Examining the impact of Australia’s ‘Direct Action’ policy on renewable energy, fossil fuel energy, and foreign direct investment (FDI), researchers have unveiled critical insights into the nation’s environmental landscape.

Discover the roadmap to achieving net zero carbon built environments in Australia. The research paper lays the critical principles, targets, and pathways needed for a sustainable future. Balancing operational and embodied carbon considerations, the proposed approach aims for all new buildings and major renovations to achieve net zero operational carbon by 2030, with a phased reduction in embodied carbon quotas leading to net zero by 2040. The comprehensive strategy includes comparing and combining operational and embodied data, ensuring a holistic understanding of carbon emissions.

midst a disparity between academic theory and practical implementation, benchmarking for embodied CO2e in buildings remains a challenge. Despite lacking formal policies, industry leaders are proactively embracing CO2e assessment, driven by upcoming regulations and potential rating benefits. The study highlights persistent uncertainties, including institutional, economic, technical, and knowledge-related barriers. Precise scenario predictions, comprehensive life cycle stage consideration, and grid decarbonization are underscored as pivotal factors.

Recent research analyzed the emissions intensity of the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) to understand how energy storage can accelerate decarbonisation. The study calculated the Marginal Emissions Factor (MEF) for each time period, representing the emissions intensity of the highest bid price generator. The average MEF for different NEM regions was found to vary, with some intervals having zero MEF. Intra-day variability showed higher MEF values overnight and during low demand, while low MEF values occurred during peak demand. Interestingly, a strong anti-correlation was observed between MEF and spot price, indicating the need for energy storage optimization to balance costs and emissions.

Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure is essential for EV adoption. The review highlights the need for transparent pricing, continued public support, and improved data accessibility. Standardised labelling and consumer protection can enhance customer experience, while subsidies and partnerships are crucial for infrastructure development. Gathering more data and understanding driver preferences will aid in future planning efforts.

Global electricity efficiency has remained stagnant at 15-17% since 1960, according to a recent study that produced a comprehensive global electricity dataset from 1900 to 2017. The dataset also highlighted a significant rise in efficiency from 2% to 15% between 1900 and 1960.

The challenges facing the Australian electricity and gas markets, include the need to transition to lower emissions generation while ensuring reliability and affordability; the impact of higher gas prices on manufacturing businesses and residential consumers, as well as the potential for supply gaps in southern states from 2024. There’s a need for continued investment in new infrastructure and technologies to address these challenges and secure Australia’s energy future.

Adopting energy efficiency (EE) measures in households lead to an immediate decrease in gas consumption, however, energy savings generated from technical measures such as loft insulation and cavity walls only last for up to two to four years – shows a study with over 50,000 households in England and Wales.

Having solar photovoltaic (PV) panels is associated with a lower likelihood of energy poverty among Australian households. The benefits were found to increase at a diminishing rate with system size, with a reduction in the likelihood of energy poverty of around 1.5-2.5 percentage points per kilowatt on average.

Simplify your construction project’s environmental assessment with the new EPiC Database, providing complete and embodied environmental flow coefficients for construction materials in Australia.

Positioning an air handling unit (AHU) on the leeward side of a building and facing it away from particle-laden winds leads to a decrease in filter loading rates and energy consumption shows the study conducted by Considine et al.