New report shows greener building sector can make real difference to climate change mitigation

The Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) has today released its Second Plank Update Report 2010 - hailed as a clarion call to government on the significant potential of additional energy-efficiency measures in the building sector.

The report by ASBEC’s Climate Change Task Group updates findings from ASBEC’s The Second Plank : Building a Low Carbon Economy with Energy Efficient Buildings, released in September 2008.

The update report provides an economic analysis of the potential role the building sector can play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) through additional energy-efficiency measures. It takes into account the Australian Government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET), policy measures and programs, and forecasts energy-efficiency savings under both a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) and a non-CPRS scenario. Importantly, the report shows that under both scenarios there are significant additional GHG savings that can be made.

Key findings in the report include:

1. Under a CPRS, additional energy-efficiency measures would achieve a further reduction of 33.2 megatonnes of emissions.
2. In the absence of a CPRS, additional energy-efficiency measures would realise a reduction of 46.7 megatonnes of emissions. (This is a larger figure because the CPRS would achieve some of the energy-efficiency potential abatement.) This figure represents a reduction of approximately 5.5% of Australia’s total GHG.

The report highlights the impediments and market failures that prevent the building sector from reaching its full GHG abatement potential, including the funding gap problem - that is, the long period between initial investment in energy-efficiency measures and the realisation of benefits in terms of energy savings and other gains.

The report’s findings further support the Climate Change Task Group’s call for accelerated green depreciation as a key initiative to overcome barriers to the building sector achieving its full abatement potential.

The report was released today at the Built Environment Meets Parliament (BEMP) summit in Canberra, an annual conversation between built environment representatives and parliamentarians.

Chair of the Climate Change Task Group and CEO of the Australian Institute of Architects David Parken said: “We acknowledge the energy-efficiency measures the Australian government has initiated to date; however, our updated second plank report clearly demonstrates Australia can reap further benefits from the contribution the building sector can make to emissions abatement.

“The delay of the CPRS should now bring energy-efficiency measures to the top of the climate change agenda in what clearly is a real issue for all Australians.”

ASBEC President Tom Roper said: “Driving energy efficiency in the buildings sector will reduce the future costs of meeting emissions abatement targets when an emissions trading scheme or carbon price is eventually introduced, because it will bring forward reductions in emissions and these reduce the scale of the task in future years.”

The Climate Change Task Group maintains its call for high-priority policy approaches to achieve the building sector’s GHG abatement potential, including:

• Accelerated green depreciation
• A national white certificate scheme
• Public funding for building retrofit

The building sector comprises residential and commercial buildings and, through its operational energy, accounts for around 19% of total energy consumption in Australia, and around 24% of Australia’s total GHG emissions.

The Second Plank Update Report was funded by the Australian Institute of Architects, the Green Building Council of Australia, the Property Council of Australia, Consult Australia, the Facility Management Association of Australia and Szencorp.

Download the full Second Plank Update Report 2010 from the ASBEC website at www.asbec.asn.au.