Sustainable innovation for people, business and the environment

From reimagining industrial processes to revolutionising housing construction, the University of Waikato is at the forefront of creating transformation that serves people, businesses and the environment.

Researchers at the University have created projects to proactively shape a sustainable future, from tackling local priorities, including housing affordability and decarbonisation of industry to creating hybrid and electric technologies and pioneering a circular economy for New Zealand.

As New Zealand faces a housing crisis, the University’s Te Kura Mata-Ao School of Engineering has developed novel solutions to address housing accessibility and affordability. In partnership with industry leaders, we are exploring cutting-edge construction methods using recyclable materials, including cold-formed steel and composites, to make construction faster and cheaper.

University researchers are leading Āmiomio Aotearoa, a project focused on the development of a circular economy for New Zealand. In this cross-disciplinary project, researchers are working alongside other academics and industry to embed sustainability across materials, people, business and policy. It includes innovations like creating design for adaptability (disassembly and versatility) and building systems from recycled, recyclable and regenerative materials such as cellulose from plants. These are more than research initiatives; they are pathways to eliminate waste and pollution and to circulate products and materials to reduce human impact on the environment.

By enabling industries to simulate and optimise processes, we have made significant strides towards decarbonising New Zealand’s industrial process heat sector. The University is home to the Ahuora Centre for Smart Energy Systems, whose mission is to help create more sustainable New Zealand industries that sit in harmony with the environment and people. The $12.5m project funded through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment will help re-engineer the way we use, convert, supply and store renewable energy for industrial process heating.

Ahuora’s digital twin technology will address the urgent challenge of climate change by working with some of our most energy-intensive industries to reduce carbon emissions.

2024 Highlights

To create a sustainable future, we cannot just respond to societal and environmental challenges, we must work alongside industry, businesses and government to proactively engineer a more sustainable world.

Our research in 2024 focused on:

Affordable housing

New Zealand faces a critical housing shortage with some of the most rapid house price rises in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Our research on affordable housing in 2024 revealed how cold-formed steel may be able to be used to create cost-effective, durable and sustainable housing, and how 3D printing technology could disrupt the current housing model to provide efficient housing solutions.

Ahuora decarbonising industry

Ahuora is working to create more sustainable New Zealand industries through smart energy systems that support New Zealand’s journey to net zero carbon. Our research during 2024 explored digital twin technology to decarbonise industrial processing and factory-centred energy storage solutions for solar and wind energy. Researchers have also developed an algorithm to optimise a hybrid energy system to minimise carbon output while maintaining reliable energy supply. Technologies including self-powered circuit breakers and supercapacitor-buffered appliances create more efficient and sustainable home appliances. These innovations also contribute to reducing carbon emissions, enhancing grid reliability, and creating cost-effective, resilient energy solutions.

Āmiomio Aotearoa, a circular economy for New Zealand

Āmiomio Aotearoa is helping New Zealand’s transition to a circular economy, supporting sustainable product development for current and future generations. The transition to a circular economy requires a paradigm shift in society’s relationship with products and the materials from which they are made. In 2024, our research aimed to create sustainable, eco-friendly materials by combining regenerative materials including natural fibres such as hemp bast, hemp hurd and harakeke (flax) with polymers for packaging and construction materials. Using natural fibres allows us to improve the strength, environmental impact and recyclability of 3D printed materials, offering an alternative to traditional plastics and building materials.

Citations

Mechanenzymatic production of natural fibre from harakeke (New Zealand flax) and its characterization for potential use in composites for building and construction applications. Industrial Crops and Products, 214, 118507. Akindoyo, J. O., Pickering, K., Mucalo, M., Beg, M. D., & Hicks, J. (2024). doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2024.118507
Quantification of the physical, microstructural, thermal, and mechanical properties of PZT- reinforced Ti-based composites. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 1000, 175044. Alshammari, Y., Yang, F., & Bolzoni, L. (2024). doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2024.175044
Corrosion effects on axial pile capacity. Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, 38, 100559. Busch, A. V., Kluger, M. O., & Mörz, T. (2024). doi.org/10.1016/j.gete.2024.100559
Structural behaviour and capacity of cold-formed steel channel sections with elongated edge-stiffened and unstiffened web holes under compression. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 218, 108681. Chandramohan, D. L., Roy, K., Ananthi, G. B. G., Fang, Z., & Lim, J. B. (2024). doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2024.108681
Tests on Cold-Formed Steel Laced Stub Columns: Axial Strength and Stability Characteristics. Journal of Structural Engineering, 150(10). Dar, M. A., Yadav, D., Sahoo, D. R., & Lim, J. B. P. (2024). doi.org/10.1061/jsendh.steng-13240
Self-Powered and Self-Controlled Hybrid DC Circuit Breaker for Low Voltage Applications. 2024 IEEE Sixth International Conference on DC Microgrids (ICDCM), Columbia, SC, USA, 2024, pp. 1-4, Dassanayake, C., Kularatna, N., Steyn-Ross, A. and Gurusinghe, N. (2024). doi.org/10.1109/ICDCM60322.2024.10665083
Supercapacitor-Buffered DC- Operable Refrigerators for DC Homes. 2022 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), 2965–2971. Gallage, N. P., Sirimanne, D. C. T., Kularatna, N., Steyn-Ross, A., & Kularatna-Abeywardana, D. (2024). doi.org/10.1109/apec48139.2024.10509352
Techno-economic optimization of a hybrid energy system with limited grid connection in pursuit of net zero carbon emissions for New Zealand. e-Prime - Advances in Electrical Engineering Electronics and Energy, 8, 100564. Hill, D., Tito, S. R., Walmsley, M., & Hedengren, J. (2024). doi.org/10.1016/j.prime.2024.100564
Appraising the Feasibility of 3D Printing Construction in New Zealand Housing.
Buildings, 14(4), 1084. Khan, M., Dani, A. A., Lim, J. B. P., & Roy, K. (2024). doi.org/10.3390/buildings14041084
Connectedness and co-movement between dirty energy, clean energy and global COVOL. Finance Research Letters, 63, 105304. Lang, C., Hu, Y., Goodell, J. W., & Hou, Y. (2024). doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2024.105304
Axial capacity of a novel cold-formed steel swaged section: Experimental tests and design. Journal of Building Engineering, 90, 109494. Wang, W., Rezaeian, H., Roy, K., Fang, Z., & Lim, J. B. (2024). doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2024.109494
Flexural Behavior of Galvanized Iron Based Cold-Formed Steel Back-to-Back Built-Up Beams at Elevated Temperatures. Buildings, 14(8), 2456. Sam, V. S., Nammalvar, A., Andrushia, D., Gurupatham, B. G. A., & Roy, K. (2024). doi.org/10.3390/buildings14082456