Smart Cities: Making Australian precinct energy networks a reality

Qantas and Sydney City Council's Central Park are already benefitting from well-established cogeneration and trigeneration technologies that have the potential to make urban precincts much more energy efficient.

Cogeneration combines heat and power to generate electricity and heating (thermal energy) through a single power source. When the source also generates cooling, the process is called trigeneration.

Both forms are powered by gas, renewable gas or biomass, which have much lower carbon footprints than coal.

Waste energy is captured and used to cool and heat spaces. Further efficiencies come from systems that are embedded locally so electricity only has to travel short distances ­– a form of decentralisation that is helping cities move away from fossil fuel reliance.