The viability of solar photovoltaics

Increasing the energy and carbon efficiency of homes has been at the forefront of international climate change mitigation policy. In Australia, recent policy action led to the introduction of minimum energy efficiency standards for new homes within the Building Code of Australia in 2003, with subsequent stringency increases in 2006 and 2010. Although not yet reflecting international best regulatory practice, these standards represent substantial progress in addressing the energy and carbon emission impact of new homes, yet there are a number of energy policy challenges that highlight the need for further change. This paper documents the history of house energy standards in Australia and examines the post-occupancy evidence of that policy outcome. The paper examines international and domestic issues pointing to a possible future direction for Australian house energy regulation, highlighting the key drivers for change. In particular, we investigate the concepts of net zero carbon and net zero energy homes which have recently been adopted internationally, examining the technical and economic evidence that would support such a policy position in Australia.

Residential energy efficiency standards in Australia: where to next?

It is widely agreed that planners should be aiming to create cities that are more ecologically sensitive. Governments, developers, planners, and designers almost everywhere claim to be doing just that. What does this mean, however? We argue that planners have been promoting a compact and efficient approach to green development, on the basis of a comprehensive yet evolving understanding of environmental systems. There is an alternative approach, however, more firmly based in psychological and human perceptions of nature. With popular appeal, as well as academic and professional roots in landscape architecture and environmental psychology, this connective approach stresses human connection to nature at a local scale. These represent distinctly different approaches to ecologically sensitive development and quite different priorities about which ecological processes are most important. Case studies of the Woodlands, Village Homes, Civano, Almere, Hammarby Sjostad, and Sydney Olympic Park demonstrate these iss...

Compactness and Connection in Environmental Design: Insights from Ecoburbs and Ecocities for Design with Nature:

This paper summarizes international experience of significant clustered photovoltaic systems. Based on the operation experience, major system impacts and corresponding solutions have been studied. Among them, voltage raise of power distribution line due to the reverse power flow from the PV system has been one of the main problems. Therefore, this paper proposes the dynamic and steady-state simulations to evaluate the effectiveness of battery-integrated PV system on avoiding the over voltage problem. Furthermore, different types of battery control modes have been compared. In the simulations, the actual product specifications were adopted as the parameters of the component models, and the largest PV cluster system in Taiwan was chosen as the analyzed demonstration site. The simulation results reveal that the developed control algorithms could avoid voltage rise by setting appropriate control parameter values. In addition, these control algorithms could be applicable to other power grids if appropriate settings are made.

Advanced Analysis of Clustered Photovoltaic System's Performance Based on the Battery-Integrated Voltage Control Algorithm

The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) underpins the performance targets set within the Building Code of Australia, and has been instrumental in reducing the energy and greenhouse gas emission impact of Australian homes. But with the last significant upgrade of the scheme and its simulation engine more than a decade ago, NatHERS is showing its age. This paper examines the emerging evidence questioning the scope, assumptions and algorithms that define the scheme, and points to a scheme that may be becoming less accurate at assessing contemporary homes and digital lifestyles. Furthermore, the inability to integrate into typical computer aided design (CAD) processes entrenches inefficiencies within the housing design industry. Responding to this evidence the paper provides a vision for evolving the scheme and its tools to better address policy needs and ensure that it remains pertinent to both industry and government, highlighting issues of relevance to many rating schemes and energy assessment ...

E.D. Spooner

Papers

Solar Olympic village case study