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Resilient urban systems:
a socio-technical study of community scale climate change adaptation initiatives
4.2.2.1
Overview of energy and water systems
The following energy systems and services are available at WestWyck:
• Mains gas and electricity
• Solar hot water and space heating
• Solar photovoltaic PV electricity
• Passive thermal design
Citipower and SP AusNet are responsible for managing the
electricity
and
gas distribution
networks
(respectively) that supply WestWyck. WestWyck Owners Corporation (WOC) is responsible for distribution of
electricity and gas on-site. All five townhouses and three of the seven apartments have their own
solar hot
water
units, supplied by rainwater collected onsite. Individual units consist of 12 evacuated tube collectors
and 250L water storage tanks. The four remaining apartments share a single hot water system. All solar
hot water units are linked to
hydronic space heating
systems backed-up by continuous flow boosters. All
systems are connected to and reliant on mains supplies of gas and reticulated water for back up. WOC is
responsible for maintenance of the hot water and hydronic heating systems.
The five townhouses and four of the apartments are fitted with
photovoltaic
(PV) panels, with inverters and
two-way meters monitoring electricity flows to and from the mains grid. PV arrays are managed by WOC
and services (for maintenance) are currently contracted to Moreland Energy Foundation (MEFL).
Most
passive design features
, including northern orientation, selective fenestration, high internal thermal
mass and building shell insulation, are built-in and cannot be altered. However a number of features,
particularly the use of shading devices and ventilation, can be adjusted to influence internal temperatures.
Residents are given education-packs explaining how to maximise the efficiency of passive design features.
Figure 5: WestWyck is located in West Brunswick