Project OP9: The Carbon Footprint Reduction Toolkit for Blacktown City Council

My Research Project has two main areas both focusing on reducing GHG emission from different functions of a city as below:

1 - Considering the importance of reducing GHG emissions from transportation sector my research has taken a new step to quantify the amount of fuel usage and GHG emissions in heavy vehicle sector by the means of route optimization. The main aim is to quantify the distance driven by the different types of heavy vehicles in the optimized routes compared with their regular routes. The methodology is a novel approach for its kind, in terms of implementing the optimization model on two different types of heavy vehicles with different missions. It is aimed to find ways to reduce the overall travel distance for different types of heavy vehicles to do their daily tasks within the Blacktown City Area in order to reduce fuel consumption and therefore GHG emissions. The research in this field aims to:

• Reduce fuel consumption in different types of heavy vehicles daily duties; and
• Decrease the GHG emitted by different types of heavy vehicles.

2 - Heat island is the most documented phenomenon of climate change. The phenomenon is known for almost a century and is related to higher urban temperatures compared to the adjacent suburban and rural areas. Higher urban temperatures are due to the positive thermal balance of urban areas caused by the important release of anthropogenic heat, the excess storage of solar radiation by the city structures, the lack of green spaces and cool sinks, the non-circulation of air in urban canyons and the reduced ability of the emitted infrared radiation to escape in the atmosphere.

Major cities in Australia Asia are suspected of already experiencing urban heat islands (UHIs) as a result of rapid urbanization. The further rise of urban temperature would lead to a significant increase in energy demand for cooling. Currently, these Australian cities tend to propose large-scale master plans and increase their urban population further.

The main aim of my research in this section is to determine the main strategies to reduce urban UHI effect at the level of urban design and planning. This goal will be achieved through a group of secondary aims, as follow:

• Develop the visual image of cities by highlighting the importance of urban parks and green open spaces.
• Increase resilience against global warming by the establishment of green corridors at the level of urban design.
• Improve air quality and ventilation in cities through the application of green infrastructure principles.
• Create an attractive urban environment and reduce the temperature of cities through the use of water in the urban landscape.
• Generate applicable measures for urban designers to improve the urban microclimate with a focus on heat.

Industry Partners

Blacktown City Council

Sources of Funding

Australian Research Council (ARC)

Publications

• Karimipour, H. Tam, V. Burnie, H, Le, K. (2017). “Vehicle Routing Optimization for Improving Fleet Fuel Efficiency: A Case Study in Sydney, Australia”. International Journal of Environmental Science and Development. Vol 8, no. 11. pp 776-780.
• Tam, V. Karimipour, H. N. Le, K. Wang, J. (2017). “Green Neighborhood: Review on the International Assessment Systems”. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Vol 82, pp 689-699.
• Karimipour, H. Jazi, H. Mahini, A. and Mohammadi, A. (2015). “Participatory preparation and implementation of the land use plan in Hablehroud Basin- Iran.” International Journal of Environmental Sciences. vol 4, no. 3. pp 139-143.
• Hashemi, A. A., Karimipour, H., Jazi, H. (2015). “Assessment of watershed management impacts on erosion and sedimentation (Behvard watershed- Iran).” International Journal of Development Research. vol. 5, no. 7. pp 4897-4904.
• Karimipour, H., Mojtahedi, M., and Azari Dehkordi, F. (2015). “Introduction to a Quantitative Method for Assessment of Visual Impacts of Tehran Towers.” Journal of Soil Science and Environmental Management, vol. 6, no. 6. pp 132-139.
• Karimipour, H. and Jazi, H. (2015). “Introduction of an integrated approach for watershed management through participatory preparation and implementation of land use plan”. Sustainable Watershed Management. Taylor & Francis Group, CRC Press. pp 175-176.
• Karimipour, H., Mojtahedi, M., and Azari Dehkordi, F. (2015). “Visual impacts assessment of Tehran Towers on observer's view.” Scientific Journal of Environmental Researches, vol. 11, pp 229-242. [In Persian]
• Karimipour, H. YeganehKia, Z., and Karimipour, Y. (2011). “Introduction to a framework for assessing tourism potential of Iran in regional scale.” International Journal of Urban and rural Management, vol. 9, no. 28. pp 209-222.[In Persian]
• Karimipour, H. (2011). “Site selection of Saveh sanitary landfill using multi criteria decision making method.” Environment and Development Journal, vol. 2, no. 4. pp 25-40. [In Persian]