Opportunities to upgrade your building

Take low or no cost actions such as adjusting thermostat settings, installing timer controls on air-conditioning, ventilation and heating systems, cleaning fans, filters and condenser coils, fixing leaks, adjusting cooling tower settings and making changes to the building management system.

This tuning can save up to 15% on base building energy costs with actions that can be undertaken quickly as they do not significantly disrupt the tenants, nor require capital budgets or engineering works.

Replace/upgrade key equipment such as boilers, chillers, cooling towers, water fixtures, urinals, motors, drives and pumps.

These activities form part of a Building or Asset Plan and associated budgets, typically scheduling activities in a three-to-five year timeline. These schedules are informed by age/quality of equipment, the amount an owner is willing to spend and how the works affects the building's investment returns and market valuation.

You can also replace some smaller equipment (such as motors and pumps), however energy improvements on large plants is often timed around its scheduled replacement time in the Asset Plan.

Engage a sustainability consultant or green building expert to review your current Building or Asset Plan, and identify opportunities for integrating energy efficient solutions within the existing scheduled of works and budget.

Refurbishments can also yield large energy savings (30-50%). However on average these activities only occur every 20-40 years with sustainability requirements triggered by various events or situations.