Energy efficiency saves Sydney commercial landlords $25m a year

Energy efficiency upgrades in Sydney’s major commercial buildings are saving landlords more than $25 million a year on electricity bills, according to the City of Sydney.

Detailed data from the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) – which was established by the City of Sydney, and involves the owners of more than half the city’s commercial office space – show members’ building emissions were reduced by an average 3 per cent a year from 2005/6 levels, despite a 14 per cent increase in the amount of space leased over the same period.

Some of the buildings have seen cuts of up to 70 per cent, due to such measures as high efficiency lighting, plant upgrades and co-generation and tri generation schemes.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore says the resulting 25 per cent cut in carbon emissions equated to more than $25 million saved on  members’ annual power bills.

“It shows how quickly strong leadership and a practical commitment can turn things around – and the value it can deliver for the bottom line,” she said.

BBP co-chairs Emlyn Keane from AMP Capital and Paul Edwards from Mirvac say it is now vital to build on these results and find more innovative, energy saving solutions in the near future.

“This fantastic result shows what a difference we can make when we get on with the job of cutting energy use and delivering savings to our tenants and value to investors,” Edwards said.

“In individual buildings like 10-20 Bond Street, owned by Investa and Mirvac, we have seen dramatic savings of more than 60 per cent by improving energy efficiency across the board and getting electricity from low carbon sources.”

Investa has achieved similar results at the 24-year-old Centennial Plaza complex, where emissions have been reduced by over 70 per cent with measures that include sophisticated building management and air conditioning systems that deliver services as and when required to minimise energy wastage.

And Keane wants to get tenants into the picture, too. “We need to educate tenants on how they can reduce their energy use and adopt best practice leases that encourage landlords and tenants to work together to make major energy savings,” he said.

“And we will continue to work with the City on the development of the renewable energy and energy efficiency master plans that will help to transform the city into a low carbon society.”