Renewables and Humanitarian engineering go "Hand-in-hand"
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Although it was humanitarian engineering that attracted Louise Bardwell to ANU, she was not able to add the new HumEng minor because there wasn’t room in her double degree.
Her second undergraduate research project was supervised by Dr Fiona Beck, a world leader in renewable energy innovation, and looked into how Australia could transition to 100 per cent renewables, with a techno-economic analysis of solar-to-hydrogen energy production.
Her third, honours research project, supervised by solar-thermal energy expert Dr John Pye, was accepted for presentation at the SolarPACES 2022 conference in the United States, which she looks forward to attending this coming September.
Did renewable energy steal her heart away from humanitarian engineering? Not at all.
“I think in fact they kind of support each other,” she said.
“I guess the point is humanitarian engineering isn't its own discipline. All engineering should be humanitarian engineering because at the end of the day, it's just saying that engineers are trying to improve the quality of life for all people. All engineers should be doing that.”
Bardwell recently accepted a job as a Research Assistant at Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program (BSGIP), which is located on the CECS campus. She works on the Neighbourhood Battery project, which aims to encourage homeowners to store excess solar energy generated from their rooftops in batteries large enough to power their communities.
“A lot of what we learn in Humanitarian Engineering is human-centred design and two-way engagement with communities,” Bardwell said. “That’s exactly the sort of local grassroots approach we need when we’re trying to make that energy transition. Technology can’t be implemented, and it can't be effective, unless we listen to people and get communities on board.”
Bardwell plans to stay in the renewable energy space. She feels that CECS’ commitment to humanitarian engineering and systems engineering, as well the encouragement of double degrees, have served her well.
“If we're going to help improve and fight climate change, we need to think about things from all aspects instead of just technical ones,” she said.
MORE: https://cecs.anu.edu.au/news/humanita...