across both projects and that real-world engagement makes a difference in their skill development, making the process more meaningful and worthwhile. “That’s what VCAL is all about, reaching beyond the classroom and giving students authentic learning experiences.” Croydon VCAL Teacher, Mrs Mieke Alexander and Wantirna VCAL Teacher, Mrs Arti Vallabh, were both involved in leading these projects.
18 October 2017 10:48
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2017/10/swinburne-vcal-students-connect-with-local-community/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2017/10/swinburne-vcal-students-connect-with-local-community/SustainabilityDesignfalseEnd of the road? Why it might be time to ditch your carEnd of the road? Why it might be time to ditch your carSustainability expert Anthony James explains why people should reconsider owning a car.
The average car is stationary 96% of the time. That’s a fairly consistent finding around the world, including in Australia. A car is typically parked at home 80% of the time, parked elsewhere 16% of the time, and on the move just 4% of the time. And that doesn’t include the increasing time we spend at a standstill in traffic. Bill Ford, executive chair of the Ford Motor Company, says we’re heading for “global gridlock”. And he’s not alone in saying we cannot simply keep adding more cars to our roads. The funny thing is that while we own more cars than ever, we’re actually using them less. You might think that’s a good thing; that we’re responding to worsening congestion and health, debt and environmental damage by opting to drive fewer kilometres. But the problem is, we’re still choking our cities and harming our health, finances and environment by continuing to waste our resources on these increasingly dormant vehicles. It’s not just the car itself that’s wasted. Consider the resources and infrastructure – both private and public – needed to design, mine, manufacture, ship, sell, fuel, move, store, secure, insure, regulate, police, maintain, clean, repair and dispose of all these cars. David Owen, a staff writer with The New Yorker, has called cars “consumption amplifiers”. They are emblematic of a hyper-consumerist lifestyle that doesn’t really make us any happier. Our declining car use gives us an opportunity. If we can adjust our car ownership patterns to match our actual needs, we can plan our lives and cities in ways that don’t revolve around a mode of transport that no longer serves us like it used to. Fast cars? By default, we still think of cars as fast and convenient. It might appear that way on the street, but the overall reality is quite different. For a start, cars are a woefully inefficient way to transport a person from A to B. Typically, only around 20% of the energy from fuel combustion is converted into motion. If we assume that the average car weighs roughly 20 times more than its driver, we can estimate that for a single-occupant car journey, with no significant other cargo, the effective fuel efficiency drops to just 1% (adding a passenger only raises this to 2%). And that’s before we take into account the broader resource and infrastructure requirements, as mentioned above, for that journey to take place. The urban car isn’t terribly fast either. Research shows that when we take into account not only the time in transit but also the time spent working to pay for the car and its operation, the car’s average “effective speed” in cities is generally well under 13km per hour. This has been called the “urban speed paradox”. As cyclist and author Greg Foyster has pointed out, “your typical commuting cyclist can beat that without breaking a sweat”. These and other factors have resulted in what’s called “peak car”. The average distance travelled per person by car has been declining for more than a decade. Commuting distances and average urban driving speeds have also peaked and the rate of new licences is plummeting. Ford Motor Company’s future trends manager, Sheryl Connelly, has suggested that cars no longer symbolise freedom to this generation in the way they did to baby boomers. The rise of car-sharing schemes has also caused renting to lose its stigma. Young people now prize access over ownership. Yet, for too many of us, a privately owned car remains the default for almost every transport task. There are times when cars are useful, but for general urban commuting, based on what we’ve seen above, it is like using a chainsaw to carve butter. Expanding the transport toolkit Many urban areas around the world are seeing a rapid shift away from private cars as the dominant form of transport. Areas of some cities are even going car-free while reallocating old road space to public or active transport, or back to nature. In Australia, the City of Port Phillip has devised a plan to halt the growth in car ownership, even as the city’s population doubles, by converting hundreds of parking spots into car-share bays. Each share-car is reported to take up to 14 cars off the road, while cutting the costs of personal mobility by up to 60%. One local resident was reported as saying the recent addition of a car-share spot at the end of his family’s street had prompted them to sell their rarely used car. “Now that there is a really good number of cars close by, we can make that move to going completely car-free.” Then there’s the rapid development of other shared transport such as bike-share programs. By 2014, the number of cities with bike-share programs had increased to 850, up from only 68 in 2007. Alongside all this are new planning models for activity centres, integrated transport networks, and carless or near-carless residential developments. All the while, speed limits are decreasing, free public transport (at point of access) is increasing, and automobile and business associations are advocating for heavy investment in active and public transport. Transport in 2017 and beyond None of this is meant to demonise cars or their drivers, or to suggest that no one should own a car. What I am saying is that the model of everyone owning their own car is best relegated to the 20th century. This leads to the question of what the optimal level of car ownership might be, where we achieve the transport benefits without the waste, damage and expense. What if in 2017 we focused on developing our personal and collective toolkits beyond the chainsaw, to do a better job of moving ourselves around? You might get to know your local matrix of transport options better, from walking, cycling and skating routes to public transport, shared transport (car-share, ride-share, bike-share, taxis) and rented transport (cars, trucks, motorbikes, bicycles). Over time, you could then home in on how they work best together. More of us could consider placing our cars in peer-based car-share or ride-share programs (informal or formal). Or we could even choose to sell our cars, and opt into one of the above schemes as a user rather than provider. Peak car is upon us, and with it comes the opportunity to choose new models of urban transport that better match our current needs for quality, sustainable living. It is vital work. And like any good tradie, we need to make sure we have the right tools for the job. Written by Anthony James, Lecturer, Swinburne University of Technology. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
15 February 2017 09:09
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2017/02/end-of-the-road-why-it-might-be-time-to-ditch-your-car/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2017/02/end-of-the-road-why-it-might-be-time-to-ditch-your-car/SustainabilityCentre for Sustainable Infrastructure (CSI)falseAn innovative solution to satisfy Melbourne’s housing demandAn innovative solution to satisfy Melbourne’s housing demandProfessor Peter Newton believes long-established residential areas could help satisfy Melbourne’s housing demand.
An innovative solution to satisfy housing demand in Melbourne as the population expands has been developed by a Swinburne researcher. Melbourne is a city under pressure. With a population expected to double to around seven million by 2055, there is commensurate pressure on resources, transportation and planning efforts. But current strategies to meet housing demand such as putting up high-rise apartments in ‘brownfield’ zones, piecemeal rebuilding in the suburbs, and the development of vacant rural-urban fringe ‘greenfields’ areas are not delivering sustainable housing. Swinburne’s Professor Peter Newton believes a solution lies in established ‘greyfields’ suburbs — long-established residential areas within 25 kilometres of the city centre, where the value lies in the land rather than the buildings. Greyfield suburbs are rich with services, transport, amenities and employment opportunities. But the way these suburbs have expanded and evolved is less ideal. Individual properties are replaced piecemeal with new townhouses typically providing only two to four dwellings, which is insufficient to meet the housing demands or a growing population. Professor Newton believes these have potential for a more cohesive and sustainable redevelopment if new models and instruments for precinct scale regeneration can be created. He’s exploring these possibilities at Swinburne’s Institute for Social Research in collaboration with the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI). The Greening the Greyfields (GtG) project identifies the most promising greyfields precincts across the city with ENVISION, software that locates properties with high redevelopment potential. ENVISION develops 3D computer-aided design models of suitable medium-density housing designs for the precinct, assessed for their environmental performance. The project considers the market and community dynamics necessary to encourage precinct redevelopment. Also taken into account are ways of building a range of cost-effective, low-rise, medium-density housing that retains or improves sustainability in terms of water conservation, waste disposal and recycling, and carbon neutrality. The benefits of regenerating greyfields precincts include keeping city sizes manageable, preserving greenspace, developing more sustainable and resilient communities, and ensuring affordable housing. Greyfields redevelopment would also save on infrastructure costs and reduce dependence on cars, a significant contributing factor to lack of sustainability in Australian city development. “By neglecting the regeneration of greyfields, governments are consigning our big cities to less sustainable, liveable and competitive futures,” says Newton. The GtG project also investigates the types of planning policies that could facilitate more efficient redevelopment of housing in city suburbs. “This project looks at why we’re not building more medium-density housing in the middle suburbs and what can be done about it. What design, construction, manufacturing and labour force innovations can be brought to bear? What new institutional and governance arrangements need to be established?” The answers to these questions aim to align with nation-wide objectives for sustainable development of Australia’s expanding cities.
25 August 2016 14:01
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/08/an-innovative-solution-to-satisfy-melbournes-housing-demand/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/08/an-innovative-solution-to-satisfy-melbournes-housing-demand/SustainabilitySocial AffairsfalseSustainable solutions for wine wasteSustainable solutions for wine wasteSwinburne researchers are investigating ways to recycle plant waste produced by the wine industry.
Ways to recycle the vast amount of plant waste produced by the wine industry are under investigation by chemistry and biotechnology researchers at Swinburne. Grape pomace is the skins, pulp, seeds and stems remaining after the fruit has been pressed for juice. While pomace contains tartaric acid, a common additive used to balance the acidity of the wine, it is of limited nutrient value. It is also too hard for animals to digest so can’t be used as feed, and degrades too slowly to be useful as compost. Given the size of Australia’s wine industry, a lot of plant waste ends up in landfill. Swinburne researchers, led by Professor Enzo Palombo, chair of the department of chemistry and biotechnology, are collaborating with the CSIRO to find a solution and have developed a technique for converting the waste into compounds with potential value as biofuels or medicines. Four fungi are used in the process — Trichoderma harzianum, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium chrysogenum and Penicillium citrinum. A 30-minute heat-activated pre-treatment breaks down the biomolecules. Then, a bioreactor containing the fungal blend takes up to three weeks to break down the biomass. The breakdown produces alcohols, acids and simple sugars with industrial and medicinal applications. Among the extracts is tartaric acid, which can be reused in the winemaking process. “We have demonstrated this technique in the laboratory, but it can be scaled up to an industrial level,” says Palombo. “Our newer modified process involves a simplified and rapid extraction method that can be performed on-site, thus recycling the waste directly back into the winemaking process,” he says. Since tartaric acid is one of the biggest costs to winemakers, its effective extraction for reuse reduces their costs significantly. The residual post-process biomass has reduced toxicity and can be safely composted or used as animal feed. Southern Estate Wines will be working with Swinburne on further research to better understand the fungal-based conversion process, which the group hopes will result in sustainable, efficient, novel and economical methods of grape pomace degradation and bioconversion. Swinburne will extend this work to other agricultural industries. There’s already interest in applying the new method to treating large amounts of toxic citrus waste and creating innovative ways to reduce and recycle wastewater. The agricultural, food, paper, textile and related industries produce abundant plant-based waste. But because not all biomass waste is easily biodegradable for compost or suitable for biofuels or animal feed, biodegradation is a key research focus.
12 August 2016 10:24
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/08/sustainable-solutions-for-wine-waste/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/08/sustainable-solutions-for-wine-waste/SustainabilitySciencefalseThe next solar revolution replacing fossil fuels The next solar revolution replacing fossil fuels Solar and mining can go hand in hand, says Swinburne Professor Geoff Brooks.
Recently Sandfire Resources, a gold and copper producer based in Western Australia, announced its new solar power plant will soon start powering its DeGrussa mine. By replacing diesel power, the 10-megawatt power station, with 34,000 panels and lithium storage batteries, is expected to reduce the mine’s carbon emissions by 15%. This is an exciting development because it realises an important potential that has long been recognised but not exploited. Two of Australia’s greatest resources – solar energy and minerals – are, as luck would have it, both highly concentrated in the same parts of Australia. In this case, solar energy is being used to power the mine, but there is also great potential for solar energy to be used to convert the minerals to chemicals and metals. In metal production, most greenhouse gases are generated when carbon (often coal) is used to produce metal from the rocky ore. Some of this carbon is used in the actual chemical reactions, but a large proportion is just providing energy for the process. Replacing the carbon energy source with renewable or other lower-emission energy has the potential to dramatically lower the greenhouse gases associated with metal production. For example, in iron production, more than 400kg of coke and coal is use to make every tonne of iron. Using renewable energy as a heat source could reduce this carbon input by up to 30%. The next revolution Currently, Australia’s use of solar energy is largely limited to homes, for hot water and solar-powered electricity. But solar energy has great potential for regional Australia too. Mines are often isolated. There is typically limited natural gas and electricity supply, and in remote areas energy supply is limited to liquid fossil fuels. This is exactly the potential being exploited by Sandfire Resources at its mine facility 900km north of Perth. Recent studies by CSIRO have identified the potential to use solar in high-temperature processing of ores such as bauxite, copper and iron ore. This process would use concentrated solar thermal (CST) energy as a heat supply. This heat can also be converted to electricity, known as concentrated solar power (CSP). This is different to the solar photovoltaic technology used in Sandfire’s solar power plant (and rooftop solar panels), which converts sunlight directly to electricity. Solar thermal energy works best at temperatures between 800℃ and 1,600℃ – which can be achieved with existing technology that concentrates the sun’s heat. This is currently too hot for converting the heat to electricity, which generally operates below 600℃. But processing minerals can make use of these high temperatures, because the heat is used directly for chemical conversion, rather than first being converted to electricity. It is this rationale that is driving research, at the University of Adelaide, into producing alumina using concentrated solar energy and, at Swinburne University, into producing iron from ore. We have tested a range of temperatures and mineral mixes, and have produced iron products similar to commercial-grade iron products. We envisage a solar iron-making plant operating in Western Australia and value-adding to our iron reserves before being shipped overseas. We expect this could reduce energy and emissions by 20-30% compared to current iron-making processes, by replacing carbon-based fossil fuels with solar energy, although carbon would still be used in the chemical processes. Whether this is cost-effective will depend on the manufacturer, as the saving in energy and carbon will need to compensate for the high capital cost associated with high solar fluxes. Concentrated solar energy is still relatively expensive. The Australian Solar Institute estimated in 2012 that the cost of electricity from concentrated solar was approximately double the current cost for conventional energy, reflecting largely the high capital cost of solar systems. This gap can reasonably be expected to close with increases in the scale of operations (lowering manufacturing costs) and in regulatory pressure on conventional power sources. It may be a way off, but the small step by Sandfire Resources could be the start of a revolution in the Australian minerals industry. Written by Geoffrey Brooks, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Future Manufacturing), Swinburne University of Technology. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
29 June 2016 09:36
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/06/the-next-solar-revolution-replacing-fossil-fuels-----/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/06/the-next-solar-revolution-replacing-fossil-fuels-----/SustainabilityHigh Temperature Processing Group (HTP)TechnologyfalseSwinburne steps closer to a sustainable future Swinburne steps closer to a sustainable future Swinburne has installed an in-vessel composter that converts waste into compost within 24 hours.
Swinburne has taken a step further in its sustainability footprint by installing an in-vessel composter in the basement of the SPS building at the university’s Hawthorn campus. The closed loop composter will receive food scraps from a selection of cafes in the SPS precinct and has the ability to convert waste into reusable compost within 24 hours. The compost will be then handed over to Swinburne’s horticulture department, where it will be used to grow fruit and vegetables. Greg Taylor, owner of Café Gomez, was the first to utilise the new machine and says he’s more than happy to be given such an opportunity. Greg Taylor making coffees at his cafe in the SPS precinct, Cafe Gomez. “It’s so great to see the shop’s waste actually contribute to something meaningful. It’s up to people like us to do something for our future and we’ve been given a chance to join in and take action,” Greg says. The installation of the composter is not only pushing Swinburne toward a greener future, but is part of a larger research project, involving Swinburne’s Dr Vivienne Waller , Professor Linda Blackall and Dr Belinda Christie. Funded by the CRC for Low Carbon Living, the research aims to compare off-site and on-site composting, investigate the microbes involved and encourage people’s engagement with the composting process and the resulting compost. “Swinburne is working closely with industry, state and local government to ensure this research can help shape policy that recognises the value of food waste when it is composted, and how it can be done most effectively,” Dr Waller says. She believes the composter will not only assist her team’s research, but will help guide the university towards a more sustainable future. “Without this composter, these food scraps would otherwise rot in landfill, producing greenhouse gases and toxic leachate. Swinburne is helping support a greener future and I’m more than proud to be a part of it.” The installation of the in-vessel composter at Swinburne is also just in time for International Compost Awareness Week, which runs through Monday 2 May-Sunday 8 May.
06 May 2016 10:20
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/05/swinburne-steps-closer-to-a-sustainable-future/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/05/swinburne-steps-closer-to-a-sustainable-future/SustainabilityFaculty of Health, Arts and Design (FHAD)University,Social AffairsfalseMaking waves in global forecastingMaking waves in global forecastingAdjunct Professor Alexander Babanin is researching the changing wind and wave dynamics that affect climate change.
As climate change causes the Arctic polar ice to retreat more each summer, countries and industry are anticipating the opening of faster and cheaper shipping routes. But the wave and ice conditions that ships will encounter are a big unknown. Waves are Alexander Babanin’s specialty. The Swinburne Adjunct Professor, and former Director of the Centre for Ocean Engineering, Science and Technology (COEST) is researching the rapidly changing wind and wave dynamics that will affect climate and shipping. Babanin says this exciting and novel project, funded by the United States Office of Naval Research, involves field research and analysis of data from 20 years of satellite imaging. “The shipping route from South Eastern Asia to Europe via the Arctic is only half the distance of the traditional route via the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean. Imagine how much more economical that is.” As Arctic ice melts and more of the ocean opens, the waves break up the remaining ice, causing it to melt faster. This in turn creates larger areas of open ocean, bigger waves and, in storms, even more ice broken. Babanin is recognised as a world expert on wave–air interactions. Research at COEST considers how the waves, winds, currents and ice interact to affect the atmosphere, weather and climate. This metocean research is vital for industry and coastal engineering, he says. It can be applied to design better and safer ships, ports and offshore oil and gas rigs. For example, Babanin says ships that operate in a specific region can save 10 per cent on fuel consumption if they are designed to suit the particular wave conditions. As well as his studies in the Arctic, the Russian-born scientist has been involved in developing the physics driving global wave prediction models managed by the United States’ National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). His research is also helping scientists understand the ocean dynamics of tropical cyclones and the impact waves have on the ocean’s ability to store carbon dioxide and heat, as the world warms up. Not just waves While there are many oceanographers in Australia, Babanin says few investigate the effects waves bring to the climate system. “That’s our niche. It’s not just waves, it’s not just oceanography, it’s the wave-coupled effects.” He explains that the missing factor in wave modelling is the physics that govern the interaction between waves and winds. Waves are generated by wind, but in turn the roughness of the sea surface changes the wind, which affects the meteorology over the ocean and the climate. In tropical cyclones or hurricanes for instance, giant waves mix and churn up cold water from the deep ocean, changing the local current structure. An upwelling of cold water under the footprint of the cyclone can dampen it down or shut it off completely once the water reaches 26 degrees Celsius. Occasionally a downwelling can bring in warmer water and increase the power of the cyclone. The waves produced by tropical cyclones or hurricanes are most destructive once they hit the coastline, as shown by Hurricane Sandy, which caused around US$70 billion damage in New York and New Jersey in 2012. Babanin says our ability to predict the intensity of tropical cyclones has not improved for decades. This is due to enormous uncertainty about the dynamics of fluxes that go into the ocean and back into the atmosphere. For instance, scientists struggle to precisely measure ocean spray production. To get more accurate measurements, Babanin negotiated with research partner Woodside Energy to set up a tropical cyclone observation site on their North Rankin Complex gas platform off Australia. “That’s the first field site which is equipped to measure the whole set of air interactions, the fluxes in the air, the fluxes in the water, the waves themselves and the spray,” says Babanin. They recorded the first tropical cyclone from the platform last summer. Drawn to the sea Babanin, who was brought up in Crimea on the Black Sea, was always fascinated by oceanography. He worked as a research scientist in Russia before migrating to Australia about 20 years ago. Appointed a Research Fellow at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, he worked on the landmark wind-wave field experiments conducted in the shallow Lake George, about 40 kilometres north-east of the city. The research was headed by Professor Ian Young, who later became Vice-Chancellor of Swinburne university and then Australian National University. Young says the Lake George study, funded largely by the United States Navy, examined “all the forces that went towards generating waves” by mimicking how waves behave in coastal areas. While the lake is only around 1.5 metres deep, the dataset from this ideal field site is now used to forecast wave conditions across the world’s oceans. “Particularly in the past five years, one of the very significant things that Babanin has been driving and building up is the new physics going into these global wave prediction models,” says Professor Young. Wave models consider the impact of a range of physical processes, which determine how waves evolve, such as energy input from the wind and energy loss due to wave breaking. “It is the understanding of these terms where Babanin has made his impact,” he says. In fact, Babanin updated around 60 per cent of the physics terms of NOAA’s new Wavewatch 111 model, which is used by national agencies such as the Australian Bureau of Meteorology for wave forecasting, as well as by industry, surfers, ships navigators and captains. Giant waves Young, now an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne, is researching extreme waves with Babanin. They were awarded an Australian Research Council grant to better understand and predict the most extreme storms, and the most extreme wave heights, as the climate changes. Their modelling is based on the world’s most comprehensive wind and wave dataset, which Young compiled from 30 years of satellite imaging. Already they have found that over the past 30 years the average wave conditions across the globe have increased by about four to five per cent. The data indicates that extremes are increasing. “So you’re getting more storms and more intense storms,” says Young. The largest wind-generated waves could be 35 metres high. “I’ve certainly never been to sea in these conditions, but it would be simply terrifying,” he says. Accurately predicting extreme waves is important for engineering and shipping. They intend using the dataset to simulate not just one in 100 year events but the highest waves that could occur in 1,000 or 10,000 years. The one in 10,000-year information is now demanded by some insurers of offshore gas rigs. Perhaps more important in the near future is the role ocean waves play in climate change, says Young. Large amounts of heat from the atmosphere enter the oceans and, in many cases, mix into the deeper ocean. Young says the speed at which the ocean can take up carbon dioxide depends on the roughness of the ocean, so research into waves is “an important element of being able to build accurate models for what might happen to our climate in future”.
15 April 2016 10:52
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/04/making-waves-in-global-forecasting/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/04/making-waves-in-global-forecasting/SustainabilityCentre for Ocean Engineering, Science and Technology (COEST)Engineering,SciencefalseWhy Australia should have built a fast rail decades agoWhy Australia should have built a fast rail decades agoProfessor Peter Newton discusses the feasibility of a fast rail between Melbourne and Sydney.
The front-page headlines generated this week by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s promise to link Australia’s major eastern cities by fast rail may be seen by many voters as yet another major infrastructure pledge made hurriedly in the run-up to a federal election that is likely to evaporate just as quickly afterwards. Fast intercity rail certainly has form when it comes to being put on the table only to be whipped away again. Linking Australia’s two biggest cities by rail would be in the same nation-building category as the Snowy Mountains Scheme, yet we have been talking about it for decades without actually doing it. How different might things be now if Australia had built the Very Fast Train (VFT), first proposed in 1984 by the then CSIRO chairman, Paul Wild. The plan (on which I worked) attracted the support of leading companies of the day, including BHP and Elders IXL, but was bogged down in taxation issues and eventually scrapped in 1991. If it had gone ahead, we would have had an infrastructure capable of shaping the new century for Australia’s densely populated east coast, instead of still waiting for it today. The route The first choice was a coastal route running from Melbourne through the Latrobe Valley (and what a boost that would have been to a region that even then was struggling with its over-reliance on brown coal), the Gippsland lakes (with a branch line to the mountain resorts), the southern New South Wales coastal towns and into Sydney via Wollongong (a rust-belt city at that time that would also have benefited from this investment). This was later replaced by an inland route identified by the CSIRO and the VFT consortium, after a series of localised environmental protests. Canberra became one of the designated stations on the inland route and the rest is history – there has never been a return to the original route, despite the fact that more than 90% of Australians live near the coast. Fast rail route proposed in 1987, after being diverted inland via Canberra. VFT consortium, Author provided The funding Perhaps unsurprisingly, finance was the original project’s downfall. It became a private-sector joint venture in 1987 but collapsed in 1991 when the federal government decided against easing the tax burden on the project’s initial major outlays in return for higher tax overall. Australian governments have struggled ever since to find ways for public-private partnerships to fund big projects. Until now, perhaps. This time around, Turnbull has touted the prospect of “value capture”: the financial benefit that the private sector could gain from the boost to urban development around stations – as seen, for example, near Japan’s Shinkansen (bullet train) stations. In tax increment financing (TIF) schemes, which are more common in the United States for financing infrastructure projects, value capture by governments via increased property rates and taxes has provided a basis for public sector funding. But this has not proved popular in Australia. The challenge We have even more urban and regional challenges than we did three decades ago. Sydney and Melbourne are each facing rapid population growth and will need to avoid the damaging consequences of urban sprawl and car dependence. Both cities will need to redirect growth inwards, to brownfield and greyfield sites. Another consideration is how to disperse the population into regional cities, so these areas can also benefit from improved economic activity. Fast rail can potentially help regional cities become part of a “mega-metropolitan” economic region. For example, a 350 km per hour service connecting Melbourne with Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Warragul would transform these provincial centres into the equivalent of Melbourne’s middle-ring suburbs, where 30-minute commutes are the norm. Travel times in minutes from Melbourne. CSIRO/Australia State of the Environment Report, 1997, Author provided This route would also be the beginning of an inter-capital fast rail route, from Melbourne to Canberra (possibly via Shepparton), and then running through various population centres, via Badgery’s Creek (Sydney’s proposed second international airport) to the Sydney CBD. The carbon case… and a bump in the track Almost 8 million passengers flew between Melbourne and Sydney in 2015, making this route the world’s fourth busiest (ahead of Beijing-Shanghai). The carbon savings from a Melbourne-Sydney fast rail link therefore represent a major potential reduction in greenhouse emissions, especially if it is powered significantly by renewable energy. This obviously wasn’t part of the business case back in the 1980s. But in 2016 it is surely a candidate for the federal government’s Emissions Reduction Fund. The government’s proposed value capture funding model has a sting in the tail. Privately held land near the rail link and its stations will need to be rezoned and handed to private firms to build facilities (and surrounding developments) that they would then own and operate. Land acquisition, even with compensation at market value, is generally not welcome in Australian cities. This is just one example of what makes transformational urban change so hard. But this kind of transformation will be critical to the creation of 21st-century cities that are productive, competitive, sustainable and liveable. Peter Newton, Research Professor in Sustainable Urbanism, Swinburne University of Technology. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
14 April 2016 09:57
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/04/why-australia-should-have-built-a-fast-rail-decades-ago/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/04/why-australia-should-have-built-a-fast-rail-decades-ago/SustainabilityPoliticsfalseNightingale's sustainability song falls on deaf earsNightingale's sustainability song falls on deaf earsCity residents are embracing the bike, yet an apartment building has been blocked for not providing car parking.
The Commons apartment building in the inner Melbourne suburb of Brunswick has won swags of awards, including the Best of Best at the 2014 BPN Sustainability Awards. Among its many lauded attributes is its total lack of on-site car parking. Residents get a yearly public transport ticket and membership of a car share scheme with a prepaid usage allowance. A share car is located on the street in front of the building. Cycling is the fastest mode of transport into the city, so there are 76 bike spaces for just 24 apartments. The council waived the car parking requirement on the proviso that no on-street parking permits would ever be issued to residents. More than 620 people are on the waiting list for a Commons-type apartment. The proponents, Breathe Architecture, thought they’d do The Commons again, across the road. With the Nightingale they intended to add a bicycle maintenance service as part of the package. The carpark-less Commons apartment building won multiple awards, but its successor project, the Nightingale, has been blocked on appeal. Again Moreland City Council waived the requirement for car parking. But the neighbouring site owner, a developer, objected on the grounds that a reduction in car parking was acceptable but not a full waiver. The matter went to appeal. The Nightingale proponents and supporters were shocked when Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) member Russell Byard agreed with the developer and revoked the planning permit. The VCAT decision has been roundly criticised. Byard’s decision is 180 degrees from a 2012 VCAT decision, which accepted that the waiver of parking for dwellings was an important component of sustainability. This was deemed a “Red Dot Decision”, meaning it is of interest or significance, but as there is no doctrine of precedent at VCAT, members are not obliged to be guided by previous VCAT decisions. Sustainability is a test of political will Byard has left himself open to opprobrium because his defence of personal car ownership would do a human rights lawyer proud: he could have been more circumspect in attacking the objectives of policy he so obviously disagrees with. At the end of the day, however, his decision is based on the law and thus highlights deep flaws in policymaking and the administration of the planning system. Byard stated that the Moreland Planning Scheme contains: … repeated reference to encouragement and enablement, reduction and sustainability, but not to policy provisions that actually get down to, or think through, strategic questions in relation to waiver or reduction to zero. That is, the scheme has no teeth. At the most basic level, planning law does not sufficiently support the over-arching objectives for sustainability in planning policy. Moreland and other councils have attempted to put teeth into their planning schemes in relation to matters such as sustainability, housing affordability and disability requirements, but each time the state planning minister has overruled them. The ball is firmly in the Victorian government’s court. The Commons got a waiver because no one appealed the council’s decision to grant the permit, so the adequacy of the law was not tested in that case. A few kilometres away in the Capital City Zone (which covers the Melbourne CBD) the law indisputably permits waivers and sets a maximum of one car parking space per dwelling for developments over four storeys. Apartment parking has many costs Incredibly, the southern hemisphere’s tallest residential building, Australia108, which will have more than 1100 apartments, will include a 10-storey podium car park for 500 cars. Initial analysis of high-rise development permits and proposals for nearby Fishermans Bend (which has been incorporated in the Capital City Zone) indicates that the sheer volume of proposed car parking means the place will be gridlocked much of the day. Nightingale, which proposes 20 apartments, is located two minutes from a railway station, four minutes from a bus route and a tram service, and is a few steps away from one of Melbourne’s busiest cycling routes. Nightingale is closer to public transport than Australia108. The future residents of Fishermans Bend will need to get on their bikes as the area will not have any public transport for a long time. Breathe Architecture’s Jeremy McLeod explains the vision behind projects such as the Nightingale apartments. Urban consolidation policies premised on the suburban ideal of car ownership can only deliver the worst of outcomes; intensification without relief from traffic and less efficiency rather than more. The time has come for housing provision in certain areas to be separated from car parking provision. Both would be cheaper and housing affordability improved. As for VCAT’s concern for buyers of apartments who want car parking, it’s a market: no-one can force them to buy an apartment they do not want. But today people are forced to buy car parks they do not want, which many can ill afford to do. Written by Andrea Sharam, Research Fellow, Housing & Homelessness, Swinburne University of Technology. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
25 November 2015 16:13
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2015/11/nightingales-sustainability-song-falls-on-deaf-ears/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2015/11/nightingales-sustainability-song-falls-on-deaf-ears/SustainabilitySwinburne Institute for Social Research (SISR),Centre for Urban TransitionsSocial AffairsfalseCutting back on wasted electricity is the cleanest power source of all – as our household showsCutting back on wasted electricity is the cleanest power source of all – as our household showsScaling back our collective overuse of electricity would create a huge resource that can be tapped for future power needs.
Anthony James, Swinburne University of Technology A few years ago, I couldn’t read an energy bill beyond the charge levied. I couldn’t tell you how energy was measured, or ultimately how its use related to making my life better or worse, let alone how it affected broader society and the planet. I resolved to change this. I studied energy and sustainability at university, and have gone on to teach there. Throughout this time my wife and I have made many changes to how we use energy at home. Yet when we decided to take a closer look into our electricity bill, we were surprised by what we found. There are three of us in our household now, since our son was born last year. Notwithstanding that, our metered electricity use continued to go down, coming in a little under what it was the same time the previous year. According to our bill for the spring quarter of 2014, we used 3.79 kilowatt hours (kWh) per day, down from 3.95 kWh per day the previous year, despite the extra person in the house. (Granted, he’s a small person, but any parent can tell you how much small people add to the general load of your life, including energy use.) We don’t feel particularly heroic about this, but when our bill also informed us that the average use for a household of three people in our region of inner Melbourne is 14 kWh a day in summer and 17.1 kWh a day in winter, it got me thinking. Even for households of two, the respective daily averages are 11.6 kWh and 14.8 kWh, and for one person, 9.2 kWh and 12.4 kWh. These are massive amounts of energy to be getting through every day. Panel questions Importantly, none of these figures counts how much energy is used from other sources such as gas, or electricity generated by solar panels. In our case, we don’t have gas, but we do have solar panels. So how much electricity did we use from the panels in this period? This is a harder question to answer than you might think. Our bill tells us that we exported 5 kWh per day to the grid, but it tells us nothing about how much electricity from the panels we actually used. The retailer doesn’t receive that data – apparently, nobody does. This makes it hard to know how much energy we use in total, both as a household and by extension as a society. Biatch/Wikimedia Commons That’s a sizeable blind spot for such an important issue. It’s as if solar-powered electricity is somehow regarded as “free” – a fraught idea to say the least. While sourcing electricity from our solar panels is (a lot) better than coal, it’s still an industrial technology. In the absence of this information I turned to daily monitoring of our inverter, which shows how much electricity is generated by the panels each day. Subtracting what was sent to the grid, it seems that we used a daily average of about 1 kWh of electricity from our panels. Added to the 3.79 kWh on our bill, our household’s actual electricity use during the period in question was about 4.8 kWh per day, or 1.6 kWh per person – a fraction of the average for people in our neighbourhood. Comparing per capita energy use is relevant because if living alone makes us more intensive energy users, then one of the most effective things we can do is share a place. This is all the more relevant when we take into account the embodied energy of each building, to say nothing of the related energy costs of urban sprawl, extended service provision, car dependence and so on. But to get back to comparing apples with apples, the average three-person household used around three times the electricity we used (and probably more, given that we are including what we used from our panels, and comparing our household figures for spring with the wider average for summer, when our energy use tends to be substantially less). This raises a promising prospect. How to get ‘free’ electricity by not using it Consider this. Our household used around 9.2 kWh per day less than the average household in our area. Over the quarterly billing cycle, that adds up to 837 kWh, far eclipsing the 455 kWh we exported to the grid from our solar panels. In effect, it can be said that we “sourced” that 837 kWh for other (or future) uses, not by selling electricity to the grid, but by conserving it. In industrialised societies like ours, where we tend to use far more energy than we actually need, this is a significant and genuinely clean energy source that is begging to be tapped. It is hidden, not in the bedrock of the earth, but in the bedrock of our minds, habits and expectations. “Conservation mining”, as the late sustainability professor Frank Fisher called it, is “mining” energy by conservation. Here’s a sense of how we’ve gone about it. We’re in a rental townhouse not particularly designed with low energy use in mind, but the owners were happy to invest in a few relatively low-cost, “low-tech” changes, such as draught-proofing, insulation, thick window blinds, and solar hot water. Beyond that, most of the changes have been to how we live. We use heaters specific to the rooms we’re in, and only when the temperature dips below 16C. If that seems low, it is interesting how we do adjust, particularly with more appropriate clothing (like Ugg boots and thermals in winter), moving our bodies more, and of course huddling together. Cooling is a bit easier at our place, as there is a lot of tiled surface. We use the thick blinds and airflow judiciously at different times to regulate the temperature on hot days, and have a small fan the size of your hand for personal use if we happen to get successive hot days. There are other things that play their part, like washing clothes in cold water and washing them less (though still enough). Another tip is to fill a thermos each time the kettle is used. These are strategies that require no more than an initial change of habit. All this has certainly lightened the load on the family budget, and therefore the time we need to spend working for money (with its additional energy use). In an era where we need to reduce our energy use substantially in industrialised societies, it’s empowering to know that a better and more sustainable life isn’t so much found in new technology, as in our own hands. That’s something our young son may come to be very thankful for. Anthony James is Lecturer with the National Centre for Sustainability at Swinburne University of Technology This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
24 August 2015 08:08
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2015/08/cutting-back-on-wasted-electricity-is-the-cleanest-power-source-of-all--as-our-household-shows/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2015/08/cutting-back-on-wasted-electricity-is-the-cleanest-power-source-of-all--as-our-household-shows/SustainabilityfalseTurning food waste into food nourishment: onsite composting studyTurning food waste into food nourishment: onsite composting studySwinburne is leading a world-first study into on-site composting to divert food waste from landfill.
As cities throughout Australia consider alternatives to landfilling food waste, Swinburne University of Technology is leading a world-first research project comparing kerbside food waste collection and offsite composting with medium-scale onsite composting. Involving state government departments, councils, businesses and residents, the three-year project will pilot new models for reducing greenhouse gases and achieving environmental, health and economic benefits from composting household and commercial food waste to grow food. It will look at on-site composting at offices, multi-storey apartments, café precincts and large scale hospitality venues. The on-site composting will be done using two very different but simple, odour-free technologies: an in-vessel composter that can be used in residential and commercial settings, and worm farms which have an innovative design enabling them to be easily scaled up for commercial applications. These systems will be compared in terms of effectiveness in reducing greenhouses gases, quality of the compost product and people’s engagement with the composting process and product. “Each year in Australia millions of tonnes of food waste goes to landfill, costing several hundred million dollars in annual levies and releasing methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere,” project leader Dr Vivienne Waller said. “What if, instead, the food waste could be easily converted into a valuable product?” Composting is a natural biological process whereby microorganisms break down food scraps into a nutrient rich soil-like product. This can be spread on soil used for growing crops to promote higher yields, reduce the need for fertilisers, improve soil structure, increase water retention, remove contaminants, store carbon and reduce erosion. Pilot sites being finalised include Swinburne student residences, The Commons apartments in Brunswick, and cafes in Melbourne’s CBD and Adelaide. There is still an opportunity for another apartment block or café precinct to come on board as a research site. The project is a collaboration with the University of South Australia and has been awarded $334,256 funding from the CRC for Low Carbon Living. Find out more about the Composting Food Scraps for Food Production project.
04 August 2015 09:00
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2015/08/turning-food-waste-into-food-nourishment-onsite-composting-study/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2015/08/turning-food-waste-into-food-nourishment-onsite-composting-study/SustainabilityFaculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET),Research,Swinburne Institute for Social Research (SISR)trueSwinburne survey explores the impact of media on renovation practicesSwinburne survey explores the impact of media on renovation practicesSwinburne is asking renovators to complete a survey on how the changing media landscape is impacting the way they carry out their renovations.
Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology are calling on home renovators to share how broadcast and digital media are influencing their home renovation practices. Working with a number of industry and government bodies, the aim of the three year research project is to better understand the intersections between media and home renovation practices. “We know that reality TV shows such as The Block and social media communities such as Pinterest enjoy great popularity. We also know that home renovation and DIY practices are incredibly popular amongst Australians,” Swinburne researcher Dr Aneta Podkalicka said. “But we have a limited understanding of how the changing media landscape is impacting the way people carry out their renovations. “Where once upon a time home renovators may have consulted the local hardware store or home magazines, many people now have multiple options and sources to draw on.” The project aims to uncover exactly how home renovators are sourcing their inspiration and information for renovation projects, to what extent they are using broadcast and digital media, and how they are exchanging their ideas and experiences with others. The results of the research will be used to create more effective ways to engage and empower home renovators to undertake renovations that use sustainable materials and outcomes. “Ultimately, we want to empower home renovators with the knowledge of energy-efficient, sustainable renovation practices, as these not only reduce environmental impact, but in the long term they can save home owners more money,” Dr Podkalicka said. The research team come from a range of backgrounds including media, communications and design strategy. They will use the results to run workshops with a number of stakeholders such as government bodies and commercial companies, to develop and test collaboratively the best ways to engage and communicate with home renovators around sustainable practices and renovation. In addition to Dr Podkalicka, the research team includes Professor Kath Hulse, Associate Professor Esther Milne, Dr Gavin Melles, and Ms Tomi Winfree. This Swinburne research project is funded by the CRC Low Carbon Living project and is being conducted in conjunction with Sustainability Victoria, BlueScope Steel, CSR, Master Builders Association (Vic), the Housing Industry Association, SA department of State Development and the Victorian Building Authority. Are you in the midst of a renovation project? Or have you recently completed a renovation project? Swinburne’ Research team would love to hear about your experience. Complete the short survey.
25 March 2015 14:16
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2015/03/swinburne-survey-explores-the-impact-of-media-on-renovation-practices/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2015/03/swinburne-survey-explores-the-impact-of-media-on-renovation-practices/SustainabilitySwinburne Institute for Social Research (SISR),Centre for Urban TransitionsDesignfalseSwinburne finalist in prestigious 2014 Green Gown Awards AustralasiaSwinburne finalist in prestigious 2014 Green Gown Awards AustralasiaSwinburne finalist in prestigious 2014 Green Gown Awards Australasia.
Swinburne has been shortlisted as a finalist in the 2014 Green Gown Awards Australasia for a national professional development program transforming VET teachers into sustainability champions. Through the use of Education for Sustainability principles and tools to create transformational learning, teachers all over Australia facilitated shifts in thinking and behaviour towards sustainability with their students and within their organisations. The Green Gown Awards acknowledge and promote sustainability best practice in the tertiary education sector. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on the 6 November 2014, at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Hobart in conjunction with the 14th International ACTS (Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability) conference. Contact: Gitanjali Bedi Project Manager / Teacher National Centre for Sustainability Centre for Health, Science & Community t: +61 3 9214 8641 gbedi@swin.edu.au
30 September 2014 14:08
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2014/09/swinburne-finalist-in-prestigious-2014-green-gown-awards-australasia/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2014/09/swinburne-finalist-in-prestigious-2014-green-gown-awards-australasia/SustainabilityfalseGame-based learning to reduce carbon footprintGame-based learning to reduce carbon footprintSwinburne University will lead a three and a half year project that aims to educate people to work collaboratively to adopt low carbon solutions.
Game-based mobile learning may lead towards reducing the carbon footprint in communities by helping building tradespeople, professionals and individuals make low carbon living choices. Swinburne University of Technology will lead a three and a half year project funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living (CRC) that aims to educate and motivate people to work collaboratively to adopt low carbon products and services. Project leader and Swinburne Professor Leon Sterling said even highly experienced and skilled professionals and tradespeople, often do not promote low carbon living options to consumers unless they have knowledge of proven solutions and the confidence to implement them. “Professionals and tradespeople may unknowingly be encouraging high carbon options, instead of the low carbon options available. Consumers are also frustrated when requesting low energy options because instead of being offered solutions they are convinced that the available options are not viable. “This has highlighted an urgent need for a collaborative approach to raising knowledge in relation to sustainable solutions. Part of that approach will be to inform and increase the capability of consumers to ultimately drive demand for low carbon living products and services,” said Professor Sterling.
04 March 2014 15:54
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2014/03/game-based-learning-to-reduce-carbon-footprint/
https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2014/03/game-based-learning-to-reduce-carbon-footprint/SustainabilityFaculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET),ResearchScience,Technologyfalse