Engineering Course Work
Q-2
As per Australian Department of Environment and Energy Website, household energy
used directly affect the Australia’s Greenhouse Gas emission by one-fifth. 7 tons of greenhouse
gas emissions are from the Household energy in Australia. These Household energies affect
comprise of:
Heating and Cooling 40%
Applainces and equipment (Refrigeration and Cooking) 33%
Water Heating 21%
Lighting 6%
(DEWHA 2008)
Energy generation through Coal is the major source of Australian Greenhouse affect. Not to
mention the Gas that is burn in our cars, that produce enormous amount of carbogens which
cause increase in Greenhouse effect.
Energy production through Burning Coals, gas burning in cars, Heating and cooling
system at homes, air Conditioning are all adding carbons to atmosphere, which in result affects
the Australian’s Green House. (NatHERS 1995, AUS Dept. of E&E)
Q-3 As we can see Lighting and refrigeration runs on electricity that is powered by coal,
which is a major source of GHG emission. That’s why we indirectly are the biggest source of
GHG emission because it can’t be stopped. Electricity is the demand of time and the production
of electricity by coal is more in Australia. The carbon monoxide and ozone formed at the thermal
plants creates a layer for the blockage of sunlight back to space. Anything that would run on
electricity would always cost more GHG emissions and less energy use.
The graphs clearly show he energy used and the GHG emission from this usage by Australian
Department of Climate change and Energy Efficiency.
On the other hand, appliances running on natural gas produces 70% less GHG emissions from
that of electricity products. That why looking at the graphs for Heating and Cooling, it only takes
about 39% of energy use but the GHG emission is only 14%. Natural gas products are more
environmental friendly than electricity products. (Tim Nelson 2011, AUS Dept. of E&E)
Q-4
The metric units for the measurement of Energy, Power and Energy used are as follow.
Energy is measured in Joule or Kg meter squared per sec squared.
Power is measured in Watt.
Energy used is measured in KWATT-hour
Energy is the strength derived from mechanical or Chemical work. It’s basic unit is joule
or Newton/meter sq. It is the basic quantity while power and the energy used are the
derived quantities. Power is the energy production in a second. If we are producing 1
joule per second it becomes Power. While energy used is the consumption of energy by
the appliances at the user end. Energy used is calculated in terms of Kwatt-hour.
(NatHERS 1995, AUS Dept. of E&E)
Q-5
A smart way to build a home would be minding all the key factors, that would result in
changing the scenario of home. For the purpose, it is always a good idea to consider energy
efficient home at earliest as possible because :
Insulation provided earlier would remove cost for heating and cooling installation.
If in future amendment would be done to change already built home, it would not only
cost in money but the appliances that run on electricity emitting GHG would be
poisonous to atmosphere also.
When plans are built, they are designed for long lasting duration if not interrupted by
external force. But when later on changing the design of home, causes massive amount of
internal stresses that affects the life of building and the cost you more. For example:
Installation of insulation would cost less when you start construction of your home, and it
is more convenient and effective resulting in less amount of GHG emissions. But during the
destruction phase to install insulation system, not only cost you in money but the sustainability of
home is in danger, even when the work is done perfect. Because the internal stresses induced
during dismantling homes induces stress that stretches the building to its Limit. Hence, it is
always advisable to plan well before start of construction. (Tim Nelson 2011, AUS Dept. of
E&E)
Q-6
A great amount of role is played by the comfort preferences of individuals in the home, if
they decide how to comfort themselves without realizing the disadvantages to the atmosphere
they are causing by doing so is very risky. For example, keeping the AC on even when left the
house.
These elements are not included in NatHERS assessment because of two reasons:
It is impossible to track down all the activities of individuals in each home. Interviewing
individuals on the basis of their moods for heating and cooling and their comfort zone
would be a hectic work to collect such data.
Secondly, in future when the family changes the house and new one comes with different
mood to the house energy use would be difficult to track. Furthermore, new installation
of bigger heating or cooling system is also not possible to be noted from time to time.
NatHERS assessment works on the overall household energy usage and not just the
particular person or family comfort zone. All this is difficult for NatHERS to handle and
collect based on time to time. If the individual information was to be included in NatHERS
then it would require updating team and a pile of endless work because you have to track
down every change in each home. (Tim Nelson 2011, NatHERS 1995)
Assessment Task 1:
A) ENERGY = Power x Time (KW-hour)
Energy used by electric heater = 2 X 5 = 10 KW-hr
Energy used by 60W incandescent bulb = 60×25/1000 = 1.5 KW-hr
Energy used by 15W fluorescent tube = 15×25/1000= 0.375 KW-hr
Energy used by 5 MJ gas heater = 5×2.5 = 12.5 MJ-hour (12.5/3.57= 3.5KW-hr)
Since the electric heater consumes 10KWh of energy, which is maximum among all
others therefore, it consumes the most energy.
B) A 100 Watt light globe running for an hour in my house consumes = 100×1/1000=
0.1 Kwatt-hr.
Appliances at home on daily use per hour rate:
Appliances Total Energy used in an hour
Bulb Globe 100watt 0.1 KW-hr
30 Watts LED TV 0.03 KWh
90 Watts Gaming console .09 KW-hr
100 Watt Computer 0.1 KW-hr
Laptop 60 Watt 0.06 KW-hr
Electric furnace 18000 18 KW-hr
Water Heater 4000 Watts 4 KW-hr
Microwave 1200 Watts 1.20 KW-hr
Iron 1100 Watt 1.10 KW-hr
TOTAL ENERGY consumed per hour 24.68 Kw-hr
(AUS Dept. of E&E)
References
C) 95/03789 Solar efficient housing and NatHERS: An important marketing tool.
(1995). Fuel And Energy Abstracts, 36(4), 273.
D) Tim Nelson , Elizabeth Wood , James Hunt , Cathlin Thurbon , (2011) “Improving Australian
greenhouse gas reporting and financial analysis of carbon risk associated with
investments”, Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Vol. 2 Issue: 1,
pp.147-157,
E) Australian Department of Environment & Energy, Australian Emission projection 2016
