LAST week, the Australian Greenhouse Office and the Australian Building Codes Board signed an agreement to introduce energy efficiency measures into the Building Code of Australia.
The Property Council has been instrumental in the development of Australia’s first building greenhouse rating scheme, which is now operational in NSW and will be progressively adopted in all other States.
Energy efficient buildings and offices can make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and offer substantial savings to businesses.
For example, over the course of a year, a computer and monitor left on all the time produces more than 1,000 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions as a direct result of the coal burned to create the electricity used.
This means that a computer is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emission produced by an average car driving 3,700 kilometres.
A recent survey in NSW has found that if all office equipment enabled Energy Star (an energy saving system found on most new computers), businesses would save $25 million in energy costs. The greenhouse gas emission savings would be equivalent to taking 50,000 cars off the road.
* Joe Lenzo is WA executive director of the Property Council of Australia
