Archive for the ‘Research’ Category
Research refers to reports by organisations or research by academic institutions relating to urban sustainability issues within Melbourne. If you have research that relates to urban sustainability issues and could benefit people and organisations in Melbourne, please post this information on Sustainable Melbourne. To do so visit the “How to use this site” page and follow the prompts.
How Australian Agriculture Can Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Lecture
Posted in Events, Research by land-environment on August 25th, 2010
| 2 September , 2010 | ||
| 5:30 pm | to | 6:30 pm |
Melbourne School of Land and Environment: Professor Deli Chen on ‘How Australian agriculture can reduce greenhouse gas emissions – the role of improved fertiliser and water efficiency’
The application of nitrogen fertiliser in agriculture is essential for world food production – about half of the world’s population would not survive without it. Nitrogen fertiliser use in Australia has increased almost 30 fold since the 1960s. However, nitrogen fertiliser is not used efficiently and often more than 50% is lost to the environment. Agriculture in Australia is the second largest contributor of greenhouse gases, accounting for an estimated 16% of our total emission. Approximately 19% of the total is emitted as nitrous oxide mainly due to the use of nitrogen fertiliser. In his inaugural Professorial Lecture, Deli Chen will outline the main reasons for the poor efficiency of fertiliser nitrogen use and discuss options for improving its efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Professor Deli Chen is the discipline leader in Soil Water, Nutrients and Greenhouse Gases, Melbourne School of Land and Environment, University of Melbourne, and Deputy Director of the Australia-China Centre on Water Resource Research. Professor Chen has active international collaboration with scientists in China, the US and Europe, and has worked on several large projects funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research during the last 15 years. He has also worked closely with industry including Incitec-Pivot and other fertiliser producers.
Professor Chen was recently awarded the JA Prescott Medal for excellence and achievement in the field of soil science by the Australian Society of Soil Science.
Thursday 2 September 2010, 5.30-6.30pm
Arts Education Building (Building 199), level 2, corner Grattan and Swanston Streets, University of Melbourne, Parkville.
Registrations: www.land-environment.unimelb.edu.au or ecl@unimelb.edu.au
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“Australian Sustainable Energy – by the numbers” by Peter Seligman – free PDF book
Posted in Models, Research by Rob Eales on August 20th, 2010
“Australian Sustainable Energy – by the numbers” by Peter Seligman is published by the Melbourne Energy Institute at the The University of Melbourne.
Based on English Physicist David MacKay’s Sustainable Energy – without the hot air, Peter Seligman has undertaken to provide a clear account of Australia’s renewable energy potential. Peter has analysed a raft of available technologies, and offers a blueprint of a nation-wide renewable energy system based on the most efficient mix of technology, societal, and habitual changes.
Peter’s approach is characterised by simple and unyielding emphasis on what the numbers dictate here and now. He is critical of ‘futile greeness’, namely, actions based around appearance rather than substance. In this respect he offers us, both at a personal and organisation level, a range of responses that he really believes live up to the adage ‘bang for buck’.
It is a fantastic resource for designers and the public.
A PDF version is available free: http://energy.unimelb.edu.au/ozsebtn/
DIY Sustainable Garden Design with SGA
Posted in Movements, Research by Kate Archdeacon on August 19th, 2010
Source: cuttings, the Sustainable Gardening Australia (SGA) newsletter
The Sustainable Garden Design Series aims to help gardeners design or redesign (build or rebuild) their gardens as sustainable landscapes. Each month we will take you through the steps necessary to ensure the best possible outcome for all your hard work!
Autumn is a good time to make changes to your garden in southern Australia – especially after the first rains, as the soil is still warm and the plants will have an opportunity to get established before the next dry season. So now is a good time to start thinking about it and to prepare a plan.
The Principles of Sustainable Landscape Design:
1. minimise the requirement for energy inputs.
2. minimise the requirements for high water inputs, above that which naturally occurs in the particular region.
3. maximise opportunities for biodiversity at all levels.
4. maximise vegetative biomass.
5. maximise the opportunity for the growth of produce and other useful materials.
6. minimise the risk of weed-escapees moving into native habitats.
7. minimise or eliminate the use of materials that disrupt, destroy, pollute or damage natural systems/communities where they are sourced.
8. minimise the risk of disruption, pollution or interference to other systems.
Part 1 – Getting Started
Part 2 – Your Needs, Wants and Budget
Part 3 – Drawing up the Design
Part 4 – Choosing Plants
Part 5 – The Soft Landscape
Part 6 – The Hard Landscape
Part 7 – Water Gardens
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Beyond Engineering – The Value Of Water & Other Natural Resources: Public Lecture
Posted in Events, Research by Kate Archdeacon on August 16th, 2010
Image: noodle_snacks via flickr CC
Dr Brian Davidson, Senior Lecturer, Department of Resource Management, University of Melbourne:
Technologists spend significant effort delivering natural resources, but the context we work in is economic. Water is a critical resource, but without an understanding of its value, water delivery projects are problematical. Is water overvalued or undervalued?
Catchment Management Authorities (the true suppliers of water) cannot readily alter prices, raising them to update or improve infrastructure or reducing them to sell more water.
According to market theory the absence of a functioning market in water means that it isn’t priced correctly, so how is it possible to make a meaningful rational decision on whether to invest in new infrastructure or undertake some economic adjustment? If water were traded more freely would water be allocated so that it maximised social benefit? Or could it be that the desired outcomes that are believed to come from the market may not be achieved?
The same may be considered true for many natural resources. The aim in this talk is to examine these theoretical and practical questions, to make a judgement call on whether they hold and in light of that to suggest an alternative way some of the benefits that are meant to be derived from a free market may be delivered to all water users.
Wednesday 18th August 2010 6:00pm
Theatre 3, Alan Gilbert Building (Cnr of Grattan St & Barry St)
The University of Melbourne
Public welcome — no entry charge
Presented by IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology
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Greening the Existing Building Stock: Conference 2010
Posted in Events, Research by Kate Archdeacon on August 6th, 2010
How can we meet the challenge of transforming our existing buildings for a sustainable Australia? While new buildings are becoming increasingly energy and water efficient, the overwhelming majority of existing buildings in Australia were built without any consideration for sustainability. The improvement of their performance plays a crucial part in the nation’s efforts for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The transformation of the existing building stock is regarded as the biggest challenge facing owners, government and the building industry today.
The Green Building and Design Conference 2010 will provide you with the inspiration and guidance to successfully transform the existing building stock to meet sustainability criteria. Site visits, presentations and discussions will illustrate how theory has been put into practice and how practice can be used to refine theory.
Topics include:
* key strategic issues and trends in the refurbishments of residential and commercial buildings
* successful mitigation and adaptation strategies
* mandatory disclosure of building performance
* retrofitting heritage listed buildings
* post-occupancy studies
* economic strategies for improving building performance
* life cycle analysis in the decision making process
* non-technical factors influencing successful retrofits
Hosted by the RMIT Centre for Design, this highly regarded, annual professional training conference is the most comprehensive and informative in its field due to its breadth of speakers and the practical emphasis of the program. The conference brings together architects and designers, policy makers, councilors, energy consultants, building owners and stakeholders in the construction industry. An online virtual participation mode is available for those who are unable to attend the event personally. This provides an interactive experience, providing access to presentations and the ability to ask questions in real-time. Lunch and refreshments during morning and afternoon breaks will be provided for in-person attendees.
Friday 3rd – Saturday 4th September 2010
State Library of Victoria
Contact Nicola Willand RMIT Centre for Design Tel: (+61 3) 9925 3902 Email: nicola.willand@rmit.edu.au
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Dialysis Project Saves Lives and Water
Posted in Models, Research by Kate Archdeacon on July 19th, 2010
Source: Smart Water Fund
Image: Bill Peckham CC 3.0
One of Australia’s largest providers of dialysis, North West Dialysis Service (NWDS) is set to save up to 1.68 megalitres of water a year per site through an innovative water recycling system. A Smart Water Fund grant enabled NWDS to investigate a system that captures clean reject water generated during the dialysis procedure for reuse in a number of its facilities. This water would otherwise go directly to sewer.
“We’ve worked with 23 of our sites to find beneficial uses for waste water that also have an acceptable project payback timeframe,” said James Gerrish, NWDS Business Activity Coordinator and Project Manager. “Instead of going straight to sewer, it’s possible to use the water for toilet flushing in health care facilities, as wash down water, in air- conditioning cooling towers and to water gardens in regional facilities. For example our Wodonga site could rescue six litres of water per minute during dialysis and use it for toilet flusher tanks or cooling towers,” Mr Gerrish said. “This equates to 1.68 megalitres of water a year – that’s enough to half-fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.”
A key aspect of the project’s success has been to determine the quality of the reject water and ensure water use demand matches the consistent quantities of water produced during dialysis. “Many regional dialysis centres are co-located with aged care facilities in regions with tough water restrictions,” Mr Gerrish said. “While demand for irrigation water fluctuates throughout the year, these sites place a high value on this water use as they see the therapeutic and aesthetic value of maintaining their gardens.”
In addition to saving millions of litres of clean water a year, a key project outcome will be the development of a dialysis water reuse handbook for dialysis providers across Australia. NWDS project sites will also receive a detailed individual site report and an overall project report enabling benchmarking with similar facilities.
Part of Melbourne Health, NWDS, provides haemodialysis (blood filtration) for approximately 580 Victorians with kidney failure at 30 centres and 150 homes. NWDS dialysis units range from regional and rural healthcare centres to metropolitan dialysis services, including the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
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Australian Stationary Energy Plan: 100% Renewable Energy in 10 Years
Posted in Events, Research by Mark Ogge on July 9th, 2010
Please join us for the launch of the Stationary Energy Plan, the culmination of over 12 months and thousands of hours of pro bono work by engineers, scientists and postgraduate students. The plan is a collaboration between the climate solutions think tank Beyond Zero Emissions, and the University of Melbourne Energy Institute. This plan is unique in Australia. It has been put together in a collaborative way involving over 50 technical experts.
It is a detailed and costed blueprint for transitioning our stationary energy sector to 100% renewable energy in ten years. The technologies utilised in this plan are commercially available now.
This free public lecture will cover the details of the plan as well as the state of renewable energy in Australia more broadly. A panel discussion will follow the presentations.
Wednesday 14 July, 6-8pm
Basement Theatre, The Spot
198 Berkeley St, Carlton
Speakers:
John Daley (CEO, Grattan Institute)
Keith Lovegrove (Solar Thermal Group Leader, ANU)
Lane Crockett (General Manager, Pacific Hydro)
Matthew Wright (Director Beyond Zero Emissions)
The full report will be made available for the first time on 14 July, free to download from the Beyond Zero Emissions website or hard copy for purchase. A flyer for the lecture is available here.
For further information contact the Melbourne Energy Institute:
T: +61 3 8344 3519
F: +61 3 8344 7761
E: mei-info@unimelb.edu.au
W: www.energy.unimelb.edu.au
We hope you can join us for this important event. No RSVP required.
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Burnley Gardens Open Day
Posted in Events, Research by land-environment on July 1st, 2010
Burnley students of the 1950s show off their pruning style.
Burnley Gardens Open Day offers a stellar program for the whole family in sustainable gardening and horticultural practice, at the heritage-listed Burnley Gardens.
Delivered in partnership by the University of Melbourne’s School of Land and Environment and Friends of Burnley Gardens, horticultural experts will present you with free lectures and paid workshops, kids’ activities, forums and seminars on leading sustainable gardening practice, including pruning, pest and disease control, watering and fertilisers, and setting up a veggie plot. There will be tours taking you back in time through the lush and historic gardens, and University course advice for budding horticulturists.
So come along with your gardening friends and family and winter woolies, and learn about gardening to your heart’s content!
For further information, visit www.land-environment.unimelb.edu.au.
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The Cities We Need: Report
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on June 30th, 2010
The Grattan Institute has released their report, “The Cities We Need”. This is the first report from the Cities Program, and aims to set an agenda for thinking about the future of Australia’s cities.
The report asks how our cities meet the individual needs of their residents, both material and psychological, and identifies emerging challenges to meeting these needs. One conclusion that emerges is that while social interaction is critical for human thriving, it has not been a focus of analysis about cities in the past.
The report also describes cities as systems with complex interdependencies. As a result, attempts to meet one need may have unintended consequences for other needs. The governance and management of our cities has not always taken these interdependencies – and resultant trade-offs – into account.
The report does not conclude with solutions or prescriptions, but rather lays out ten questions about our urban future that we must get serious about.
As we manage growth and change in Australian cities, how bold are we prepared to be to get the cities we really need?
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Environmentally, Socially and Economically Sustainable Mobility: Seminar
Posted in Research by Tahl.Kestin on June 3rd, 2010
You are invited to hear Dr Janet Stanley present some of the preliminary findings from Monash-led research that looks at the links between transport, social inclusion and sustainability. The findings touch on issues such as the value of mobility, the role of mobility in facilitating social inclusion and improving wellbeing, how people adjust when they have poor mobility options, and policy needed to reduce the transport emissions footprint. The research, which has been mostly funded under an ARC project, has brought together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from transport planning, economics, geography, social policy and psychology, as well as researchers at two levels of government.
About the speaker
Janet Stanley is a Chief Research Officer at the Monash Sustainability Institute. Prior to her current role, Janet was Senior Manager, Research and Policy at the Brotherhood of St. Laurence. Janet’s current research interests are in relation to social policy, transport, equity and policy on climate change, bushfire arson, social exclusion, social capital and community development, and project evaluation. Janet is a member on the Ministerial Advisory Council for the Victorian Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Innovation. Janet has many publications and speaks widely in Australia and internationally. Books include: Currie, G., Stanley, J., Stanley, J., (eds) (2007) No Way to Go: Transport and Social Disadvantage in Australian Communities.
For further information see the MSI Seminars & Events webpage.
Date: Thursday, 10th June, 2010
Time: 1:00–2:00 pm
Venue: Monash Sustainability Institute, Building 74, Clayton
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