Reference no: EM132963424

CSM80002 Environmental Sustainability in Construction - Swinburne University of Technology

Part 1: Sustainable Water management

Provide appropriate references for the information that you have used in your description

1.1 Briefly describe three approaches to minimise freshwater (potable water) consumption in a building (Around 150 words).

1.2 Calculate the maximum amount of rainwater that can be collected annually from the roof of your redesigned home in your assignment 2. Consider the efficiency of the collection as 80%. The loss associated with the absorption and wetting of surfaces is 2 mm per month. Use the annual rainfall data for Melbourne available from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) Australia.

1.3 Would you install a rainwater tank to collect all the rainwater that you have calculated in question 1.2? Briefly describe the other factors you will consider in selecting optimum rainwater tank size apart from the roof area and rainfall. (Around 100 words)
(2 marks)

Part 2: Selection of renewable energy system to achieve net-zero energy in operation

2.1 You have been provided with the following information for your allocated house model. (please see the attached excel file)
• Embodied energy and embodied carbon of construction, including maintenance
• Appliance and heating and cooling energy consumption in Melbourne climate
• Hourly operational energy consumption (including HVAC and appliance energy consumption) per year in Melbourne Climate
You have to select appropriate renewable energy systems to achieve net-zero operational energy for your allocated house. Consider 40 years as the lifecycle. You need to
a) Provide details of the inputs: location, electric load, grid, emissions, renewable energy systems, local climate data (Solar, wind etc.) and economics (consider discount rate (4%) and inflation rate 2%). (You can use screenshots from HOMER software).

Note: You should keep in mind the available roof area while selecting the PV size. The capacity and cost of the renewable system should be according to the Australian market.

b) From the simulation results, select an optimum renewable energy system considering net-zero energy and net-present cost. Briefly describe why you think this is the optimum combination. (Use the definition of Net-zero energy as "Net-zero energy is achieved when energy purchased from grid in a year is equal or less than the energy sold to the grid from onsite- renewables").

c) Provide details of the output of the selected renewable energy system: optimization results, cost summary, cash flow, compare economics and electrical. (You can use screenshots from HOMER software).

You must submit the HOMER file along with your assignment 3.

2.2 Calculate Life Cycle (40 years) energy consumption of this house, including the operation of the selected renewable energy system. (You may exclude embodied energy of selected renewable energy system)

2.3 Calculate Life Cycle (40 years) carbon emission of this house, including the operation of the selected renewable energy system. (You may exclude embodied carbon of selected renewable energy system)

2.4 If the calculated life cycle carbon is more then zero, how can you achieve net-zero carbon status in this building? Answer your question following the framework proposed by UK Green Building Council.

Attachment:- Sustainable Water management.rar