Projects

Existing buildings need to be retrofitted to adapt to global climate change, and their energy efficiency must be improved to avoid vulnerability to volatility in the energy market. Almost 80% of 2050 buildings already exist today, and we must prioritise he efficiency of existing buildings.

Local climate is interconnected to the rest of the climate system, and therefore heat mitigation must be part of interconnected solutions.

This project aims to investigate the viability of using different types of non-dye nanoscale thermochromic coatings as alternatives to their dye-based counterparts for the building application.

A cool roof has been designed to stay cool in the sun by reflecting most sunlight and retaining the least heat, unlike a conventional solar absorptive roof.

This study examined the proper advanced hybrid ventilation technologies to improve indoor air quality, achieve thermal comfort conditions, and reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.

This project maps the decision-making process of builders, developers and key actors that influence builders to meet or exceed the minimum BASIX requirements and to identify intervention options.

This project performs analysis of Menangle Park precinct’s existing and future scenarios to evaluate the effectiveness of different heat mitigation strategies.

This study aims to pre-design and optimise a smart climatic street (Philip St) in Parramatta, exhibiting high climatic, environmental and energy performance.

This study analyses the distribution of climatic parameters, ambient temperature, wind speed, surface temperature, outdoor thermal comfort in the 14 different precincts for future climate in 2050.

This project analyses the present and future climate in the South Creek catchment of Westland Park City, evaluating its impact on energy, peak electricity demand and health.

This project develops evidence-based cool roof design and cost-benefit calculation resources, focused on large-footprint buildings and specifically tuned to the needs of Australian industry.

The present study is aiming to analyse the problem of urban overheating in the City of Parramatta Local Government Area (LGA), evaluate its impact on energy, peak electricity demand and health and propose quantified mitigation policies to counterbalance the overheating problem.

This project develops a robust microclimate and urban heat island mitigation decision-support tool that bridges the gap between research on urban microclimates and its practical application.

The BASIX Project (Phase 2) investigates the post-occupancy energy performance of both BASIX and non-BASIX dwellings in NSW to inform government policy.

This project investigates the characteristics of the local climate in the CBD area of Alice Springs NT and identifies hot spots in the city to develop and evaluate appropriate local climate mitigation scenarios.

Urban heat island (UHI) effect in which urban areas exhibit higher temperatures than the surrounding rural or suburban areas is well documented in hundreds of cities around the world including major cities in Australia.

This project carries out post-occupancy investigations of new residential buildings in NSW. It compares BASIX modelled results to monitoring data in real-life environments and analyse discrepancies. 

This joint research collaborates with the Jiao Tang University, investigating the impact of the urban heat island on energy consumption and environmental quality of buildings in Sydney and Shanghai.

Closing the loop connects the wealth of evidence for high performance office buildings with front end decision makers through the development of industry decision-making tools and guidelines.

This cross-disciplinary, multi-scale project targets cost-effective policy, planning, design and management strategies to mitigate urban heat islands in three Australian cities. 

This project investigates an immersive 3D virtual platform and determines ways to improve the undergraduate and graduate built environment curriculum using such a platform. 

This project develops the strength of UNSW in high performance buildings and cities, aiming to achieve research excellence in this area. 

The UERI Project is conducting in-depth desktop research and stakeholder consultation to develop an evidence-based case for embedding urban ecology into decision making.