Project overview
2025 Student project
Students: Georgina Bestek, Olivia Bunter, Scarlett Jamieson, Anika Misir, Aamarah Walcott and Matthew Williams.
Supervisor: Laura Jones, Senior Analyst ANU Centre for Energy Systems, e: laura.jones@anu.edu.au
About
Student renters face challenges accessing the same range of renewable energy technologies that are available to homeowners, such as rooftop solar and batteries.
This project identified solutions that student renters in the ACT can use to shift their daily electricity demand to times when renewable penetration is high, for the purpose of empowering this demographic to be able to participate in the energy transition.
Thirteen solutions were shortlisted for analysis for the purpose of identifying the 4 most effective solutions.
The analysis process was conducted to understand the extent of the economic, environmental, social, technical and policy impacts of each solution.
- Economic analysis includes the Net Present Value from each solution
- Environmental analysis includes a Life Cycle Assessment to identify the material inputs for each solution and the environmental impacts of sourcing each one
- Social analysis involved interviews with 2 subject matter experts to gain an understanding of the socio-cultural barriers that student renters face
- Technical analysis looked at the performance of each solution in shifting energy in kWh/year
- Policy analysis includes a subject matter expert interview and looking at each final solution to identify the most appropriate policy that can be implemented to drive uptake.
The 4 most effective solutions were found to be:
- Delay start appliances
- Power point timers
- Power banks
- Insulation package (including door snakes, thermal curtains, room dividers and temporary double glazing).
These were particularly favourable due to their relative affordability, and temporary/moveable nature which means they can be reused at another rental if the tenant relocates. The economic analysis found insulation packages are deemed to provide the largest economic payback to renters over their lifetime and therefore are the most highly recommended.