Hold, Damon (2024) Optimised Roof Cavity Ventilation Solutions for Sustainable Living in Australia. [USQ Project]
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Hold_D_Bowtell_Kist_Dissertation_Redacted.pdf Restricted - Available after 4 November 2026. |
Abstract
Australia is a country known for its high levels of solar irradiance. These high levels impact the rate of heat accumulation in roof cavities, causing these roof spaces to reach extreme heat intensities, resulting in hot indoor temperatures which require high amounts of air conditioning to regulate a comfortable indoor temperature range. Indoor temperature control in the form of heating and cooling is the number one contributing factor to Australia’s residency energy consumption, representing 40% of an entire community’s energy usage. Through the integration of embedded systems, smart buildings have emerged a promising solution to optimise energy usage in homes and businesses, by autonomously managing the control of devices to operate only when required to, resulting in reduced energy consumption.
This research project aimed to expand on the concept of smart building technology, by creating a concept for smart communities where a household is equipped with an optimised roof cavity ventilation system, to reduce the accumulation of roof cavity temperatures thus mitigating air conditioning reliance and decreasing the community’s overall energy usage. This research aimed to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating such systems in Australian households and assessing their potential impact on community wide energy consumption.
A total of eight experiments were conducted using varying roof cavity ventilation and air conditioning setups, on a scaled version of an Australian home situated in a hot region such as Queensland versus a cold region such as Victoria. Each home incorporated different design considerations dependent on what region the home was situated in, which included thermal conductivity of material, house energy rating, and roof cavity heat accumulation.
The results obtained from these experiments include:
• A comparative heat gain analysis
• A steady state analysis which determined the time constant value for heat accumulation
• An exploration of how these outcomes differ based on what region the home was situated in
The findings from these experiments provided insight on the potential benefits of optimised roof cavity ventilation systems, and their effectiveness to significantly reduce air conditioning reliance and overall energy consumption across entire communities in Australia.
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| Item Type: | USQ Project |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author. |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Engineering (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Bowtell, Leslie; Kist, Alexander |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Dec 2025 00:02 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Dec 2025 00:03 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Smart Communities; Automation; Energy Efficiency; Sustainable Living; Ventilation |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/53050 |
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