No abstract

Barriers to public building energy retrofit were identified through focused groups.  The focused groups consist of government employees from two States within Australia.  Corresponding strategies to overcome the identified barriers were discussed.  A top-down strategic approach was proposed to develop successful retrofit programs.  The findings can help governments seeking to develop appropriate retrofit policies.

In recent years, there has been a widespread deployment of submersible fluorescence sensors by water utilities. They are used to measure diagnostic pigments and estimate algae and cyanobacteria abundance in near real-time. Despite being useful and promising tools, operators and decision-makers often rely on the data provided by these probes without a full understanding of their limitations. As a result, this may lead to wrong and misleading estimations which, in turn, means that researchers and technicians distrust these sensors. In this review paper, we list and discuss the main limitations of such probes, as well as identifying the effect of environmental factors on pigment production, and in turn, the conversion to cyanobacteria abundance estimation. We argue that a comprehensive calibration approach to obtain reliable readings goes well beyond manufacturers' recommendations, and should involve several context-specific experiments. We also believe that if such a comprehensive set of experiments is conducted, the data collected from fluorescence sensors could be used in artificial intelligence modelling approaches to reliably predict, in near real-time, the presence and abundance of different cyanobacteria species. This would have significant benefits for both drinking and recreational water management, given that cyanobacterial toxicity, and taste and odour compounds production, are species-dependent.

The nexus of water and energy and greenhouse gas emissions is now well recognised, and the adoption of waterefficient technologies is viewed as imperative in reducing residential water end use related energy demand. However, quantifying the energy savings from (hot) water-efficient technologies has been largely based on modelled or assumed consumption data from water use appliances and fixtures, the type of hot water system and percentage use of hot water. The aim of this paper is to determine water, energy and greenhouse gas emission savings from resource-efficient household stock using empirical water end use data and detailed stock specifications and usage patterns for homes in southeast Queensland, Australia. Hot water system type and clothes washing machine configuration (e.g. load type and number of tap connections) is also considered with comparisons made between intervention scenarios with and without inclusion of a low energy heating system. Results confirm the significant impact that electric storage water heating has on total household energy consumption. Substantial energy savings can be achieved by substituting water (e.g. high star rating clothes washers and shower heads) and energy (e.g. solar hot water system) efficient appliances in the home. Results suggest that retrofitting cheaper resource-efficient technologies such as tap aerators and low flow shower heads are still a relatively effective means of reducing both water and energy consumption regardless of HWS type. Future research includes consideration of all thermal losses from heating systems and the use of empirical energy end use data.

Advanced metering technologies coupled with informatics creates an opportunity to form digital multiutility service providers. These providers will be able to concurrently collect a customers' medium-high resolution water, electricity and gas demand data and provide user-friendly platforms to feed this information back to customers and supply/distribution utility organisations. Providers that can install low-cost integrative systems will reap the benefits of derived operational synergies and access to mass markets not bounded by historical city, state or country limits. This paper provides a vision of the required transformative process and features of an integrated multi-utility service provider covering the system architecture, opportunities and benefits, impediments and strategies, and business opportunities.The heart of the paper is focused on demonstrating data modelling processes and informatics opportunities for contemporaneously collected demand data, through illustrative examples and four informative water-energy nexus case studies. Finally, the paper provides an overview of the transformative R&D priorities to realise the vision.