Office buildings with the best environmental standards are likely to be rewarded with a higher ”green star” rating under a government proposal. The tool that measures the energy efficiency of office buildings, NABERS, will be expanded to six, and possibly seven stars, under a plan by the scheme’s administrator.
The tool that measures the energy efficiency of office buildings, NABERS, will be expanded to six, and possibly seven stars, under a plan by the scheme’s administrator, the New South Wales Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, which administers NABERS - the National Australian Built Environment Rating System - on behalf of all Australian governments.
The system measures environmental performance in four areas: energy, water, waste and indoor environment. It includes rating tools for office buildings, hotels, shopping centres and homes. It uses a scale from zero to five stars, and the department has released a position paper canvassing industry views on extending the NABERS scale to six or seven stars.
DECCW acting built environment manager Mark Davis said the proposal aimed to accommodate the next generation of sustainable buildings. When NABERS was created 10 years ago, five stars was regarded as the best any building could be.
”It was an aspirational target. A decade on, technology and management practices in the property sector have improved greatly,” he said.
“Today, about 5 per cent of buildings are achieving five-star ratings and some developments are already targeting beyond five stars. As a result, DECCW is seeking industry input into the evolution of NABERS.”
Any change will be implemented across the three types of NABERS energy ratings for offices: base building, tenancy and whole building ratings.
Each additional half-star increment would represent a 25 per cent decrease in actual greenhouse gas emissions until zero emissions are reached.
Mr Davis said that to cater for future building technologies and the zero-emission building, while limiting the impact on the tool’s existing markets, the position paper canvasses three options:
? Recalibrating the current five-star rating scale.
? Extend to six stars early next year, introducing the seventh star in the future as needed.
? Extend to seven stars early next year.
”There are currently no buildings that would achieve seven stars, and perhaps eight around Australia that may reach beyond the existing five,” he said.
Mr Davis said one issue was that a seven-star benchmark might diminish the achievement of today’s 4.5 or five-star rating. ”However, introducing a seven-star scale at this stage will mean that industry only has to contend with one change,” he said.
This would establish aspirational targets for zero-emission buildings and provide long-term certainty for the market.
Mr Davis said a NABERS tool for offices beyond five stars would be out of alignment with other NABERS tools, such as shopping centres and hotels. ”It is proposed the national administrator develop a program for aligning those tools over the next 18 months,” he said.
A decision is expected by early next year.
