Week 12: Integration and the investment recommendation
Putting eleven sized subsystems into one model and finding out which gives way first.
Eleven weeks have each produced a sized subsystem, and each one assumed it had first call on water, area and the daily energy allowance. This week puts them in one model, runs the year, and finds out which gives way first — because almost every design fails somewhere the student did not expect. You run the five whole-system checks, price the full bill of materials from the published schedule with its contingency, and compare the answer across the five homes. Then you write the recommendation: what you would build, what it costs to run, what the extra money buys over the cheapest option that meets the targets, and the failure you could not design away. Naming that last one is most of what separates an engineering proposal from a brochure.
This week
- Lecture, 24 May 2027
- What fails firstWeek 12 — assembling the whole household model, testing it against the two hard constraints and a dry year, and naming the failure you cannot design away
- Tutorial, 27 May 2027
- Assembly, and the failure you cannot design awayWeek 12 tutorial — run the five whole-system checks on your recommended option, compare across the five homes, and leave with the proposal skeleton
- Assessed, due 27 May 2027
- Quiz 5: Nitrogen, jurisdiction and what a band means4 % of the course mark. Week 12 — the uptake limit that caps every site, reading the rule that applies where you are, and the limits of the scoring method
- Assessed, due 18 June 2027
- Household Resilience Investment Proposal40 % of the course mark. Assignment 2 — the specialist findings turned into a recommendation. The existing baseline against three feasible retrofit options, one of them argued for, with the rejected ones explained
- Worked example
- All five homesThis week works across every home rather than leading with one.
What you leave with
A whole-system model that passes both hard constraints, plus the capstone skeleton and an uncertainty list.
You have finished the tutorial when all of this is true, and you can tell without asking anyone:
- all three mass balances close, with stated loss terms
- peak-month energy is computed with the month named and uncertain loads at their upper estimate
- the full bill of materials is priced from the published schedule and includes the 10 % contingency
- water closure and garden water satisfaction are reported together everywhere they appear
- you can name what fails first in the dry year, and what you would change
Assignment milestone
Quiz 5 (4 %), on weeks 11–12. Assignment 2, the household resilience investment proposal (40 %), falls in the assessment period. Week 12’s tutorial is ungraded assembly.
Where this sits
With the measured year in hand you size, cost and compare the options, then argue for the one you recommend — the cheapest arrangement that meets the household's own targets, plus an honest case for any dollar spent beyond it.
Expected effort
About 8 hours this week: 2 h lecture and notes, 2 h tutorial, 1 h preparation and quiz, 3 h assignment 2. The assignment hours go into: Recommendation drafted, uncertainty listed, skeleton assembled.
A planning guide from the semester planner, not a requirement and not a measurement of anyone. Tutorial submission sits inside the tutorial hours and the quiz inside preparation; neither is counted twice.