Search

Building operations use 45% of the total energy in Australia, and Net-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) are instrumental in achieving net zero emissions by 2050. However, research reveals that various factors hinder NZEB adoption in Australia, and it is imperative to contextualise the barriers, thereby highlighting clear gaps that can be addressed to enhance the implementation of NZEB in Australia. This study presents a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis to examine the barriers that hinder the implementation of NZEB contextualised within the Australian building industry. The paper's novelty resides in its contextualisation of barriers to NZEB thereby highlighting clear gaps that can be addressed to enhance the implementation of NZEB in Australia. Emergent results reveal the most impactful barriers experienced and the inter-relatedness between barriers and their effects on each other. These identified barriers are also compared with comparable countries, including the UK, China, Italy and the US. New insight and knowledge acquired provide a basis for assessing potential solutions to the main barriers. Findings show that a lack of knowledge, climate issues, and cost issues, in addition to government policy factors, are considered primary barriers encountered by the industry, hindering the achievement of NZEBs. It is imperative that future studies and initiatives counteract these impacts to realise a better implementation of NZEB in the Australian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To fulfil the hunger for sustainable development, Australian construction sector seems to contemplate toward green design. Green-Star environmental rating system, one of the active building rating systems in Australia, has also been employed in New Zealand, and South Africa. To help engineers and designers obtain comprehensive visualisation on sustainable projects, this paper develops a model to evaluate energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions based on typical Australian commercial building alternatives. From that, this paper explains how to achieve points for “Energy” and “Life-cycle impacts” categories of this rating system. The model uses GaBi 8.1 platforms and shows relationships between building's energy consumption, and greenhouse-gas emissions released during the building lifetime. This paper provides insight into life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions assessment for several typical commercial building fabrics in Australia. The developed model can also be conveniently modified to automate calculations for other credits under the Green-Star environmental rating system, and other environmental rating systems around the world. The study suggests that designers should consider the inverse relationship between building envelopes' total R-value with energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions. Another finding shows that materials used for building envelopes play a significant role to manage energy consumption as well as greenhouse-gas emissions amount during the building's life-cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon reduction has become one of the most significant challenges for economic growth. This paper presents the preliminary analysis of undesirable output reduction targets and emission schedules in temporal–spatial comparisons based on Data Envelopment Analysis. The reduction targets of undesirable outputs are investigated, including the maximum, input, technical and ideal reduction targets. Four Data Envelopment Analysis models that are based on a sequential benchmark technology and variable returns to scale are introduced to measure these reduction percentages. In order to formulate the optimal emission schedule of undesirable outputs, an optimal model is provided without inflation. Data from the Australian construction industry from 2000 to 2010 are employed to develop the models. The results of the analysis indicate that the Australian Government could achieve its promised carbon reduction targets in the construction industry. Most Australian regions' construction industries possess carbon mitigation potential and some of them could increase their desirable outputs if carbon were decreased. This paper suggests that policymakers can benefit from formulating various suitable undesirable output reduction objectives and schedules through the models developed. The research method can be replicated for other sectors and regions focussing on undesirable output reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing awareness of the undesirable environmental impact of cement-based products has led to rethinking earth construction within the digitally mechanised framework of Industry 4.0. The attempts to mechanise earth construction started nearly a decade ago, yet, the past four years have seen a surge in the intensity of research on the advanced manufacturing of earth construction. Additive manufacturing of clay-rich soil, like in cob and adobe methods, has been attracting the primary attention, while on the contrary, considerably limited research has been conducted to mechanise other methods such as rammed earth. This paper collected, reviewed, and analysed the state-of-the-art research on the advanced manufacturing of rammed earth construction, with a focus on process design aspects and machine development. Two case studies of recent digitally manufactured rammed earth projects in Australia and Switzerland were comprehensively analysed to provide a realistic feasibility assessment of the potential and technical challenges. The insights from this research provide a holistic and tangible roadmap to the digital manufacturing of rammed earth construction, which aids in making it more desirable and capable of meeting contemporary demands of the architecture and construction of Industry 4.0. • State-of-the-art advanced manufacturing methods for rammed earth construction are critically reviewed. • Two case studies of digitally manufactured rammed earth projects in Australia and Switzerland are comprehensively analysed. • Potential and challenges of advanced manufacturing for rammed earth construction are discussed. • Information for enhanced utilisation of digital techniques in rammed earth construction is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concrete is the second most used material after water and the production of cement is responsible for 5–8% of global carbon dioxide emissions. The development of low-carbon concretes is pursued worldwide to help the construction industry make its contribution to decarbonising the built environment and achieving carbon reduction targets agreed under the Paris Climate Agreement. However, there is uncertainty around the actual amount of greenhouse gas emissions that can be avoided by employing alternative types of concrete. This study quantifies the carbon footprint intensities of Australian cement and concrete production, including ordinary Portland cement, standard ordinary Portland cement concrete, blended cement-based concrete and geopolymer concrete production. For the first time, an input-output based hybrid life-cycle assessment method is used for these products. The main goal of this paper is therefore to make a methodological comparison between process-based and hybrid life cycle assessment using the Australian cement and concrete production as a case study. A comparison with published results from process-based life-cycle inventories as well as a decomposition of results into product categories is provided. The hybrid life cycle assessment resulted in higher greenhouse gas emissions for ordinary Portland cement and all types of concrete due to the methodology incorporating an economy-wide system boundary, which includes the emissions from upstream processes. For geopolymer concrete in particular, the results were also dependent on the method applied for allocating greenhouse gas emissions from fly ash and slag. The findings from this study are likely to inform the development of strategies and policies aimed at greenhouse gas reduction in the cement and concrete industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]