University of Waikato School of Engineering Professor
Michael Walmsley will lead a seven-year research programme
to reduce energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to
$12.5m in funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation
and Employment.

The researchers will build a new
technology platform called Ahuora to help reengineer the way
we use, convert, supply and store renewable energy for
industrial process heating.

Process heat includes the
fuel that industries burn for steam, hot water and hot gases
to convert raw materials to useful products, such as food
and dairy products, cement, and wood products. Process heat
accounts for 28% of energy-related emissions in New
Zealand.

The Ahuora platform will be underpinned by
new adaptive digital twin technology, providing a virtual
model of a physical environment, with real-time data shared
between the physical and virtual domains.

Being
adaptive, the digital twin can respond to changing
circumstances and learn from previous experience, in order
to support better real-time decision making and longer-term
strategic planning.

The new platform’s name, Ahuora,
combines two Māori words: ‘ahu’ meaning ‘to
fashion’ and ‘ora’ meaning ‘healthy’, to represent
sustainable industry; it was gifted by Associate Professor
Te Taka Keegan of the University of Waikato.

The
Ahuora platform will be accessible to researchers, service
providers, industrial manufacturers and other large-scale
energy users. It will help decision makers transition to
using more renewable energy options, instead of burning coal
or natural gas.

Professor Walmsley was delighted with
the funding announcement, which will allow the complexity of
our energy systems to be modelled more accurately than ever
before.

“Finding effective ways to reduce our
emissions involves knowing when, where and how to apply
numerous technologies while minimising any adverse effects
on production, and managing volatilities in energy supply
and demand,” he says.

“Our proposal brings
together a new collaboration of high-level expertise in
advanced chemical, process, mechanical, electrical, and
software engineering from three New Zealand universities,
with an additional seven international
universities.”

The programme is an important step
towards zero net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, a
goal set under the Government’s Climate Change Response
(Zero Carbon) Act 2019.

“A net-zero-carbon process
heat sector by 2050 will require highly integrated,
productive and efficient systems that encompass both
industrial sites and their surroundings, including
neighbouring industries, local renewable resources, and the
community,” says Professor Walmsley.

The programme
will incorporate a Māori worldview through research
projects which analyse the inherent connections between
Māori, resources, energy and kaitiakitanga
(stewardship).

“This will be important as many iwi
own energy resources and infrastructure, as well as
businesses that use process heat,” says Professor
Walmsley.

The Ahuora programme will get underway in
October
2020.

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