Spotlight News

News Archive:

20092010 JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember

Energy efficiency industry welcomes Gillard’s tax breaks

Posted July 2010

The Gillard Government's proposed 'Tax Breaks for Green Buildings' program will motivate building owners to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions and support green collar growth, said the nation's green building organisation.

The Green Building Council of Australia(GBCA) has welcomed the Labor Party's commitment to introduce an incentive for businesses that invest in eligible assets or capital works to improve the energy efficiency of their existing buildings.

"The GBCA strongly supports any incentive to retrofit existing buildings, as this is one of the most cost-effective carbon abatement opportunities available," said the organisation’s chief executive, Romilly Madew.

She has been joined by other advocates of energy efficiency, namely the Energy Efficiency Council (EEC) and the Australian Alliance to Save Energy (A2SE) in support of the program.

The incentive will enable businesses to claim a one-off bonus tax deduction of 50 per cent of the cost of the eligible assets or capital works. The scheme would apply from July 1st, 2011.

"This retrofitting program will create jobs growth without needing to create additional commercial stock - future proofing our existing buildings, ensuring they perform closer to new standards and addressing tenant expectations,” said Madew.

"There remains a long way to go, with more 'long strides' required to move Australia forward faster, but these steps taken are welcome," said Madew.

Greening offices, hotels and shopping centres would deliver a major win-win for business and the environment, according to the Energy Efficiency Council. The industry body said retrofitting Australia’s existing commercial buildings could save the economy $1.4 billion a year, cut building emissions by 30 per cent and create 27,000 jobs over the next decade.

“Labor has put some smart ideas in this policy, and if it’s the first step in a wider program it could kick-start a transformation of our building sector.” said Rob Murray-Leach, CEO of the EEC.

“We need a suite of policies to green Australia’s buildings, including a national energy efficiency goal, energy market reform, support for innovation, access to capital and a carbon price. But this is a very good start.”

Energy efficiency is Australia’s biggest opportunity to cut greenhouse gas emissions, potentially delivering half the carbon cuts that Australia’s needs to meet a strong emission reduction target, said Murray-Leach.

What’s more, energy efficiency actually helps to grow the economy while it cuts emissions - ClimateWorks Australia estimated that if we improved the energy efficiency of our economy, by 2020 Australian homes and businesses would save $5 billion a year. Energy efficiency not only reduces the amount of energy people use, it can also lower the price of electricity by offsetting spending on expensive electricity infrastructure.

“It is difficult to find any Australian organisation that is not pro-energy efficiency, other than those who profit by volume of energy sold,” said the A2SE’s executive director, Mark Lister.

“Even energy sector businesses are open to the idea that incentive structures dictating their activities could be re-aligned to better recognise the available efficiencies.

“Support for energy efficiency exists across all sectors and in all walks of life, but being so disaggregated has meant its support base is too diffuse to stand up and be noticed.”

Lister believes the Labor Party has set out plans to build broad coalitions of support behind climate change action.

“In a range of ways, the Australian Alliance to Save Energy is assisting this by working to demonstrate the existing depth of consensus on energy efficiency action. If these pockets of support for energy efficiency are brought together and made more of a priority we may actually start to build some mainstream momentum for scaled-up change.”

Lister said the announcement on tax breaks for green buildings is sound policy that will reinforce the Government’s rhetoric with tangible actions.

“In a practical sense, further energy efficiency policy announcements during this campaign can provide a bridge to a more positive re-framing of climate change action in the longer term, because the community agreement is already so developed, and the economic payoff is also compelling.”

The Energy Efficiency Council has outlined a set of policies that it believes are required to effectively drive energy efficiency in Australia. They include:

• a goal to reduce Australia’s energy demand by 20 per cent below business-as-usual by 2020;
• a national efficiency scheme for all sectors, particularly industry and commercial buildings;
• Energy market reform, to reduce energy bills for consumers;
• At least $75 million per annum to improve the efficiency of government operations; and
• a carbon price.

China’s plan to phase out incandescent lighting

Posted July 2010

China has committed itself to the phase out of incandescent lamps and recently introduced some of the actions it is taking in developing the road map for making this ambitious goal a reality.

The initial work developing the schedule and technical details of the implementation process has begun as part of the ‘Phasing-out Incandescent Lamps and Efficient Lamp Promotion Project’ (PILESLAMP). When completed, this project alone will result in energy savings conservatively estimated at 20 billion kWh/year - equivalent to the total electricity output of four full sized coal fired power stations according to the PILESLAMP project office.*

Details of project progress to date, along with information on China’s extensive program subsidising efficient lighting (150 million lamps in 2010, implemented as part of their stimulus program), were presented recently as part of an international workshop on the phase-out, held in Beijing.

However, as Lu Fang, manager of the PILESLAMP office said, the phase-out program is not as simple in China as it appears to be in many of the 40 or so other countries that have announced similar programs.

“China faces a number of unique challenges that make implementation much more complicated. For example, there are still over 700 million people that live in the countryside - this is close to the combined population of the European Union and the USA.

“These groups live on relatively low incomes and to simply remove incandescent lamps from the market will save them money over the lifetime of the more efficient replacement lamps, but they will still have to pay a premium for the initial purchase. To affluent city dwellers this premium may be marginal, but to a farmer, it may be significant.”

Further, China is also the world’s manufacturing hub for the majority of lighting products. As China moves to phase-out the use of incandescent lighting, this will have a profound impact on the factories and workers that manufacture more than four billion incandescent lamps per year.

Thus, it is not simply “this is how we will ban x, y or z”, said Lu Fang.

“We have a much more complex task to ensure wider policies are put in place that manage the phase-out process in a way that meets our energy saving and environmental goals, but ensures the social and economic wellbeing of the more vulnerable members of our society.”

“We have formulated our initial ideas, but we want to learn from as many of those further down the process than us, and also share our thoughts with those countries yet to begin.”

The recent workshop was twice oversubscribed, but still managed to accommodate delegates from 11 countries with presentations from governments and other stakeholder groups outlining phase-out plans, progress and difficulties in implementing programs in North America, Europe, Australia and across Asia.

The project is an international cooperation between China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The total cost of the PILESLAMP project is US$84 million, of which $14 million is being provided by the GEF but with the majority being funded by private enterprise and Chinese governmental sources.

For more information contact: Stuart Jeffcott

PILESLAMP International CTA

Email: stuart_jeffcott@eelighting.cn

Tel: +86 13 8011 35414

* Estimated energy savings based on projections in the original project development document. These are deemed to be conservative as they have a 60 per cent uncertainty built in and do not include impacts outside of China of reduced incandescent supply. Quoted coal fired power station equivalent based on a typical 1,000MWpower station generating 4TWh/year.

Mandatory disclosure bill makes concessions on lighting

Posted July 2010

A bill that will require owners of building of more than 2,000 square metres to disclose the energy rating of the base building was passed by the House of Representatives on June 22nd.

The Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Bill 2010 did not include requirements for the monitoring and reporting of the lighting in buildings until after the initial transition period.

Senator Penny Wong said that the lighting provisions in the bill would be deferred to the second year of operation and that penalties would be reduced.

“The transitional arrangements will be extended so that only a NABERS assessment will be required for the first year of the scheme. The lighting tool will become a mandatory component from the second year,” Senator Wong said.

“We have also listened to the building industry and considered carefully your views concerning ongoing penalties under the Bill. So, in a spirit of ongoing co-operation, the Government will move amendments to the Bill to reduce the level of ongoing penalties under the scheme.”

Debate was sustained by two ends of the property market, namely the Property Council which favoured a softening of the Government’s plan and others in the building industry who were pushing for stringent energy benchmarks across the board.

The bill is still to pass the Senate but has received bi-partisan support.

Depending on the nature of the sale or lease, a building owner may be required during the transitional period (approx October 2010-October 2011) to have a valid base building NABERS Energy rating (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) in lieu of the full Building Energy Efficiency Certificate (BEEC). Full disclosure, from October 2011 onwards, would require a BEEC registered on the Building Energy Efficiency Register.

A BEEC includes:

1. Energy efficiency rating - Base building NABERS Energy rating, or where this cannot be achieved, a whole of building rating

2. Tenancy lighting register - Accredited assessors will benchmark existing tenancy lighting (that will be passed on to the incoming tenant/owner) against best practice

3. Building energy efficiency guidance - This must include general advice to building owners/tenants on common energy efficiency opportunities in commercial office buildings. This is not tailored to the individual building and will not be an energy audit.

The bill has the potential to transform energy usage in the operation of commercial buildings, particularly at the lower end of the market where there are a greater proportion of lower energy performing properties.

Global real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle has issued a report detailing all the major implications of the new laws to help commercial property owners and lessees with the transition.

“Occupiers will no doubt welcome the ease of information that will be a flow on benefit from the scheme. Just like comparing appliances, occupants will be able to make informed decisions that will help them limit their carbon footprint while also saving on energy costs”, the report stated.

AE Smith, Australia’s largest privately owned air conditioning and mechanical services contractor, has applauded the move by the Australian Government to introduce mandatory energy efficiency disclosure by building owners.

“This is a very important step for the industry, but we would like to see it taken further,” said Doug Binns, AE Smith’s general manager.

“With so much energy being used by commercial buildings, in the long term we would like to see mandatory disclosure applied to all commercial buildings, not just commercial offices over 2,000 square metres.

“Our experience in reducing energy use in existing commercial buildings indicates that reductions of up to 30 per cent are readily achievable.”

Binns believes that mandatory disclosure will ultimately help building owners’ bottom line.

“Already one of the key influencers in purchasing or leasing office space is energy efficiency,” he said.

AE Smith recently successfully completed the first cogeneration project in a commercial office building that was contracted to the mechanical contractor rather than the electrical contractor at Leighton Properties headquarters in Fortitude Valley Brisbane.

According to AE Smith, 30-40 per cent of all primary energy is used by commercial buildings. In Australia 70 per cent of energy use in buildings is used for heating and cooling alone.

Lessons to be learnt from China’s plan for sustainable cities

Posted July 2010

China may be a developing country with huge climate, social, geographic and governance challenges, but its people have enthusiastically embraced sustainable development and the concept of eco-cities, said Romilly Madew.

The chief executive of the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) was in China during May, as part of the Australian Urban Systems and Austrade delegation to the Shanghai Expo and then to the Australia China Sustainable Building and Design Forum in Beijing.

“I think we all thought we were visiting China to present our experiences. Instead, we have walked away being the ones who have learnt many lessons,” she said.

China is currently the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, accounting for approximately 17 per cent of emissions (7,187 MMTCO2-e). Per capita, emissions are 5.5 metric tons of CO2-e (92nd highest in the world).

China's Copenhagen Action Commitment includes a target to reduce emissions per unit of GDP of 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020 and a commitment to increasing energy from non-fossil fuels to supply 15 per cent of China's primary energy consumption by 2020.

From discussions with Chinese property, construction, building representatives and government officials, Madew said she found there was a general recognition that China has come a long way in sustainable development in the last two years.

“And a low carbon philosophy has changed the direction of architecture in China,’ she said.

Following the UN meeting in Copenhagen, the Chinese Government made strong commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, Vice Minister Qiu Baoxing from the Ministry of Construction has set a target of 200 buildings to be rated under China's Green Building Design Label this year. Currently, 34 projects have been rated as either 1, 2 or 3 star buildings. Further, leading owners have been told to design 80 per cent of their buildings this year using the Green Building Design Label and 100 per cent next year.

“Many cities in China are facing similar challenges to Australian cities; while the goals maybe the same the approach will be different,” said Madew, suggesting that China is planning to green entire cities rather than buildings alone.

“The Mayor of Changsha, Mr Zhang Jianfei, told me that with an annual growth rate of 14.7 per cent, and 1,000 new cars registered a day, his city has taken a resource saving approach.

“Initiatives such as tax incentives and disincentives (the more land you have, the more you are taxed), a ‘just say no’ campaign to reduce use of disposable items, and a focus on energy efficiency in buildings.”

China has introduced a sustainable cities pilot program - one city in the Gobi Desert in Western China that is maximising its utilisation of solar power, is one of the first projects in China to introduce a smart grid and has a strong green transportation focus, particularly through the introduction of electric cars.

And Tianjin Eco City has created its own green building code, with six mandatory requirements.

Another city, Tangshan, will use thermal power from the ground, wind power from the coast, and solar power for energy, and will recycle garbage and water.

“I'm excited by the opportunities for Australian and Chinese collaboration, many of which are available through the work of the GBCA and the China Green Building Council.”

Following on from the meetings in China, a Chinese mayors' delegation visited Australia in June and provided an opportunity for GBCA members to interact with Chinese decision-makers from a host of cities.

“The establishment of the China Green Building Institute also provides long-term collaboration opportunities that will include demonstration projects and research to support GBCA members gaining access to China and make a difference to the greatest sustainability challenge facing the planet,” said Madew.

Image: Romilly Madew – chief executive of the Green Building Council of Australia

Festival provides rich forum for designers

Posted July 2010

Victoria’s State of Design Festival, held from July 14th to 25th, had a lot on offer for the lighting and green building industries with a range of events designed to engage and enlighten.

For the first time, the Festival invited lighting companies and designers to showcase the latest product and technology innovations at Lightsource, a new commercial exhibition.

Held over four days at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, Lightsource attracted thousands of trade visitors to the exhibition and seminar program.

State of Design Festival aims to increase the awareness of the value of design and showcase how design generates innovation, promotes sustainability and adds value to business and society. More than 130,000 people were expected to experience one or more of the 75 events across the Festival’s four main programs:

There were a significant number of workshops, panel discussion sand talks on the subjects of green building design, sustainable neighbourhoods, density housing design and urban planning.

Philips Lighting held two workshops to educate about the real and achievable energy efficiency benefits of retrofitting existing office spaces.

One of the highlights of the festival, on the same subject, featured a number of speakers including Rob Murray-Leach from the Energy Efficiency Council, Ninotschka Titschkosky from BVN Architecture and Romilly Madew from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).

‘Retrofitting the Grid: New Designs for Old Buildings’ presented the big picture for energy efficient cities and one of their biggest obstacles: the inefficiency of existing commercial building stock. Speakers presented a range of recent case studies and examples that explained the commercial benefits of retrofitting.

More than 81 per cent of Australia’s 21 million square metres of commercial office stock is more than 10 years old, Romilly Madew told attendees.

“Cities will lead the way,” said Madew, “they are made up of existing buildings and local governments are focusing on these…but there are still many challenges.”

A Davis Langdon report found that 1.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions could be saved every year by retrofitting stock more than 20 years old to achieve NABERS 4.5 Star ratings.

Madew said the easiest “wins” could be made by removing, replacing or downsizing inefficient equipment to reduce energy waste; retrofitting heating, ventilation and cooling systems; and upgrading appliances and lighting.

Her comments came at the same time as the release of the GBCA’s ‘green building agenda’ for 2010-2013, which outlines the five priorities which it believes will place Australia on a clear, long-term pathway to sustainability.

"The next three years will determine whether green building practices become 'normal practice', rather than just 'best practice'," said Madew.

"Many of the great challenges that Australia faces, such as climate change, sustainable population growth, affordable housing and infrastructure planning, are already 'hot button' issues in this election campaign - and issues that the green building industry is already working to address.

"The federal election campaign is an opportunity for all political parties to outline their vision and the policies they believe will help Australia to overcome some of the market failures, skills deficits and institutional barriers that impede action and industry growth," said Madew

The GBCA's five green building priorities for 2010-2013 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

Preview of August Lighting magazine

Posted July 2010

The upcoming edition of Lighting Art & Science magazine includes a range of stories related to energy efficient lighting design and the technologies that enable them. Here is a snapshot of what you can find in this edition of the magazine.

Reaping the rewards of daylight harvesting
Balancing the demand for natural light and the need to manage radiant heat is leading to a new breed of sophisticated control system for lighting and motorised blind management -now playing a key role in the sustainability equation.

Both the energy efficiency of a building and occupant comfort can be profoundly affected by the building’s orientation with respect to the sun. Sunlight falling on a building facade usually results in both heat and light transfer to the interior. While these may be welcomed during winter, they often cause problems through overheating and glare in summer.

The focus historically - especially in hotter climates - has therefore tended towards mitigation strategies against the effects of solar radiation. Fixed shading can prove effective in this respect, particularly in terms of blocking solar heat, which would otherwise lead to the need for additional cooling.

However, emerging green targets and occupant comfort factors have spawned a new appreciation for the benefits of natural light - leading to the practice now known as ‘daylight harvesting’. This has shifted the focus towards building designs that are flexible enough to protect against the summer heat, while still able to embrace natural light and heat at other times.

Facade and fenestration
Alistair Grice is the market manager - specification, for Somfy - a leading manufacturer of motorisation solutions for blinds. In his view, the key to finding the optimum balance of natural and artificial light is in the facade and fenestration design of the building.

“Dynamic facades, where motorised blinds help regulate different levels of protection, can accommodate a whole range of different light and heat conditions,” he said.
“However, from an energy management perspective, heat management takes precedence over light management, as heating and cooling account for a much higher percentage of energy usage than lighting typically does.”

With the growing market adoption of more-efficient LED light sources, the difference in energy use between heating/cooling and lighting systems will increase in the future, said Grice.
“As such, it is best to use blinds to manage heat, and then adjust the artificial light levels to where they need to be. As the sun angle changes and the heat-load diminishes, it will be possible to raise the blinds to take advantage of natural light and minimise the lighting component of energy usage as well.”

To read the full version of this story, sign up to receive the next edition of Lighting magazine.

Bond University leads the way in green building design
Bond University’s Mirvac School of Sustainable Development building has once again been recognised for its outstanding sustainable design winning the United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA) World Environment Day Szencorp Green Building Award.

This is the latest in an impressive list of national and international awards for the University’s building, including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Sustainability Award, awarded last October.

Vice Chancellor, Professor Robert Stable said Bond University took great pride in the quality of its teaching facilities and receiving these awards was another example of the world benchmark Bond is setting to deliver a superior experience for students.

"Bond University is honoured to have won this prestigious green building award. Last year winning the RICS award put Bond University on the world stage as a leader in the field of sustainability. Now this World Environment Day Szencorp Green Building Award confirms our position as Australia’s educational leaders in sustainable building design,” said Professor Stable.

“We are very proud of the Mirvac School of Sustainable Development building. It has innovatively reduced carbon emissions by 80 per cent and is Australia's first higher education building to receive a 6 Star Green Star Design Rating,” he said.

Managing director of Szencorp and sponsor of the award, Peter Szental lauded Bond University for developing an educational building with intelligent sustainable design from which students can learn.

“Szencorp has sponsored the Green Building Award since winning the award in 2006, I am delighted that this year’s winner is an outstanding building dedicated to educate sustainable design students,” said Szental.

“Each year thousands of students visit the Szencorp Building in Melbourne to study its sustainable features so we commend Bond University for developing a green building that serves as a live case study for its students.

“It is only by studying a sustainable building first-hand that students can really understand how a building’s sustainable features work together to dramatically reduce a building’s environmental impact,” he said.

To read the full version of this story, sign up to receive the next edition of Lighting magazine.

Image courtesy of Philips Dynalite