In the move towards low carbon living, the challenges faced by lower income groups are often overlooked. Recent rises in electricity costs disproportionate to income make this a more critical issue.

Overheating of cities is causing serious energy, environmental and health problems and it has a serious impact on the whole economic and cultural life of cities. To counterbalance the impact of high urban temperatures several mitigation technologies have been proposed, developed and implemented.

The implementation of ‘cool’ roofing materials, with high solar reflectance and infrared emittance, has received significant attention in recent years, as a method to mitigate the urban heat island effect and reduce building cooling energy requirements. The effect of ‘cool’ roofs on heat transfer through the roof structure has been investigated by many researchers.

Conventionally in building performance simulations (BPS), it is assumed that air entering outdoor HVAC equipment is at the outdoor ‘ambient’ temperature, obtained from a weather file. However, significant spatial variations exist in outdoor air temperature fields, especially within the thermal boundary layers that form near exposed surfaces like roofs.

Sharing of key evidence on strategies for reducing resources consumption and lowering carbon footprint is essential to alleviating risks of increasing urbanization, population growth and looming climate change impacts. However, finding scientifically robust research and distilling knowledge to draw confident conclusions in a reasonable timeframe is challenging due to the sheer volume...

The main objective of this rapid systematic review is to provide an international literature review of best practice techniques for urban cooling for the major climate zones in Australia.

This guide provides methods for retrofitting commercial buildings to improve performance while reducing energy and carbon use.

It has become increasingly important to study the urban heat island phenomenon due to the adverse effects on summertime cooling energy demand, air and water quality and most importantly, heat-related illness and mortality. The present article analyses the magnitude and the characteristics of the urban heat island in Sydney, Australia. Climatic data from six meteorological stations distributed around the greater Sydney region and covering a period of 10 years are used. It is found that both strong urban heat island (UHI) and oasis phenomena are developed.

This paper illustrates the outcome of a field study on air quality and ventilation conducted in secondary school classrooms in Sydney, Australia, during the school year in 2018/2019.

This strategy provides urban overheating mitigation recommendations to support the strategic planning of Sydney 2050 based on in-depth research conducted by the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living (CRCLCL) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW).