Reimagining urban water, waste and energy systems and creating regenerative infrastructures that capture synergies and deliver benefits for all.
ISF's research into the cutting-edge of restorative infrastructure asks:
“What if we started to expect something quite different from our infrastructure? Can we go beyond reducing ecological damage and seek to design infrastructure that actually improves the local environment, economy and society?”
To achieve this, we need to think differently about networks, institutional arrangements, recovery of valuable materials, acceptable levels of risk, security and price, and a more expansive approach to externalities.
Circular economy example
Water utilities are moving towards a vision of integrated resource recovery due to a combination of expanding sustainability and liveability aspirations, operational challenges, network constraints and emerging contextual factors. Rising energy costs, as well as increases in energy intensity due to alternate water supplies such as desalination, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts are also pushing new ways of thinking for water and sewage services.
A circular economy approach provides resilience to resource shocks and constraints, and also reduces the impact on the environment when responding to carbon reduction and zero wastewater to ocean requirements.
Read more in Transitioning the Water Industry with the Circular Economy.
PROJECT | 2019-2021
The future of water smart homes in Greater Sydney
How will water-connected smart technologies in the home transform water practices and systems in Sydney in the near future?
NEWS | FEB 2021
Making water more efficient for our schools
The Schools Water Efficiency Program (SWEP) was established in Victoria to save water and energy in schools, as well as educate current and future generations about the importance of the efficient use of these resources to achieve a more sustainable environment.
NEWS | NOV 2020
Transitioning the water industry with the circular economy
An ISF report for the Water Services Association of Australia outlines the potential benefits of a circular economy approach and the steps that the water industry will need to take to unlock them.
View more projects
Resources
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How scale and technology influence the energy intensity of water recycling systems-An analytical review (2019) (Journal Paper)
Journal of Cleaner Production Volume 215, 1 April 2019, Pages 1457-1480 -
The influence of context and perception when designing out risks associated with non-potable urban water reuse (2018) (Journal Paper)
Urban Water Journal Pages 461-468 -
Resilience through a Circular Economy Approach (Conference Poster)
