The 2020 Monash EnergyHack
From the 16th until the 19th of October, the Monash Energy Club held its first EnergyHack. Monash students from a wide range of degrees and backgrounds were divided into 7 teams, and together were pitched one problem from each of our sponsors; Woodside Energy, Vestas, and the Monash Energy Institute, as well as a problem pitched by the Monash Energy Club. Problems involved grid stability, wind energy, hydrogen, smart meters, and energy efficiency on Monash campuses.
The teams included undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD students studying a wide array of engineering, business, economics, arts, and science fields. It truly reflected the Energy Club’s goal of promoting and enabling interdisciplinary teamwork, allowing students who are not studying traditionally energy industry related subjects to be able to experience and learn about the industry through hands on experience. We are also very proud to have had a great degree of gender diversity, with a 40:60 female to male ratio at the event. In an industry such as Energy where women are typically underrepresented, it was brilliant to see such a great turn out from our female members.
Using Remo and Youtube livetream, each team had 3 minutes to present their final business plan and novel solutions to a panel of experts and other viewers where, following their presentations, they answered both panellist and audience questions. Each team was mentored by a member of their respective company with Neil Kavanagh (Chief Scientist of Woodside Energy), Shreejan Pandey (General Manager of the Monash Energy Institute), and Michael Perkins (Project Developer at Vestas), assisting the teams in the formation of their solutions.
At 5pm Monday the winning team was announced, Team Rainmakers: Hazim Shahrum, Maxine Yap, Vivian Monje Nunez, Rachel Brindley, and Gaurav Agrawal. Their team tackled the issue of slow voluntary uptake of smart meters in Australian residents that is delaying the switch from flat-rate tariffs to flexible pricing tariffs. A problem that can save households money on their electricity bills. Rainmakers will now have the opportunity to take their solution further with the help of Monash’s Generator, which aims to validate and expand their solution to be a reality.
We spoke to Team Rainmakers after the announcement to hear their thoughts about the event:
Q. What did you find was the best part about the EnergyHack?
A. “The best part, besides being surprisingly winners, was the challenge to learn about something new in such a short time. Also, the idea to meet more people from different fields, love it!” – Vivian
“The mentorship aspect of the EnergyHack was such a unique experience! Being a business student, the energy sector was an uncharted territory. The insights provided by our mentor […] made solving the case study much more directive (& fun!)” – Hazim“The energyhack helped to mix ideas from various fields to develop a business model and encouraged teamwork and leadership skills.” - Gaurav
Q. Did you learn anything new from taking part?
A. “I know so much about tariffs and energy now and it's great! I pay my own bills so it's really cool to be able to actually understand whats going on in my bills now hahaha. I also learnt so much from each of my friends and I’d say we all make a great team.” - Maxine
“Interdisciplinary teamwork was a big one! Having a range of team members from various backgrounds such as STEM, business & arts. The process provided the opportunity for each team member to leverage their expertises from their degrees, which yielded a much better result than expected.” - Hazim
“It was fascinating to research current issues regarding consumer behaviour with energy and smart meters! It can be directly applicable to our own lives and how we review our electricity and gas bills.” - Rachel
Q. What made you choose to take part in the EnergyHack?
A. “I sent the event to my friends on a whim, as I’ve never done a hackathon before, so I thought it would be a really cool experience. Didn't expect to win though! Still really grateful for it!” - Maxine
“It was through Maxine that we found out about the event, then Gaurav joined us in the event. I decided to participate because it was something new for me, and I wanted to know for myself what a hackathon was.” - Vivian
“I was interested in the renewable energy sector prior to the EnergyHack however was not quite sure how my degree in business would fit in. My fellow team member, prompted us to apply to the event and it acted as an incredible way to understand the industry and my potential role within it.” - Rachel
Our aim for this Hackathon was to host a fun, challenging, informative and social event that any Monash student could be a part of. It is great to hear that the teams felt they gained new knowledge and skills surrounding not only the energy industry as a whole but also about their individual everyday energy usage. It is also incredible that each of the team members found great value in the expert mentorship from our sponsors during the planning stages of the event. It was clear that every member from each team put in a lot of hard work, going above and beyond for this challenge and we were extremely impressed with all of the presentations. We can honestly say that each and every one of the teams’ solutions far exceeded what we expected!
Thank you to every member who attended the event! Apart from the usual technical glitches that come with 2020 the event was a smashing success and we look forward to building upon it for 2021. All the teams’ presentations are available on our Youtube Channel and below, as well as the EnergyHack booklet with all the information that was provided to the teams.
Woodside Teams
Team Transformers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG0WxIsvTzY
Team Pentagon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Ga_aBTG8M
Vestas Teams
Team Flashdrive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIkUOx-tRzw
Team Rocket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcWUVi6Z8Tg
Monash Energy Institute Teams
Team Rainmakers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M1Gy1DLxOw
The Indecisives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pShx_oPxFs8
Monash Energy Club Team
Team Equilibrium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbHCNT-uGKg
Link to Monash EnergyHack Booklet/Information
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xxy_j-wjzMba4Tb_8mdGQ4bcdN63LQtu/view?usp=drivesdk
Ways of overcoming the psychological distance of climate change
By Hannah Cohen, a Monash School of Journalism student
“ In order to reform the psychological distance between lay people and climate change, mainstream media outlets need to set better standards for scientific reporting as an integral part of their journalistic practice.”
With global efforts to mitigate climate change taking a backseat amid the pandemic, it is more important than ever that we overcome the psychological distance associated with climate change through the way the issue is communicated to lay people.
The speed at which the country has adapted to the coronavirus has highlighted the ingrained ignorance that we as a society maintain when it comes to the importance of climate action.
Even the nearly unanimous conclusion among climate scientists that climate change is contributed greatly to by human activity still doesn’t seem to convince 56% of Australians; the uncertain, the doubtful and the dismissive, that climate change requires an immediate response.
There is no hope of reversing the jarring lashings our climate system has endured, but the pandemic has demonstrated if we wait until we see impact, it will be too late to stop the cascading effects of climate change.
In the midst of a pandemic sweeping our earth, when the UN Climate Change is postponing crucial meetings, we can no longer rely solely on the momentum from climate summits.
Typically, when an outcome seems far removed, it is likely that the elements of risk seem isolated and irrelevant enough to ignore.
But our proactive response to the pandemic has illuminated that effective communication of key information is imperative to inciting appropriate action, even when such action may seem disproportionate to the current situation.
Let's use this as motivation to crack down on psychological distance from climate change and act with the same immediacy we demonstrate when trying to flatten the curve, because the way climate change is communicated is seminal.
While scientists tend to stay out of the press’s spotlight and are wary of advocacy, it is important to note that one of the root causes of psychological distance from climate change stems from a lack of understanding and then as a result, failure to take action.
The first, essential step to overcoming psychological distance through the development of more comprehensive delivery of information requires the recruitment and collaboration of climate scientists, decision scientists, and social scientists with the help of a designer.
Together, these experts respectively fact check, identify which of these facts are most important for decision making and analyse the perceived notions surrounding such facts to map out how this communicated information is likely to be interpreted amongst the public, highlighting any areas for improvement.
Through this process, what’s created is scientifically sound, non-persuasive communication that lets the science speak for itself,
While non-persuasive communication is imperative in the process of having scientists maintain their status as the most credible source amongst the public in relation to climate change, the agenda-setting theory tells us that the more attention an issue receives in the media, the more likely it is to seem important to audiences.
Currently however, journalists are among the least trusted sources of information surrounding climate change and are currently not using the power they possess to shape how laypeople resonate and respond to climate change.
Media influence does present an optimistic opportunity for the effects of climate change to be effectively communicated through messages delivered in articles, video packages and the kinds of questions asked at press conferences.
But the pervasiveness of false balance in the media contributes to a pseudo climate debate which only distracts and pushes people further and further away from the key information, stunting the implementation of any productive changes.
While some outlets like The Guardian and The Conversation commit to not publishing anything that contradicts the weight of evidence, when commercial and public media outlets platform representatives of the climate denialist industry in the name of ‘balanced reporting,’ it becomes politicised.
Such politicisation presents climate change as a topic up for debate like any other political issue, despite 97% of scientists agreeing that the accelerated warming of the earth is due to human activity.
Even more dangerous is the increased likelihood that lay people will potentially side with climate sceptics due to this continued attempt at media centrism and impartiality.
In order to reform the psychological distance between lay people and climate change, mainstream media outlets need to set better standards for scientific reporting as an integral part of their journalistic practice.
Training journalists in accurate climate change reporting and partnering with trusted sources to deliver the information is desperately needed to combat the binary stances associated with climate change and to mend the gaping psychological distance that this pseudo debate in the media reinforces.
The Australian Academy of Science has noted that the nature of the climate system means long term climate change is irreversible, meaning the only way to bring human induced climate change to halt is by reducing our greenhouse emissions as quickly as possible.
So let’s utilise the voices who can shape our understanding to advance climate action rather than dampening our progress by fore fronting climate deniers in the highly impressionable public eye.
Another factor contributing to the psychological distance from climate change that must be addressed is the perception gap; the notion that many more people are willing to talk and learn and about climate change than we think.
The taboos surrounding climate change inhibit us from taking essential climate action and leads to a pluralistic ignorance, underpinned by the statistic that 78% of Victorians are concerned about climate change but believe that just 48% feel the same way.
Removing the stigmatised nature of climate change within conversations amongst peers is yet another crucial step to eliminating psychological distance.
Again, there is room for the media to step in here.
A study has shown 87.8% of TV audiences were interested in learning about the impacts of climate change as featured in a weather bulletin. A localised weather bulletin is an effective means of encouraging laypeople to resonate personally with the impacts of climate change, casually reinforcing the notion that their livelihoods are not immune to various feedback.
We have seen how individuals and communities have united to do the right thing in regards to COVID-19 when the pandemic is as much a part of our daily chit chat as the weather.
The Victorian healthcare system would have been overwhelmed beyond capacity if not for taking immediate precautionary action.
Similarly, our planet does not possess enough biocapacity to neutralize the concentration of carbon dioxide we emit whilst catering to the many demands of human activity.
With psychological distance from the irrefutable impacts of climate change, comes complacency which is only pushing our earth beyond its means.
It’s time to mobilise key industries to practice better climate change communication so we can start acting accordingly, together.
Grounded #1 Webinar summary
Sign up for our other webinars at Monashenergy.org/events
The first installment of the Grounded Webinar series hosted by the Monash Energy Club invited Clean Energy Council CEO Kane Thornton; Professorial Fellow and renowned energy expert Chloe Munro; Partner, Energy Transition and Decarbonisation at Deloitte John O’Brien; and Country Head Aus/NZ at Vestas Peter Cowling to discuss the main drivers that will change Australia's energy mix in the next 10-20 years.
All four panelists were optimistic that Australia will witness a rapid decarbonisation in the next decade and that wind and solar energy will be the main driving forces behind this movement. Currently most of the effort to decarbonise Australia has come from the electricity sector but panelists informed the audience that other sectors such as transport and manufacturing are making more conscientious efforts to use renewable energy sources.
Mr Thorton said that if Australia can get on top of their energy sector sooner rather than later the country could set itself up as a prominent resource for renewable energies which could be outsourced to help other countries.
Ms Munro also made a very interesting point that natural gas has missed its opportunity to be the transitional fuel and that the hydrogen export industry could potentially play a vital role in the energy sector. Mr O'Brien admitted he was sceptical about the use of hydrogen but has since come around and also predicts that hydrogen will play a large role in Australia’s energy sector.
While a lot of the progress made in Australia’s energy sector has come about under a relatively unengaged Federal Government, Mr Cowling said that more policy surrounding the energy industry could help assist in a smoother transition to renewable energy sources. He also highlighted that more financial support from the government could help with more complicated issues such as installation of the grid and storage of energy.
The webinar ended with a brief discussion on nuclear energy. Ms Munro kicked off the discussion by saying from an economical perspective nuclear energy is not a viable option which both Mr O'brien and Mr Throton agreed with. Mr Cowling would like to give the contentious energy source a chance to prove itself as a viable option in Australia, however, he also agrees nuclear doesn’t make economic sense in Australia.
Overall, all the panelists were in agreement that Australia’s energy sector was heading in the right direction and predicted these changes will happen sooner than expected.
Grounded #2 Webinar summary
CEO of Jet Charge and Chair of the Electric Vehicle Council Tim Washington, Electric Vehicle Lead at AGL Kristian Handberg, and Senior Manager of Future Mobility at Hyundai Australia Scott Nargar were invited to participate in the second Grounded Webinar and discuss the future of Australia’s car and transport industry.
The first question centred around the hydrogen fuel-cell versus battery-electric vehicle debate and which was most likely to dominate in the next 10 years. All three panelists remained on the fence when answering this question.
“It would be a mistake to think that anyone is locked into anything at this point,” Mr Washington said.
“The split between hydrogen and electric has simply not been determined right now.”
Mr Handberg said he held a “pragmatic view which is to get the right tool for the job”.
He suggested Australia has a viable hydrogen market and from a financial perspective hydrogen was better suited for larger vehicles. Meanwhile electrical batteries would be better suited for smaller vehicles.
However, Mr Handberg admitted the transition from diesel based heavy vehicles to hydrogen ones would be a slow process.
“It is a very expensive infrastructure investment...and people taking that risk right now, from an investment perspective, that is a very hard road so it will go along a pretty predictable path project, models and trials before it gets to that point,” he said.
Meanwhile Mr Nagar had several exciting announcements from Hyundai. The first was that the first 20 hydrogen cell vehicles had arrived in Canberra.
“Unfortunately the cars are sitting in storage at the moment. We are waiting for the Hydrogen station to finish,”Mr Nagar said.
“There is only a couple of weeks of work to do but unfortunately the engineers doing the work are stuck down in Victoria.”
The second was in relation to Hyundai and Uber’s commitment to make flying taxis by 2030 and that Melbourne will be a test city for the futuristic vehicles. Mr Nagar is optimistic that the vehicles will be running by the start of the next decade.
“The money that Hyunadai has invested into this program (Uber flying taxi program) is huge. They’ve got whole teams and divisions working on it,” Mr Nagar said.
“Hyundai is an exciting place to be at the moment.”
In regards to the cost competitiveness of electric vehicles, Mr Washington said they would become accessible to more demographics like students by 2025.
“It’s probably going to happen in Europe first and other countries with strong mandates around electric vehicles,” he said.
“In Australia we expect it to happen a bit later because we are a small market and we tend to have less buying power”.
Mr Washington also provided clarity on what the relationship will be between the electric grid and electric based vehicles.
“At a very basic level the best way to understand it is having more electric vehicles on the road means an increase in demand on the national electricity market,” he said.
“One of the myths is the grid is going to break which is simply not the case. It’s just a question of how efficiently you can allocate the electrons.”
Mr Handberg also reaffirmed there is a “strong latent interest’ in electric vehicles at the moment.
“People have accepted electric vehicles are the future,” he said
“So people are more broadly interested in what is available.”
This webinar covered a lot of ground and provided the audience with an optimistic future for alternative energy sources for light and heavy vehicles.
Does reporting on climate change need to be balanced?
BY EMILIO LANERA, Monash School of Journalism Student
For too long, journalists have been prioritising impartiality which has compromised the accuracy of climate change coverage
To the delight of climate scientists, some news organisations like the BBC are coming to the realisation they have not been reporting on climate change very well.
In 2018 the BBC sent a briefing note to staff admitting they have been doing a poor job of covering climate change and provided guidance to journalists on how to improve.
BBC’s new policy towards climate change is “Man-made climate change exists: If the science proves it we should report it.”
A recent Instagram post on climate change and its effects on hurricanes suggest they are staying true to their word.
Instead of framing human induced climate change as an uncertainty, they have framed how drastic the consequences will be as uncertain but reaffirm the occurrence of extreme weather patterns will be more likely if we continue not to take action.
The BBC have also been making more of an effort to reference science reports and experts when reporting on climate change and avoid giving a platform to climate deniers.
This new way of reporting can be seen as a return to accurate coverage on climate change because as American environmentalist and former New Yorker staff writer Bill McKibben said prior to fossil fuel companies interfering and turning climate change into a political issue, journalists use to only report on the science.
This influence by the fossil fuel industry has tricked journalists into treating climate change as a debate where climate sceptics with no scientific background have an equal say on the issue as climate scientists for many years.
The undue emphasis on climate deniers creates a false balance, which gives the impression the science behind climate change is uncertain despite 97% of scientists agreeing the earth is warming at an accelerated rate due to human activities.
While the BBC have altered their reporting on climate change to ensure only the most qualified people speak about the issue, some news organisations are still treating climate deniers as legitimate sources.
In fact, one study from the University of California Merced found that climate deniers receive more media attention than climate scientists.
Given the influence of the coal industry in Australia it is no surprise that Australian media is a common offender of providing climate deniers a platform to challenge the science behind climate change.
One study found that between 2011 and 2012 21% of articles published in Australian newspapers suggested doubt about the science behind climate change and 11% outright rejected it.
Thankfully, this debate about the existence of climate change is starting to lose momentum in Australia, due to more citizens believing the science.
One survey found that only 11% of Australians believe recent global warming is natural, and 4% don’t believe climate change exists at all.
Furthermore, Australians are expressing more concern over what consequences climate change will have on them.
The Australia Institute found 81% of Australians are concerned that climate change will result in more droughts and flooding while 78% are concerned climate change will lead to water shortages.
The 2018 State of Climate report by the CSIRO and The Bureau of Meteorology justifies these people’s concerns as it found rainfall patterns are expected to be impacted in Australia which will lead to drier conditions in some areas and flooding in others.
Yet, instead of accepting the science and the large public concern around Australia’s changing climate, some media outlets are still finding ways to treat climate change as a debate and give sceptics with no scientific background a platform.
Most of this scepticism is coming from NewsCorp outlets, but due to NewsCorp’s stranglehold on Australian media which includes 70% of newspaper circulation, their coverage on climate change is giving a false impression to a wide audience.
Former radio shock jock and Sky News presenter, Alan Jones used a bowl of rice to explain Australia’s carbon emissions in comparison to the rest of the world and justify why Australia should not invest in tackling climate change.
Meanwhile, after the Bureau of Meteorology declared that 17 December 2019 had been Australia’s hottest day on record, Dr Jennifer Marohasy, who works at the Institute of Public Affairs, a Melbourne thinktank financed by the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart went on Sky News and wrote a piece for The Australian insisting the Bureau’s methodology was questionable.
Given Mr Jones lack of qualifications and Dr Marohasy’s ties with the coal industry, who are staunch adversaries to climate action, these are probably not the people who should be regularly speaking on the matter.
What they both fail to understand is just because there are unpredictable elements to climate change does not mean we should delay action.
The Australian Academy of Science highlights that taking steps to reduce carbon emissions now will help reduce the likelihood of state's implementing more expensive measures later on.
The academy also suggests that governments should listen to scientific experts on the best strategies to implement to address climate change, and it might be time journalists in Australia do the same.
For too long, journalists have been prioritising impartiality which has compromised the accuracy of climate change coverage.
By continually giving sceptics a platform to sprout their unhelpful and unscientific opinions, it undermines the seriousness and urgency of climate change and justifies not taking any action now.
Climate change is a scientific issue which requires journalists giving scientists a platform to communicate the science and explain what measures need to be implemented now to reduce the amount of uncertainties in the future.
It does not require giving Alan Jones a TV segment where he uses a bowl of rice to show an inaccurate visual of Australian’s carbon emissions.
Grounded 4 - Where is investment urgently needed in the energy transition?
To wrap up the Grounded Webinar series Director of Clean Futures Team at CEFC Bobby Vidakovic alongside Angela MacDonald-Smith from Australian Financial Review and Andrew Harpham from Frontier Economics came together to discuss which sectors needed investment urgently in energy transition.
Mr Vidakovic kicked things off by giving insight on what energy investment looks like today in Australia.
“Looking at the current state of play, one of the key factors that is driving the appetite for investors in renewable projects is the ability to connect, “ he said.
“Distributed solar still has a significant forecast in terms of going forward and we continue to expect to see that.”
In regards to the gas sector Mr Harpham said it has been a difficult decade, but recently there has been more people interested in investing in the energy source.
“There is reported to be a great deal of gas onshore in Victoria that can be produced cheaply,” he said.
“But you never know, economically, with gas.”
Despite the economic uncertainty around gas Mr Harpham said it is still an attractive choice as things like batteries give short term storage.
Ms MacDonald-Smith said there is still a good export demand for gas but due to COVID-19, has made this not an economically viable option at the moment .
“Australia is a high cost destination, high cost location for investments and operations. So if you look at export for LNG it’s pretty much on hold,” she said.
The possibility of the Australian Government subsidising the gas industry was another option Ms MacDonald-Smith suggested may have to happen during the energy transition.
Meanwhile, Mr Vidakovic tabled the idea of Australia developing more Renewable Energy Zones (REZ’s) to help drive investment into grid connectivity.
“There hasn’t really been a large scale REZ deployed in Australia,” he said.
“The market is really testing to see what these look like in terms of how they’re delivered, the commercial framework and the parties that are involved.
“But ultimately the REZ’s have been conceived as an area whereby there are strong levels of renewable resources...to then try and deliver a high scale efficient solution.”
The re-introduction of a carbon tax was brought up for discussion.
Ms MacDonald-Smith said it is very likely that businesses that are large carbon emitters were already planning for this and will most likely find ways to make the consumer pay for it.
“The companies have to take some of the risks of course but it’s the consumer who pays at the end of it.”
Given consumers want more energy efficient products, Mr Harpham said they should be the ones to pay.
“Assuming there’s no market failure resulting in efficient prices why wouldn't we” (the consumer), he said.
The final webinar covered a variety of interesting topics and was a great way to finish the Grounded series.
Grounded 3 - Future Energy Technologies
Director of Energy at Tesla Mark Twidell, Chief scientist at Woodside Energy Neil Kavanagh and Monash Professor and Director of the Woodside - Monash Energy Partnership Paul Webley were asked to look into their crystal balls and predict what the future of energy technology looked like
However, before jumping into the future Mr Twidell kicked things off with a presentation about what’s happening at Tesla now.
“Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy,” Mr Twidell said.
Mr Twidell is primarily focused on battery storage and is working on making a battery that will reduce carbon emissions.
“Tesla has chosen two sectors to focus on, transportation and the energy sector,” Mr Twidell said.
Currently the company is making a lot of progress in developed nations, especially in regards to creating charging networks for vehicles, but the company is also making moves in developing nations as well.
“Another big opportunity we are starting to see is island nations moving from previously being 100% reliant on diesel to very quickly transitioning to...95% renewables,” he said.
Software was another key development Mr Twidell talked about in regards to Tesla’s master plan for renewable energy vehicles and electricity grids.
“The pace of innovation in the software platform and how that leads to economic opportunities and fiscal opportunities is all really really exciting.”
In regards to the future of energy technology Mr Kavanagh was optimistic hydrogen could play a complementary role to other energy sources including renewables. A view which differed from the views of the Grounded panelists from webinar 1.
“What is distinctive about hydrogen is the scale of the energy storage that is possible...which is kinda unlimited, which is not the case for most of the other battery technologies today,” he said.
“But it is also the case that hydrogen is quite costly to store, so I think you will find some economic limit on the volume of storage you can have.”
Mr Webley also agreed hydrogen was complementary to other energy sources, and said we should expect to see different types of batteries on seasonal variations.
However, Mr Webley also said if Australia wants to decarbonise our atmosphere we need to take our wind and solar energy use and multiple it by a factor of 70 and we have to do it quickly.
“We are not looking to electrify, we are looking to decarbonise...it is completely impractical to electrify everything,” he said.
“Electrifying is one way to decarbonise and we should use it when it is sensible…. There absolutely are areas we should be electrifying but there is a much easier way and much cheaper ways to decarbonise our fossil fuels.”
Converting our natural gas to hydrogen and putting it in our pipelines was one of Mr Webley’s suggestions.
The webinar concluded with Mr Kavannagh outlining some problems he would like to see the Woodside project solve.
Mr Kavanagh said he would like to create as many carbon neutral products as possible to help better society.
Biodiesel as an alternative liquid fuel-The Monash Fuel from Waste team
BY BRIAN JONG, VICE-PRESIDENT OF MONASH ENERGY CLUB
Growing up, like many other people, cars were a luxury item that required time and effort to purchase. People then typically kept their cars for a significant amount of time, only replacing it when it became unusable. This practice typically holds true today as well, so it is difficult to expect that people will be readily able to transition to electric or hydrogen vehicles, on the scales that would be necessary to have a significant and immediate effect on climate change. There is therefore a need for the use of traditional liquid fuels to be reduced and replaced with sustainable and more environmentally friendly alternatives
The use of alternative fuels will provide a better opportunity and more time to phase out the use of liquid fuels. This will also allow additional time for electric and hydrogen vehicle technology to mature and become more affordable and widespread. Even with eventual replacement by electric and hydrogen vehicles, continued development of alternative liquid fuels will ultimately still be required, as high-powered transportation methods, such as aviation, cannot yet be easily satisfied through the use of batteries.
To aid in the development of sustainable alternative fuels, a student team has recently been created that will look at producing biodiesel: Monash Fuel from Waste. It as an initiative by the Chemical Engineering Department, organised by A/Prof Victoria Haritos, that I have now been fortunate enough to become apart of. The team will look at producing biodiesel, with the use of the oleaginous yeast, Yarrowia lipolytica, to convert residual sugars and nutrients in food waste into lipids, that can be subsequently used in biodiesel production. As an oleaginous yeast, Y. lipolytica is ideal for biodiesel production as it can become very “fatty”, building up a high amount of lipids from different feedstocks.
Y. lipolytica under the micrscope
Growth cultures of Y. lipolytica
Different studies have already looked at using Y. lipolytica for biodiesel production. However, using food waste as a feedstock for the process would be a new approach. A number of different processes are required the allow the conversion of nutrients and sugars in food waste to the final product of biodiesel:
Food waste will be sourced and pre-treated before being fed to Y. lipolytica
Y. lipolytica will grow on the food waste and produce lipids intracellularly
Cells will be lysed to extract the lipids
Lipids can then be converted into biodiesel through the standard transesterification reaction
Monash Fuel From Waste Biodiesel Production Process
The process being employed by the team differs from typical methods that utilise waste cooking oil as a source. Food waste is not a conventional feedstock for biodiesel production but is readily available in supply. Through the use of food waste, it is planned that the team will be able to demonstrate a solution to various issues related to sourcing viable feedstocks for the production of biodiesel.
Through developing this process, the team also hopes to establish a circular economy around food waste. Food waste will be used in the production of fuel, the fuel will then be combusted producing CO2 and the CO2 will then be consumed in the growth of food crops to produce food. As the team grows and improves the production process, we will also be able to take complete advantage of the Victorian Government’s introduction of an organic waste bin.
Monash Fuel from Waste is still a new team, continuously undergoing rapid development and growth. However, the team has high aspirations and goals for the future, so watch this space! If you have any questions about the team, please feel free to send an email to fuelfromwaste@monash.edu.
COVID may be the kick the Federal Government needs to invest in Renewable Energy
The views and opinions posted here are of the author and not the Monash Energy Club
BY EMILIO LANERA, student of Monash’s School of Journalism
When it comes to taking action on climate change the Australian Federal Government has often been hesitant. Due to their reliance on non-renewable energy sources as major export items, governments past and present have argued that transitioning from conventional to renewable energy sources would be an economic catastrophe. Even after the seven months of bushfires the nation endured between 2019 and 2020 Prime Minister Scott Morrison still downplays the impacts of climate change and continues to invest in coal and natural gas.
Australia’s 2020 bushfire season was a stark and horrifying reminder as to climate change’s impacts now, and in the future. Source: BBC News
However, the short term economical benefits fossil fuels provide to the Australian economy may no longer be a valid argument as the Reserve Bank of Australia warns that there will be long term economic consequences of climate change not being addressed (NGFS, 2020, p.3)
Alongside 60 other central banks, the Reserve Bank of Australia reported that global GDP could fall by 25% by 2100 if the world does not act to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions (Morton, 2020). The report also found a failure to address climate change will see an increase in unemployment and decrease in wages. An increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters will also make it difficult for people to start or maintain their businesses as physical assets are at more risk of destruction and damage causing them to decline in value and become uninsurable.
With the future looking so grim from a financial perspective many economists, bankers and investors are encouraging governments around the world, including Australia to further address climate change and restructure the economy to be less reliant on conventional energy sources to avoid economic hardship later on. On June 8 the Network for Greening the Financial System released a statement saying;
“Under these challenging circumstances we should not lose sight of the fact that climate change and environmental issues remain as urgent and vital as ever. The systemic risk posed by climate change to our economies and the financial system has not reduced.” (NGFS, 2020).
Currently, the Australian government is making drastic changes to revitalise the economy due to the outbreak of COVID-19. So far they have announced plans to create more jobs by establishing industry-specific support packages for arts, entertainment, and tourism, investing more in infrastructure and Education Minister Dan Tehan has announced plans to restructure university courses to create “job-ready graduates” (Hutchens, 2020).
However, something else the Australian Government could consider is investing more in renewable energy sources. The University of NSW’s Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets found that Australia has extraordinary renewable energy potential especially in regards to wind and solar power ( Riesz et al., 2016, p.i). However, the report also acknowledged that the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy will take many years, therefore it is best to start this transition sooner rather than later (Riesz et al., 2016, p.9).
So far 835,000 people have lost their jobs since the pandemic in March and the youth unemployment rate is currently 16.1%, more than double the national rate. While it is devastating so many Australians are out of work, it also provides the government with an opportunity to begin transitioning from a fossil fuel-based economy to a renewable energy source based economy.
The Australian National University identified 22,000 potential sites across Australia for pumped hydro energy storage with 100 percent renewable energy (Blakers et al., 2017, p.1), and according to the University of Technology of Sydney (Teske, Dominish, Ison, 2016, p.31) transitioning from petrol to electric vehicles could save Australians $400 billion. Based on these findings alone the Australian Government could invest in an electric vehicle manufacturing sector and invest in the creation of hydro energy storage sites which would create jobs for thousands of Australians. Furthermore, instead of cutting certain education programs or increasing the fees of certain degrees, the government could be creating more educational programs related to renewable energy so people can create new technologies or come up with new plans to help Australia develop a sustainable economy.
Although establishing a renewable energy source based economy is probably not at the forefront of the Government's agenda, it should be something they ought to consider as it may not only help us get out of the current economic deficit the country is facing, but may also prevent another from occurring later on.
Reference list
Blakers, A., Stocks, M., Lu, B., Anderson, K., and Nadolny, A., 2017, ‘An atlas of pumped hydro energy storage’, The Australian National University, p.1-27
Hutchens, G., 2020, ‘University fee changes announced by Dan Tehan combine market-based economics with social engineering’, ABC News, June 22, available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-22/university-fee-changes-dan-tehan-capitalist-economics-analysis/12377498
Morton, A., 2020, ‘Reserve Bank warns of 25% GDP loss by 2100 unless action taken on climate change’, The Guardian, June 26, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/26/reserve-bank-warns-of-25-gdp-loss-by-2100-unless-action-taken-on-climate-change
NGFS Secretariat, 2020, ‘Climate Change and Monetary Policy Initial takeaways’, Network for Greening the Financial System, p.1-17
NGFS, 2020, ‘Statement on the need for a green recovery out of the Covid-19 crisis’, Network for Greening the Financial System, June 8, available at: https://www.ngfs.net/sites/default/files/medias/documents/green_recovery_statement_-_june_2020.pdf
Riesz, J., Elliston, B., Vithayasrichareon, P., MacGill, I., 2016, ‘100% Renewables in Australia: A Research Summary’, Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets University of NSW, p.1-35
Teske, S., Dominish, E., Ison, N. and Maras, K., 2016, ‘100% Renewable Energy for Australia – Decarbonising Australia’s Energy Sector within one Generation’. Report prepared by ISF for GetUp! and Solar Citizens, p.1-42
Interview with Kate Tyler, Shell
Recording of the event with Graeme Bethune and Guillaume Roger Is below
This interview was recorded on the 13th of May, 2020.
This is the first part of our Oil Price Plummet event happening on the 15th of May.
Kate Tyler is the Chief of Staff and Business Advisor to the President of Shell and EVP of Unconventionals. Our discussion focuses on the state of the US energy market, how COVID has impacted Shell and the O&G industry, as well as the oil war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
The video file is unedited. Audio only file has slightly better audio quality.