Life Cycle Assessment of the Launch of SpaceX's Starlink Mega-Constellation
Applying a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify the environmental impacts is essential to ensure environmental protection, efficient use of resources, and compliance with regulations. LCA studies in the space sector are new and limited, and studies on the private space sector are almost non-existent. This thesis project aims to mitigate the knowledge gap on the sustainability of mega-constellation satellite projects. In this project, the launch system of SpaceX's Starlink project, a 42-thousand mega-constellation, is assessed by creating a life cycle inventory model to gain an understanding of the implications of the launch process and production of satellite components.
Supervisors:
- Professor Anna Korre, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Earth Science and Engineering
The potential for new business models to alleviate barriers to social housing retrofit in the UK
The Heat and Buildings strategy identifies improving buildings with low energy performance as one of its five core principles. The CCC's 6th carbon budget found that a 34% carbon abatement could be achieved through energy efficiency measures across all buildings. Retrofitting therefore offers a "win-win" situation for both economic and environmental SDGs. However, the path to mass retrofit is complex. Financial and non-financial barriers still prevent its mass implementation, especially in the social housing sector. This project seeks to identify innovative solutions to overcoming these barriers in the social housing sector, as well as considering policy and regulatory implications for this.
Supervisors:
- Dr Koen van Dam, Chemical Engineering
- Dr Shefali Khanna, Business School
Assessing the Long-term Performance and Impacts of Building Underfloor Void Thermal Insulation
A suspended floor is a popular architectural design featured in traditional and contemporary buildings in the UK. Besides being used for air ventilation, a suspended floor is important in accommodating heave and non-level plots. Nevertheless, it also brings unintended consequences, such as heat loss. The project aims to investigate the thermal performance of a closed-cell polyurethane foam used in Q-Bot’s robotic technology, as an insulation material for suspended timber floors in semi-detached houses in the UK. This project also provides a framework, for installers and homeowners, on the preservation of the timber structures after installing underfloor heat insulation.
Supervisors:
- Professor Peter Childs, Faculty of Engineering
Techno-economic Assessment of Retrofitting Social Housing in the UK
As the UK government is committed to achieving net zero by 2050, reducing emissions from the housing sector is seen a critical step as it is currently the 3rd largest emitter. Challenges arise since UK houses are among the least energy-efficient in Europe, prompting the UK government to launch a large-scale retrofitting initiative. Social housing offers an opportunity to start the acceleration of retrofitting because local authorities can enable it to happen more swiftly. This research project aims to evaluate different combinations of retrofitting measures and to optimize the measures over numerous scenarios which factor in CO2 reduction targets and budget constraints.
Supervisors:
- Dr Shefali Khanna, Business School
- Dr Koen H. van Dam, Department of Chemical Engineering
EV Charging Optimisation through the Intergration of Renewable Energy in Commercial Buildings
With the rapid adoption of EVs, commercial buildings are increasingly incorporating EV charging facilities. However, this surge in EV charging demand poses challenges for building operators in managing electricity consumption efficiently while controlling costs and carbon emissions. The objective of this project is to develop an EV charging scheduling optimisation programme that effectively balances EV charging demand with changing electricity costs, carbon emissions, or both, while also considering the power capacity limit of the building’s load. By leveraging the data, the proposed solution will analyse demand patterns and pricing fluctuations. Furthermore, it will conduct various sensitivity analyses to offer flexible charging schedules to the building operators.
Supervisors:
- Dr Salvador Acha, Department of Chemical Engineering
- Max Bird, Department of Chemical Engineering