A Technology Assessment Approach for Achieving Sustainable Communities: An Energy Master Plan for a New Urban Development

Abstract

In the era of climate change and rapid urbanisation, communities and infrastructures need to be planned and designed in a way that promotes sustainable living. The provision of clean and affordable energy is a key to this aim. This paper proposes a technology assessment approach that is based on the triple bottom line (environmental, social and economic) sustainability framework. This approach can be employed in the technology screening that is involved in the early stages of the energy master planning process and can be applied to different community typologies in various locations and climates. The developed approach is demonstrated through a new urban renewal project case study in Fishermans Bend, Melbourne, in which a set of technological options were screened according to the project’s goals. The connection between the energy master plan and local and global sustainable development goals is discussed and policy interventions are proposed. The results show that the proposed approach could effectively enable the evaluation of the technological sustainability performance of the community by demonstrating the design trade-offs and the implementation of the sustainability objectives during the energy master planning process. Moreover, the proposed approach could provide guidance for effective policy making. It was found that government energy policies, regulations and incentives play a vital role in the feasibility of an energy master plan. Lastly, the proposed approach could facilitate the achievement of local and international targets, such as the UN SDGs, by 2050.

Keywords

• energy master planning
• technology screening
• sustainable development goals
• 3BL approach
• community planning