Briefing Notes
Briefing Notes
With large, centralised infrastructure appearing vulnerable to climate change and ‘peak oil’, alternative models are emerging everywhere.
Energy, water and food are being delivered via networked, localised production and consumption systems that lower carbon, increase efficiency, build resilience and strengthen local economies. This ‘distributed’ systems model is over-turning old ideas of services and is re-shaping our image of the future. Communities are active adopters of solar panels, wind generators, rainwater tanks and neighbourhood gardens. Consumers are redefining themselves as part-producers of critical resources. This is an evolution just beginning.
To understand the nature of these ‘localised solutions’, the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL) and the McCaughey Centre organised a forum in Melbourne at the end of 2009. That event explored the value and implications of local initiatives that follow the distributed systems model. The forum brought together perspectives from the private sector, utilities, non-profit organisations and research bodies - reflecting the diversity of examples in Victoria.
VEIL has now produced a briefing paper which presents the forums key findings structured around three themes:
· The shape of localised solutions and their parallels with distributed systems
· Implications for adapting to climate change and resource scarcity
· The factors enabling and limiting further development of localised solutions
Download the paperHow do we prepare now for a future of unprecedented resource scarcity and environmental change? Unless we take radical steps to increase the resilience and sustainability of critical infrastructure, access to vital systems and services is at risk.
This paper highlights the dynamic forces increasing the vulnerability of current infrastructure and services and presents the case for distributed systems as an alternative design model.
We suggest this model exists in the natural environment and in production and consumption systems that have already begun adapting to conditions of increased uncertainty, resource scarcity and a ‘low-carbon’ future. A distributed approach to system design offers many benefits over traditional infrastructure models.
Research and case studies strongly suggest such an approach can:
- Increase the physical resilience of infrastructure
- Foster social and institutional flexibility and innovation
- Reduce the environmental footprint of production and consumption
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Distributed Water Systems: A networked and localised approach for sustainable water services
This extended briefing paper draws on case studies and research to describe the emergence and potential of networked and localised water infrastructure and services.
Authors: Che Biggs, Chris Ryan, John Wiseman, Kirsten Larsen
Participating Institutions: Australian Centre for Science, Innovation and Society, University of Melbourne with the McCaughey Centre: Vic Health Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, University of Melbourne
This is VEIL's first briefing paper on distributed systems. Drawing on examples from states and cities in the EU and US, this paper demonstrates policy approaches for the development of distributed energy systems.
Authors: Dr. Kes McCormick, Rebekka Falk and Samira Viswanathan
Participating Institutions: Australian Centre for Science, Innovation and Society, University of Melbourne with The EU Environmental Education and Research Alliance (ENVERA)