Mandatory energy efficiency disclosure for commercial buildings arrives
The recently announced Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Bill aims to turn around Australia’s historically poor record on commercial building energy efficiency (see IEA report — Implementing Energy Efficiency — are our members on track).
The Bill provides for the establishment of a new national scheme for the disclosure of commercial office building energy efficiency when office space of 2,000 m2 or more is offered for sale, lease or sub-lease. According to the Property Council of Australia, there are around 2170 commercial buildings of greater than 2,000 m2 in Australia, totaling over 19 million m2 in all.
The information to be disclosed will be in the form of a building energy efficiency certificate (BEEC). A BEEC will have three components:
- A National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) Energy star rating star rating for the office building;
- Brief guidance material that provides owners and tenants with information on energy efficiency investment opportunities (These opportunities are measured in potential star improvements and given a difficulty rating of high, medium or low that is dependent on cost and operational impact);
- Information about the energy efficiency of the office lighting;
Failure to comply with the disclosure requirements would carry a maximum penalty of $100,000. Under section 19 of the bill, anyone who misuses building energy efficiency information that they have obtained or generated would face a maximum of two years in jail.
The Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) for the bill says the new requirements will have a net benefit if as few as 3.9% of property buyers or tenants use the information in their property decisions over the next 10 years.
Much work to do
Data published by NSW DECC on the uptake of NABERS assessments suggests building owners have a lot of work to do in preparation for the new Bill. Around 75% of total assessments conducted since 1999 have been for large properties greater than 5,000 m2 in size. Even in the over 5,000 m2 category, it is estimated that up to 70 per cent of properties have not had at least one NABERS Energy assessment in the period from 1999 to 2007 and for properties between 2,000 m2 and 5,000 m2 in size, only 13% have had a NABERS assessment.
While you will need an accredited NABERS Assessor to help prepare the Building Energy Efficiency Certificate, you can start with a self assessment and our building monitoring solution can help, and can bring this information to life for building occupants and prospective tenants.
Tags: beec, commercial buildings, Energy Efficiency, energy efficiency, nabers
