Seventh Energy Efficiency Forum for Commercial Buildings

The seventh Forum meeting was held on 1 August 2011 at the Old Mutual head office in Pinelands, with about 130 members attending. This informative and interactive Forum involved presentations from three main speakers, which are summarised below, and a pioneering panel discussion on the concept of green leasing.

A new Forum feature – an ‘open microphone’ part of the programme – enabled delegates to share their energy efficiency initiatives and bring issues to the attention of their peers. Generating particular debate was the concept of 'Smart Metering', and the need for north/south, not floor-by-floor, air-conditioning sensors. Other discussions led to a call for an investigation into tenanted buildings' billing methodology (‘why save when the benefits accrue to the tenants next door’, is a common complaint); and clear need for a further workshop on green leasing once the Green Building Council of South Africa has a draft ‘Guide to Green Leasing’ tool ready.

The good news is that many property owner/managers are working with Eskom to access rebates, and Eskom still has capacity to provide financing for many more energy efficiency proposals. “We need to get to 1 000 MW hours, and have this money to spend,” says Eskom’s Lodine Redelinghuys. Site visits are also planned for later in the year, most likely to Aurecon’s new Century City office, the first 5 Star ‘Green Star’ rated building in South Africa, or Vodacom’s new EE data centre.

Click here to view the introductory presentation by Sarah Rushmere.

New website for Cape Town Energy Service Companies (ESCOs)

For those who’d like help with finding out who can advise them on electricity saving and energy efficiency, Sustainable Energy Africa (SEA), with funding from Dutch development organisation HIVOS, has developed a new website resource for large power uses to find out about Cape Town-based Energy Service Companies (ESCOs).

“Almost all electricity efficiency interventions are financially sensible, leading to a more efficient economy,” says Andrew Janisch from SEA. The website will offer a simple searching process for reputable ESCOs actively working in Cape Town. There are no costs involved (in either listing an ESCO or searching the site); and there’ll be no favouritism on the site either,” says Janisch. “If you’re a credible ESCO with skills, and a track record in Cape Town, you’re able to apply for a listing.” Visit the website at www.escos.co.za.

Click here to view the ESCO website presentation.

No. 1 Thibault Square: Zenprop finds a way to save in a multi-tenanted building

When Zenprop bought the iconic, Revel Fox-designed building 1 Thibault Square (formerly known as the BP Centre) in 2006, they knew that refurbishment and repairs would be necessary. The 35-storey, 40-year-old building has a total ‘lettable’ area of 36 000 sq m – with 65 tenants to satisfy.

Hendrik Liebenberg told the Energy Forum how they decided that energy-efficient refurbishment was the only way to go, and determined on a holistic approach that used the best experts and technology available. “It is about future-proofing your building,” says Liebenberg – who with his team managed to move from approximately 280 kWh per m² per year to 220 kWh per m² per year. Some interventions don’t need high capital outlays and aren’t ‘high-tech’ by nature, though. Sometimes doing simple things painting the basements white, to make the best use of lux levels, can have a significant impact.

For details of their interventions and savings, click here to view the presentation.

Eskom cuts its own costs at Brackenfell complex

Riyaad Omer, a Senior Energy Advisor (DSM) at Eskom, left delegates with four essential ‘rules’ for energy-efficient retrofits:

• Ensure that your project proposal is as detailed as possible;
• Never compromise on the amount and quality of light, or aesthetics, in an attempt to save;
• Accept that LEDs and CFLs might not always be appropriate; and
• Keep strict control of your stock of removed appliances, for close-out reporting and safe disposal.

By sticking to their own rules, Eskom achieved 95% of their targeted savings in their Brackenfell building, which was a 15% saving on annual consumption.

For a more detailed case study, click here to view Eskom’s presentation.

FOCUS ON GREEN LEASING (Mini-workshop)

A new way of addressing the cost-benefit issue between owners and tenants?

In Cape Town, commercial buildings use about 40% of electricity and are responsible for about 28% of carbon emissions. ‘Green leasing’ – new to South Africa but being implemented in places like Australia, California and the United Kingdom – is one way in which building owners are able to recoup costs of efficiency improvements. Sometimes this involves charging higher rentals for the tenants who will benefit from lower electricity bills.

“Green leasing is a potential new way of owners and tenants engaging in our changing world,” said Sarah Rushmere, introducing this pioneering workshop. “It offers a way in which to address the sometimes adversarial relationship between tenant and owner.”

For details of barriers, benefits, tools and opportunities for green leasing, click here to view Sarah Rushmere’s introduction to the concept.

Before the panel discussion, Eric Noir (WSP) introduced the context and trends for green leasing in Australia and here in South Africa. He showed how green leasing related to other tools from the Green Building Council of South Africa and initiatives such as energy benchmarking, and outlined the multiple benefits of green leasing.

South Africa is about five years behind pioneering Australia, with regard to carbon taxes, green leasing and sustainable building certification. For example, Australia requires a mandatory disclosure of water and energy consumption for all building transactions of more than 2 000 sq m. Yet South Africa is no doubt on the right path, with positive moves such as the Department of Public Works developing a framework for energy efficiency in the many hundred public buildings, and with the Green Building Council possibly being able to certify about 10 Green Star-rated new buildings by the end of 2011.

Better buildings bring about lower operation costs, improved marketing opportunities, more productive staff, responsible corporate governance and mitigate risks (like carbon taxes), so there’s little doubt that South Africa will continue to follow global trends.

Click here to view Eric Noir’s presentation.

Panel discussion

Panel members: Andre Fereirra (IPD) * Chris Davy (Old Mutual) * Eric Noir (WSP/Green By Design) * Lodine Redelinghuys (Eskom) * Manfred Braune (Green Building Council of South Africa) * Paul Kollenberg (Growthpoint)

Tenants and building owners don’t always have the warmest of relationships. Green leasing is one way in which commercial building owners and tenants can work in partnership to find the right energy efficiency solutions for all parties concerned (including the planet).

More and more tenants are starting to look at total cost of occupation, not simply the rent. The largest property companies like Growthpoint and Old Mutual are starting to implement green leases. At this stage it is mostly being applied to leases of new building space or those buildings with major refurbishments, and in buildings with one or a few tenants. In multi-tenanted buildings, it’s tending to start out as an ‘Addendum’ to existing leases - without major cost commitments or ‘punitive’ clauses.

Each time an existing lease agreement is up for renewal, or a new lease is being negotiated, this provides an opportunity for owners and tenants to initiate a discussion about a way forward for energy efficiency improvements. Setting a baseline and measuring consumption is a critical starting point for being able to manage any savings intervention and see the results. There are energy service companies (ESCOs) which offer a range of advisory and implementation services, including managing the interface with tenants. Additionally, Eskom rebates now make energy efficiency investments more attractive than ever.

Despite increasing receptivity to green leasing, education for landlords and tenants on the mechanisms and benefits is still important. The Green Building Council of South Africa is busy producing a ‘Guide to Green Leasing’, and inputs towards this are welcome from Forum members (www.gbcsa.org.za).