Towards zero carbon: low carbon coastal protection

The Carbon Value Engineering project aims to maximise the reduction of embodied carbon in the built environment. Rather than proposing a new process for these reductions, it adapts the industry-standard practice of value engineering (VE) for integrated carbon and cost minimisation. The project set out to answer two research questions:

This paper is a review of the potential commercialisation and adoption pathways for a suite of energy efficiency policy-uptake modelling capabilities from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s (CSIRO). Common Capital undertook this review for the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Low Carbon Living and CSIRO.

Sustainability assessment tools aim to promote high sustainability outcomes in residential buildings, ensuring less consumption of water, energy and less emission of greenhouse gases. However, existing literature often presents variations between the estimated outcomes from the assessment tools and actual outcomes after building occupation.

This paper presents rare insight as to what practical interventions can be delivered today and in the longer-term to achieve a better bang for our buck from our infrastructure spend.