Arts, Design & Architecture Built Environment

Energy Efficiency Training and Information Project: Commercial Buildings

Funded by the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (DISER)

Commercial buildings

Acknowledgements 

The research group thanks the Australian Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources for funding this project entitled “Energy Efficiency Training and Information”. The researchers thankfully acknowledge the property owners and facility managers who kindly provided the building documentation and data on the case study buildings. The research team also thanks NABERS for the kind collaboration, facilitating contacts with facility managers of rated buildings.

Project objectives

  • Select mid-size buildings, with energy retrofit potential
  • Identify low-hanging fruits (building fabric & services)
  • Guide on HVAC&R: replacement vs. retrofit
  • Case studies helping building owners & facility managers in early-stage decision making

Project Findings

  • Staged interventions to increase the efficiency of existing buildings
  • As-built documentation on building fabric often lacking or insufficient
  • Still significant savings from lighting (LED not everywhere yet)
  • Some interventions on the building fabric are relatively cheap and deliver savings, before working on HVAC&R
  • Increasing cooling energy needs by 2030, need to future-proof our buildings
  • Appliances not covered in this project, but they represent a significant opportunity for savings.

Existing buildings need to be retrofitted to adapt to global climate change, and their energy efficiency must be improved to avoid vulnerability to volatility in the energy market. Almost 80% of 2050 buildings already exist today, and we must prioritise he efficiency of existing buildings.

Methods

  1. Input data from Facility Managers
  2. Inspections limited by the COVID-19 pandemic
  3. Building performance simulations (with TRNSYS): retrofit scenarios in the current & future (2030 RCP4.5) climates

This project tackles the operational energy consumption challenge for existing buildings, using a real-life case study to visualise the impact of each energy optimisation strategy.

12 case studies from 9 building types are selected as case study to explore opportunities to reduce energy consumption. Several of these buildings are already being retrofitted, and their performance has improved recently.

Building type

Buildings

Council area

State/Territory

Office

3

 Wagga Wagga (NSW), Wantirna South (Vic), Spring Hill (Qld)

NSW, Vic, Qld

Childcare

1

Parramatta (NSW)

NSW

Hotel

2

Perth (WA), Sydney (NSW)

NSW, WA

Aged Care

1

Canberra (ACT)

ACT

Community Centre

1

Kings Langley (NSW)

NSW

Cool Centre

(‘Heat-safe venue’)

1

Tregear (NSW)

NSW

Library

1

Aitkenvale (Qld)

Qld

Restaurant

1

Tahbilk (Vic)

Vic

Retail

1

Underwood (Qld)

Qld

Project participants

Reports

Links

In the media:

  1. NABERS + CBD Conference 2022:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtm6QNJLq2QmiuqT2OKJLpa3cX1xI6ZXf

Previous research papers & project reports