Making all buildings Green

(godrikings). Submitted on Mon, 30 Jan 2012

Commercial buildings with more than 2000 m2 area that are to be advertised for lease or sale should produce BEEC (Building Energy Efficiency Certificate) in order to get registered by the government national registry. The rules pertaining to issue of the certificate are governed by the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Bill of 2010. This bill is enforced from the year 2011 following a transition period of one year. The public can get details regarding this bill from the website of building energy efficiency service. In Australia, there is a scheme for voluntary sustainability rating which is named as Green Star. The various areas of sustainability pertaining to a wide range of development types come under this scheme. For residential buildings of Australia, NatHERS thermal simulation is required in order to apply for development. This rule prevails in most of the states in Australia. For all existing buildings, the Australian government has introduced another sustainability scheme under the name NABERS. This covers sustainability performance of buildings pertaining to energy conservation, water conservation, waste generation & recycling and also conditions of indoor environment. NABERS is likely to be made mandatory for various types of existing buildings. If a building is advertised for rent or sale without a proper BEEC, the owner of that building will be penalized as per provisions in the Energy Efficiency Disclosure Bill.



Each building in Australia must comply with the BCA (Building Code of Australia) and the Section J Report must be submitted to prove the compliance of a building that is to be constructed. More details about the same can be collected from the corresponding page of the website. This section of the BCA deals with the energy efficiency requirements of buildings under Class 2 to 9 as per BCA classification of buildings. In order to establish that the mandatory requirements for energy efficiency are adequately provided in the proposed building plan, the Section J Report should be filed at the CC stage. The provisions mentioned in this section pertain to elements used in the construction, lighting, sealing, controls, glazing and services. If any particular part or parts of a building do not comply with the BCA, the same will be highlighted in the report and suggestions for bringing those areas under the compliance of BCA also will be made.

The owner of the proposed building must provide the proper plan of the building and details regarding other elements that pertain to the energy efficiency performance of the building according to BCA in order to prepare the report.

 

About the Author

We specialises in environmental building assessments servicing the Australian built environment. These assessments include NABERS, Green Star, FirstRate and BEEC.Further details about Section J Report please visit our website.

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