Commercial Office Tower Emissions Can Be Slashed

Carbon emission reduction is gaining traction with Sydney’s office towers.

Use of more efficient lighting, heating and cooling, improved facilities management and building system upgrades have greatly contributed to reductions in those Sydney buildings that have signed up for the program to reduce building emissions with the Better Buildings Partnership.

This program represents just over half of Sydney’s CBD commercial office space.

City of Sydney Mayor Clover Moore is attending the COP21 Paris Climate Change conference where she announced the results achieved through the Better Buildings Partnership.

The office towers had cut their collective emissions by 45 per cent since 2006 saving about $30miilion per year.

“We mean business when it comes to tackling climate change,” the Lord Mayor said.

“With these results, Sydney’s biggest landlords have shown it makes financial sense to cut emissions.

“They’re already more than halfway to reaching their 70 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030.

“Together we’ve shown that more ambitious targets are possible and compatible with strong economic growth.

“We’re seeing real climate leadership by companies here in Australia. The Better Buildings Partnership’s ongoing success is a model for how much progress can be made when government and the private sector work together on sensible, effective climate policies.”

City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore (front/centre) delivered the results of the Better Buildings Partnership at COP21 Paris Climate Change conference.[/caption]Our modern cities are seeing a building boom especially in regards to high-rise residential towers. Whilst they may reduce transport energy needs the Lord Mayor told the Australian Financial Review that high rise apartments use more energy per capita than standalone dwellings due to energy in common areas usage such as lights, lifts and basement fans.

It’s acknowledged that its more difficult to get buy-in from individual unit owners to a low-emissions scheme in contrast to commercial buildings where a longer term owner of the whole building will have greater financial and commercial interest in doling so.

30 per cent of global emissions in fact come from buildings and the significance of this has seen a Buildings Day included in the Paris COP21 Conference.