OWNERS AND occupiers of commercial buildings "picking themselves up off the floor after getting the latest ESB bill" have become part of a growing movement to reduce energy costs by "greening" Ireland's building stock, a property conference heard last week, writes Frank McDonald,Environment Editor .
Brian Motherway, head of the industry division of Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), said the price of carbon fuels would only go up. "The future is a low-carbon society, however long it takes. We really are on the cusp of something here. This issue is hot and it's not going away."
Addressing the Irish Property and Facility Management Association (IPFMA) annual conference, he said the "earliest, quickest and easiest gains" were to be made in replacing lighting systems that used twice the amount of electricity that was really needed in buildings.
Mr Motherway pointed out that lighting accounted for 14 per cent of an office building's energy costs, with heating and hot water accounting for 46 per cent, air-conditioning 24 per cent and the remaining 16 per cent made up by computers and other equipment.
Lighting technology was "moving incredibly rapidly", offering very substantial efficiency gains. "There's an extremely rapid payback, plus lower maintenance costs," he said. For example, new lighting equipment saved Shamrock Foods over 70 per cent of its electricity bill.
Musgraves achieved cost savings of 40 per cent a year by opting for energy-efficient design; Bewley's Airport Hotel is saving €15,000 a year by having solar panels on the roof while AL Goodbody expects to save €50,000 a year by using a combined heat and power (CHP) plant.
Mr Motherway said the implementation of building energy rating (BER) for commercial buildings from January 1st next would lead to a "massive upscaling" of the pace and extent of energy efficiency, making it one of the prime considerations in valuing a building.
Under the new regime, which is being administered by SEI, an expensive-to-run air-conditioned office block was likely to get a "C1" rating whereas a similar building which had natural ventilation, a biomass boiler and/or CHP plant would score much higher, at "A3".
Mr Motherway also noted that a new accelerated capital allowance scheme would allow businesses to write off the cost of installing a more environment-friendly building management system in one year.
Details of some 2,800 qualifying products are on the SEI website.
Patrick Fletcher, managing director of A + D Wejchert Architects, showed several examples of buildings they had designed for energy efficiency, using both active and passive solar technology, natural ventilation, geothermal energy, night cooling and "heat sink" façades.
Felix McKenna, Eircom's property director, said its new headquarters near Heuston Station has a double-skin façade and building management system that were designed to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per sq metre per month.
Minister of State at the Department of the Environment Michael Finneran said the new BER system would "promote the retrofitting of our building stock by incentivising property owners to upgrade their properties over time so as to realise the maximum sale price".
He also signalled improved regulation of the private rental sector from next February setting higher minimum standards for heating and sanitary services, ventilation, lighting and fire safety. Over time, these would "eliminate sub-standard rental accommodation", he said.
