This article provides concise answers to the ten most relevant issues for managers of sustainable commercial buildings.
The ten questions were developed through industry consultation - including a cross-industry, cross-geography workshop, telephone surveys, and a series of focus groups in 2005 and 2006. For each question, specialised authors provided brief answers and links to further information. Over time, the ten questions are likely to evolve through additional surveys and in response to your comments on this website.
How can I profit from managing a sustainable commercial building?
Sustainable buildings can incorporate a variety of features that have positive impact on its profitability. Each case is different it is important to identify and communicate where opportunities are for increasing bottom line profit, and also to identify areas where profit may be reduced. An integrated design process can lead to time savings resulting from improved communications, faster exchange of information, and increased innovation. Sustainable building development reflects well on corporate responsibility and as such can help an organisation's marketability.
See [Profit and the business case for sustainable commercial buildings and The business case for facility managers of sustainable commercial buildings for more information.
What are the legislated sustainability requirements for commercial buildings?
The answer to this question is dependent on the meanings of the terms 'commercial buildings' and 'sustainability'. In The legislative context of sustainable commercial buildings article, 'commercial buildings' are generally taken to mean buildings of Class 5 - 9 in accordance with the Building Code of Australia
(BCA) Classification (Section 1.3) and 'sustainability' indicates issues associated with energy efficiency, water efficiency, material usage or indoor environment conditions.
The current mandatory requirements - common to most States and Territories - are the operating Energy Efficiency Provisions of the BCA (Section 2.1 & 2.2) and Existing Building Provisions (Section 2.3). Sustainability requirements and related legislations (Section 2.4) particular to each Australian state and territory are listed under States and Territories Provisions.
Water issues are regulated under Plumbing Code of Australia but its current content is mainly about installation. Material usage regulations are currently mainly about waste disposal which are under state and territory control, well established long before the term sustainability was invented. Similarly, there are long established requirements in the BCA about indoor environment conditions such as indoor air quality, sound, light and disabled access.
See The legislative context of sustainable commercial buildings for more information.
How can I cut energy and water consumption?
In most buildings, there are many opportunities to reduce energy and water consumption. They usually involve a combination of behaviour and technology. An audit will reveal the current level of consumption; identify the major users and list opportunities for conservation.
Some low-cost measures will be able to be implemented immediately, funded out of operating budget. Other measures may need to wait until systems are being changed during refurbishments.
Along with technical improvements it is important to understand the role that tenants, cleaners, maintenance staff play in influencing environmental outcomes. Education programs for each of these groups are vital to achieving ongoing reductions.
To measure your progress, monitor energy and water consumption, make it meaningful by comparing to targets and benchmarks and report back to each stakeholder group.
See Facilities management and maintenance and sustainable commercial buildings for more information.
energy
In commercial buildings, the biggest energy consumers are the HVAC and lighting systems which combined constitute 84% of the operational energy consumption of a typical office building. Therefore, the biggest potential for saving energy is in these areas.
For HVAC systems the key to saving energy lies in sizing, installing, commissioning, maintaining and operating the HVAC system correctly. It is important to choose the correct technology and type of system for the organisation. Since heating and cooling are major contributors to peak demand for energy, they contribute disproportionately to energy bills, which increasingly include extra charges for high energy demand. This means great savings can be made by increasing HVAC efficiency. Other benefits include better working conditions and health for occupants.
For lighting a lot will depend on the design of the building. Ideally, a combination of daylight and artificial light is preferable, in order to produce sufficient and suitable lighting for tasks throughout the room, both day and night. Good integration between these two sources of light makes it possible to gradually dim the amount of electric light when available daylight is sufficient for the task.
The design of an office lighting system should also provide for the various requirements of its occupants, allowing users flexibility and personal over-ride to adjust (at least partially) the luminous environment according to their individual needs. Privacy and personal needs require that each area be separate from other workstations in terms of the luminous environment, and that workstations can be fitted out in a personalised way. Depending on the different tasks and activities performed in a space, several adjustable lighting systems are preferable to evenly distributed ceiling lights. In terms of light distribution, a combination of diffuse and direct light - with directional lighting and some diffuse light needed to avoid dark areas with dense shadows - can assist in the perception of three dimensional objects and give 'life' to an environment.
See Opportunities for improving energy performance in commercial buildings for more information.
Water
Audits of office buildings in Australia and overseas indicate that over 95% of water use in office buildings is accounted for by amenities, cooling towers and leakage.
Where cooling towers are installed, up to 30 per cent of water use for an average building occurs in the cooling tower, a statistic that is higher in summer. In shopping centres this can be as high as 60%. Optimum water efficiency in cooling towers depends on the quality of the incoming water. When choosing a water treatment service provider to determine your water treatment program request that water conservation is included as a key performance indicator. AIRAH (Australian Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning and Heating) holds a register of accredited water treatment companies (see AIRAH website for more information).
Sanitary fixtures in public, commercial or industrial buildings include toilets, urinals, basin taps and may also include showerheads. Approximately 37% of total commercial building water use is used for domestic/bathroom applications in commercial/public office buildings. Improvements in fixtures water use can be achieved by specifying minimum 4 star WELS rated fittings, considering waterless urinals and setting a water intensity target for the building against benchmarks.
Leakage can be a significant cause of water loss in building plumbing systems - undetected below ground as well as through dripping taps and toilet cisterns. Rates of water loss vary significantly depending on the type and severity of the leak. As a general guide dripping (not running) taps can lose between 3 to 27 L/day, while leakage from toilet cisterns can range from 10L/day for barely visible leaks to 260 L/day or more for leaks large enough to be visible and/or have an audible refilling hiss. System leaks which are not easily detectable by occupants can be significant. Including sub-metering of tenancies, plant and landscape uses can help identify where leaks are occurring.
See Water use and sustainable commercial buildings for more information.
Which rating tool should I use when?
For sustainable buildings as products or outcomes of the design process, there are a range of tools in Australia that go beyond minimum compliance with the Building Code of Australia (BCA) and measure performance in terms of good and best practice. These tools allow users to assess a building's sustainability performance and benchmark their design against others.
When deciding which voluntary rating tool to use when, it is important to determine what the desired social, environmental and economic outcomes of a project are and how this can best be benchmarked and reported. For mandatory rating tools, it is important to research the requirements for the jurisdiction in which your project is located.
See the section on Tool selection guide and comparisons in the Performance setting and measurement for sustainable commercial buildings article and the Rating tools rundown by the Centre for Design for more information.
How can I cut through the greenwash when choosing technologies and products?
Products and materials
Cutting through 'greenwash' when choosing building products and materials is often difficult. Suppliers rarely intentionally mislead, but are often unable (due to trade secret constraints or inability to access detailed information) or unwilling (due to time and cost implications) to provide a full life cycle understanding of a product, including upstream and downstream impacts.
Seek independent advice from specialists, comparing costs and benefits with competing technologies where possible. Additionally request case studies of local examples from the supplier, backed up by monitored performance. Discussing your experiences with the materials and technology at industry meetings can assist your colleagues as well.
Independent, professional, third-party assessment is another good means of comparing product sustainability.
See the section on Implementing and operating for improved performance in the Products and materials and sustainable commercial buildings for more information.
Energy
There are several ways of choosing the best type of technologies and products. For office equipment the key things are:
- Where possible, ensure that equipment conforms to Energy Star requirements. Specifying the requirement of Energy Star compliant and enabled office equipment in purchasing policies and procurement contracts ensures that your supplier delivers all products with the Energy Star low-power features enabled and tested.
- Check power ratings in operating, low power, sleep and off modes so that you can select the most energy-efficient, value-for-money model that meets all your operating requirements. Bear in mind that some equipment can still consume energy after the on/off button has been switched off if the power-point is still switched on.
See the sections on How to select the right lighting system and Selecting the right appliances in the Opportunities for improving energy performance in commercial buildings article for more information.
Water
There are currently no water efficiency standards for measuring and assessing Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems.
AIRAH is currently developing a nationally recognised training course in water efficient operation of cooling tower systems for facility mangers, water treatment personnel and service personnel due for completion by the end of 2007. Also, AIRAH is working with stakeholders to address this issue of water efficiency standards in cooling tower systems.
The water efficiency of new appliances is now given as part of the Mandatory WELS scheme. Appliances included in this scheme are:
- Clothes washing machines;
- Dishwashers;
- Flow controllers;
- Water closet fixtures;
- Showers;
- Tap equipment intended for use over a kitchen sink, bathroom basin, laundry tub or ablution trough; and
- Urinal equipment.
WELS is enforced through the Australian Government's Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005 (the WELS Act), which commenced in March 2005, and AS/NZS 6400:2005 - Water-Efficient Products, Rating and Labelling.
See the sections on HVAC efficiency and Appliance efficiency in the Water use and sustainable commercial buildings article for more information.
What are the basic principles for managing sustainable commercial buildings?
The six steps for managers are:
- Measure baseline performance
- Set performance targets
- Identify improvement initiatives
- Monitor and collect data
- Report performance
- Engage the building's occupants
See Six steps to sustainable commercial buildings for facility managers for more information.
Energy
Energy costs generally represent 15% of the outgoing costs for a typical office building, and are one of the best sections to target for cost reductions through energy-efficiency programs and good energy management.
Energy management is a program of well-planned actions, aimed at reducing an organisation's energy bills while offering improvements in comfort for users and reducing detrimental environmental impacts.
There are two central energy management strategies:
- energy conservation - avoidance of wasteful energy use and reduction in demand for energy-related services (i.e. if you don't need it, turn it off)
- energy efficiency - reduction in the consumption of energy for current operations (i.e. if you need it, do it more efficiently).
Energy management involves:
- devolving responsibility for energy bills to those with the authority to change the way energy is used
- providing resources where required
- collecting and analysing existing energy use data
- undertaking an energy audit to determine where, and how efficiently, energy is used
- implementing energy-saving measures
- regularly reporting the savings that have been achieved.
Appropriately applied energy management strategies will lead to a reduction in the cost of delivering government services and improve the quality of services provided.
See the section on The role of facility/energy manager in the Planning, implementing and operating for improved energy performance in commercial buildings article for more information.
Water
The Facility Manger plays an important role in overseeing and ensuring water is managed, used and operated in a sustainable manner. Specific responsibilities include:
- Implementation of the water management plan;
- Providing training and awareness to occupants;
- Responding to leakages; and
- Measuring, data collection, collation and analysis, performance reporting.
The development of a water management plan (WMP) is essential to achieving effective and sustainable outcomes. Key components of the developed WMP are:
- Assessment of existing water consumption and end uses - look at water bills, metering, water using equipment and systems;
- Setting targets and benchmarks - benchmarks provides a comparison and targets provide clearly defined goals to work towards;
- Identifying opportunities for water efficiency improvements including identifying and rectifying losses, behavioural and operational measures, technical efficiencies, alternative water sources;
- Liaising and engagement with stakeholders is a key to the successful implementation of the plan;
- Implementation - providing actions, timing, responsibilities, costs;
- Monitoring and reporting.
See the section on The role of facility manager in the Water use and sustainable commercial buildings article for more information.
Why doesn't the building perform to its designed levels?
Bannister 2006, identifies a series of reasons why buildings don't perform at the level predicted during design:
- HVAC controls programmed inefficiently or incorrectly
- Commissioning issues
- Loss of design intent
- Complexity
- Poor build quality
- Net Leases
- Cheap, unreliable components
- Poor Maintenance and operation
- "Invisible" Problems
- "Bad" tenants
Source: "Why Good Buildings Go Bad While Some Are Just Born That Way" - Dr Paul Bannister, accessed from http://www.airah.org.au
What should be monitored and when?
The type and number of facility performance parameters to monitor depend on the purpose of monitoring, the requirement of the rating/assessment scheme that is/was used, or the specific requirement(s) of key stakeholders (e.g. owners and/or tenants). The tables in the Tool selection guide and comparisons section in Performance setting and measurement for sustainable commercial buildings article show a broad range of environmental performance attributes: (a) some of them can be directly measured (e.g. energy-operation, water-operation); (b) some can be inferred from other more direct sources (e.g. global warming); and (c) some can only be assessed qualitatively (e.g. biodiversity). Type (a) and type (b) parameters can be monitored periodically.
Performance measurement and monitoring may be part of an environment management plan. In other cases, an assessment is done to obtain a snapshot of performance to which current and future facility improvement works can be compared. Alternatively, the objective may be to compare a particular building's performance - intended or in service - to others of similar type and/or size (i.e. benchmarking).
Energy
Monitoring energy consumption is part of the overall energy management strategy for a commercial building manager. When an organisation makes a commitment to reducing energy costs and protecting the environment, it is important to measure the results of these efforts. Senior managers need this information to justify budgets for capital improvements designed to produce long-term benefits, and to determine the benefits received from these investments. These measurements can provide feedback on whether investments are producing the anticipated benefits. If they are not, monitoring may identify reasons for the shortfalls and help facility managers improve performance with other projects.
Determining electrical energy consumption is relatively straightforward, and an ordinary electrical meter is adequate for simple daily, weekly, or other longer electrical energy determinations. If consumption versus time is required, either the manual method of taking frequent meter readings or automated data collection can be used. For the collection of time-based information, split-core current transducers and power transducers can be installed without disconnecting power. Data loggers can be used to collect data, which can then be downloaded as needed.
Time-based information is required if electrical demand is to be determined. For this purpose, it is essential to have the appropriate software to determine the 'peak' value. The peak can be a time-averaged value over a sliding 15- or 30-minute time frame, in which single or multiple spikes are not indicative of the peak as measured by the local utility. Other software simply measure the highest demand in a month and base demand charges on that value.
See the section on Monitoring in the Planning, implementing and operating for improved energy performance in commercial buildings article for more information.
Water
Consumption data from water bills is of limited value. Time of use data based on 5-minute recordings is needed to properly analyse end uses, especially leaks and excessively high intermittent flows. A single meter at the boundary is also usually insufficient. Sub-meters should be installed where feasible on any end use or end use category that makes up more than about 20% of total consumption. For high use sites, at least the main meter should be continuously monitored online either via the BMS or a web-based water information service.
See Water use and sustainable commercial buildings for more information.
What is "good" and "best" practice?
"Good" and "best practice" are relative terms for performance of the industry at any one point in time. They are usually defined by benchmarks such as those outlined for energy and water.
Energy
Office buildings can be rated for their energy efficiency using the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) scheme. Energy efficient buildings have lower operating and life cycle costs, giving a very competitive advantage to owners and tenants.
The Australian Building Greenhouse Rating scheme assists office building owners and tenants to reduce energy use, reduce energy costs and reduce greenhouse emissions. ABGR was developed and is managed by Government, is endorsed by the Property Council of Australia and supported by other major Industry associations and property owners.
The scheme benchmarks a building's greenhouse performance on a scale of one to five, one having the worst greenhouse performance and five the best. Three stars represents current market best practice. The rating system is derived from the actual amount of energy (electricity, gas, coal or oil) your building/tenancy consumes in a year. This means the rating reflects the way energy is managed as well as how efficiently the building is designed. The benchmark allows comparison with the greenhouse performance of other buildings within the state. The stars are arranged as follows:
- 1 Star - Poor energy management or outdated systems. Building is consuming a lot of unnecessary energy. There are cost effective changes that can be implemented to improve energy consumption, cut operating costs and reduce greenhouse emissions.
- 2 Star - Average building performance. Building has some elements of energy efficiency in place and reflects the current market average. There is still scope for cost-effective improvements, and minor changes may improve on this building's energy and operating costs.
- 3 Star - Current market best practice. Building offers very good systems and management practices and reflects an awareness of the financial and environmental benefits of optimising energy use.
- 4 Star - Strong performance. Building demonstrates excellent energy performance due to design and management practices or high efficiency systems and equipment, or low greenhouse intensive fuel supply.
- 5 Star - Best building performance. Building is exceptional due to integrated design, operation, management and fuel choice.
See the section on Australian Building Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) scheme in the Planning, implementing and operating for improved energy performance in commercial buildings article for more information.
Water
National water intensity benchmarks have been developed for office buildings and public buildings. These benchmarks, referred to as NABERS benchmarks, identify what are average, better and best practice water intensities for these building types. Water intensity refers to the water consumed per square metre of space. Similar work has been conducted in the United Kingdom public estate as part of the Water Mark programme. The benchmarks provide guidance to building owners, managers and tenants on how their buildings measure up against similar sites nationwide, and are now available at Water benchmarks for offices and public buildings.
See the section on National water intensity benchmarks in the Water use and sustainable commercial buildings article for more information.
What are energy/water/waste management plans?
An Environmental Management Plan (EMP) is a tool for managing energy and water consumption and waste production within a facility. The steps to developing an Environmental Management Plan are:
- Identify priorities;
- Set objectives and targets;
- Define performance indicators;
- Document strategies and time frames to achieve targets;
- Determine specific actions to implement each strategy;
- Allocate responsibilities and resources;
- Establish mechanisms to monitor evaluate and report progress (use existing mechanisms where possible); and
- Track costs and benefits.
See the section on Planning for improved performance in the Facilities management and maintenance and sustainable commercial buildings article for more information.
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