26 Jun 2018
In 2018, NABERS is celebrating 20 years of operation. With this, comes the expansion of services to help more Australian businesses and now residents measure and understand their impact – the first step in reducing emissions, conserving natural resources, saving money and creating healthier environments.
To launch these three services, NABERS held a Conference on World Environment Day, 5 June 2018, in Sydney in conjunction with the Commercial Building Disclosure Program.
The event featured a stellar line up of speakers, and brought together a committed network of industry, government and consulting professionals driving change in Australia’s building management and operations sector. In one of the sessions looking at ‘Pathways to Net Zero’, the GBCA’s Head of Public Affairs, Jonathan Cartledge joined other panellists to discuss ways that industry could add value to government efforts in emissions reduction.
Green Star and NABERS have worked alongside each other for more than a decade to drive the demand for sustainable solutions in the built environment. We are proud to have collaborated with NABERS to develop the Australian Government’s National Carbon Offset standard for buildings, and support the role that NABERS plays as an important part of the national energy efficient framework both in itself and as part of the Commercial Building Disclosure scheme. For many years, we have together worked to improve the technical consistency and compatibility between the two rating tools, resulting in NABERS Energy ratings being used as inputs for credits under Green Star - Performance. As a member of the NABERS Steering Committee, we’re also working with the Office of Environment and Heritage to ensure that the NABERS rating system is robust and continues to meet the needs of industry.
Going forward, we look forward to our continued collaboration which includes sharing information on rating tool development, calculators, benchmarks and methodologies to strengthen both rating systems.
The three new products and services by NABERS are:
1. NABERS for Apartment Buildings: Australia’s first energy and water certification scheme for the common property areas of high density residential buildings.
Once implemented, it will allow investors, residents, strata managing agents and building managers with knowledge and insight to improve utility and efficiency of energy and water of common property areas – like gyms, pools and carparks. And as these expenses can account for up to 60% of costs for owners’ corporations, it will also facilitate significant cost savings opportunities.
2. With an aim of simplifying commercial waste management, the NABERS Waste Manager Platform and rating system is a new certification scheme, underpinned by one of the most ambitious technology projects in government sustainability.
NABERS has worked with industry, government and leading businesses like Lend Lease and Vicinity to develop a platform that manages and monitors a building’s waste data. Its key features include the ability for managers and waste companies to:
3. The NABERS Co-Assess Application is a new rating process, whereby Tenancy ratings can be lodged alongside and leverage information from Base Building ratings. This makes it easier and more accessible for tenants to get a NABERS Energy rating.
Tenancies often account for up to 50% of a building’s energy use. Plus, it is estimated that of the buildings already rated with NABERS there may be some 35,000 tenancies. Co-Assess is a delivery mechanism for NABERS to reach these thousands of small and medium businesses.
For more information on the new products, contact: nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au