“Around 95 per cent of Australia’s commercial buildings are not brand new. This means that the greening of our existing buildings is a considerable challenge – and one that must be tackled to secure Australia’s sustainable future,” says the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) Executive Director Robin Mellon.
“We welcome any incentive to retrofit existing buildings, as buildings are one of the fastest, most cost-effective and most attainable opportunities for climate change abatement and mitigation.”
From 1 July 2011, it is proposed that businesses that invest in eligible assets or capital works to improve the energy efficiency of their existing buildings will be eligible to apply for a one-off bonus tax deduction of 50 per cent of the cost of these improvements.
“We applaud the Australian Government’s ‘carrot and stick’ approach, which will deliver rewards through the Tax Breaks for Green Buildings program while also mandating the disclosure of commercial offices’ energy efficiency through the Commercial Building Disclosure program. It is particularly important to strike a balance between contemporary regulation and incentives.
“It’s also vital that Federal and state governments widen their focus beyond energy efficiency. Sustainability is about more than just energy efficiency, and encompasses greenhouse gas emissions, water, waste, indoor environment quality and many other factors,” says Mr Mellon.
A range of metrics, used both nationally and internationally, can be used to track efficiency, improvements and performance of green buildings.
The GBCA is currently developing a Green Star rating tool which can assess the sustainability of existing buildings. Green Star – Performance will address all nine Green Star environmental impact categories, including management, transport, indoor environment quality, land use and ecology, emissions, materials and innovation. The tool is expected to be launched in 2012.
“The existing building challenge is one of the GBCA’s five priorities, and we have been calling for a scheme that encourages businesses to transform their existing buildings for some time. We look forward to working with the Gillard Government on other similar initiatives,” says Mr Mellon.
The GBCA’s five green building priorities for 2010–13 are:
“We welcome any incentive to retrofit existing buildings, as buildings are one of the fastest, most cost-effective and most attainable opportunities for climate change abatement and mitigation.”
From 1 July 2011, it is proposed that businesses that invest in eligible assets or capital works to improve the energy efficiency of their existing buildings will be eligible to apply for a one-off bonus tax deduction of 50 per cent of the cost of these improvements.
“We applaud the Australian Government’s ‘carrot and stick’ approach, which will deliver rewards through the Tax Breaks for Green Buildings program while also mandating the disclosure of commercial offices’ energy efficiency through the Commercial Building Disclosure program. It is particularly important to strike a balance between contemporary regulation and incentives.
“It’s also vital that Federal and state governments widen their focus beyond energy efficiency. Sustainability is about more than just energy efficiency, and encompasses greenhouse gas emissions, water, waste, indoor environment quality and many other factors,” says Mr Mellon.
A range of metrics, used both nationally and internationally, can be used to track efficiency, improvements and performance of green buildings.
The GBCA is currently developing a Green Star rating tool which can assess the sustainability of existing buildings. Green Star – Performance will address all nine Green Star environmental impact categories, including management, transport, indoor environment quality, land use and ecology, emissions, materials and innovation. The tool is expected to be launched in 2012.
“The existing building challenge is one of the GBCA’s five priorities, and we have been calling for a scheme that encourages businesses to transform their existing buildings for some time. We look forward to working with the Gillard Government on other similar initiatives,” says Mr Mellon.
The GBCA’s five green building priorities for 2010–13 are:
- Provide visionary government leadership
- Retrofit and improve existing buildings
- Green education and healthcare facilities
- Move beyond buildings to communities and cities
- Embed green skills across all industry training.
Green Buildings Alive
Green Buildings Alive exists to promote and share detailed analysis of the environmental impact of buildings. Green Buildings Alive hosts a ‘datalyzer’ that graphs greenhouse emissions, water, energy use, occupant complaints and more from a portfolio of real office buildings.
Green Buildings Alive collated some recent observations that may shed light on additional ways to improve building performance. The numbers come from the energy meters at 26 high-rise office buildings around Australia.
A ‘typical’ large office base building (25,000 square metres) in the Sydney CBD uses approximately 7,728 kilowatt hours (kWh) on a typical week day (this figure excludes tenants’ lights and power, which can account for as much energy again), which is almost the same electricity consumption that a typical Sydney house uses in one year (8,250 kWh per year).
Energy use peaks and troughs with the seasons. The buildings reviewed in the study use 43 per cent more energy between November and March than they do between May and September, primarily due to air conditioning.
Energy demands for lighting (together with small plug-in electrical devices) are fairly constant all year round, but energy demands for heating and cooling change with the seasons – it is approximately 2.1 times higher (than lighting) in winter, but approximately 3.5 times higher in summer.
The day of the week matters too: for one Sydney building, the base building energy use on a typical Saturday is around
2,148 kWh. On an average weekday the building consumes 7,743 kWh, and in an extreme event, it can be up to 12,442 kWh.
Big savings can come from more than just the lights. For example, Green Buildings Alive found that increasing the thermostat setting in a major building by just 1˚Celsius can reduce air conditioning energy use by 6 per cent during summer.
In cities, power use is highest on weekday afternoons, causing peak demand issues on extremely hot days. Large peaks in energy use are what the network providers have to account for when they build new infrastructure.
Green Buildings Alive exists to promote and share detailed analysis of the environmental impact of buildings. Green Buildings Alive hosts a ‘datalyzer’ that graphs greenhouse emissions, water, energy use, occupant complaints and more from a portfolio of real office buildings.
Green Buildings Alive collated some recent observations that may shed light on additional ways to improve building performance. The numbers come from the energy meters at 26 high-rise office buildings around Australia.
A ‘typical’ large office base building (25,000 square metres) in the Sydney CBD uses approximately 7,728 kilowatt hours (kWh) on a typical week day (this figure excludes tenants’ lights and power, which can account for as much energy again), which is almost the same electricity consumption that a typical Sydney house uses in one year (8,250 kWh per year).
Energy use peaks and troughs with the seasons. The buildings reviewed in the study use 43 per cent more energy between November and March than they do between May and September, primarily due to air conditioning.
Energy demands for lighting (together with small plug-in electrical devices) are fairly constant all year round, but energy demands for heating and cooling change with the seasons – it is approximately 2.1 times higher (than lighting) in winter, but approximately 3.5 times higher in summer.
The day of the week matters too: for one Sydney building, the base building energy use on a typical Saturday is around
2,148 kWh. On an average weekday the building consumes 7,743 kWh, and in an extreme event, it can be up to 12,442 kWh.
Big savings can come from more than just the lights. For example, Green Buildings Alive found that increasing the thermostat setting in a major building by just 1˚Celsius can reduce air conditioning energy use by 6 per cent during summer.
In cities, power use is highest on weekday afternoons, causing peak demand issues on extremely hot days. Large peaks in energy use are what the network providers have to account for when they build new infrastructure.
