- Robert Enker, Building Commission
Victorian buildings account for some 40 per cent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions gas emissions. With only 25 per cent of the nation’s population, Victorian residents also produce almost 60 per cent of greenhouse emissions attributed to the heating and cooling of Australia’s residential buildings.
A landmark 2007 study by the United Nations Environment Program assessed and ranked the policy instruments available to government, to intervene in the property market in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. The UNEP study found that well enforced building standards are particularly effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Victoria’s building control system has been shown to provides an effective enforcement regime.
Energy efficiency standards for all classes of new and refurbished buildings are set nationally by the Building Code of Australia [BCA]. The BCA is a performance based code, structured to encourage innovative and cost-effective design solutions by avoiding an overly prescriptive approach to regulation. The onus is placed on building design professionals to take full advantage of the BCA structure to deliver optimal building solutions for their clients. The paper will consider whether this challenge is being met.
In April 2009 the Council of Australian Governments signed off on a highly significant and comprehensive new National Strategy for Energy Efficiency [NSEE]. The NSEE is designed to complement the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in reducing the nation’s burgeoning greenhouse gas emissions. The Strategy recognises that improving building energy performance must play a central role in national greenhouse reduction; and also that regulatory measures can be particularly effective in delivering the rapid market transformation that is needed - particularly in sectors such as buildings and transport. This paper examines market interventions impacting on the building sector that form elements of the NSEE.
BIO:
ROBERT ENKER
MANAGER SUSTAINABILITY
VICTORIAN BUILDING COMMISSION
• Qualified originally in civil & structural engineering
• Over two decades’ experience as a senior environmental engineer working in the power, mining, water and building industries - on projects within Australian and in the SE Asia region
• Joined the Building Commission eight years ago to develop and manage the organization’s Building Sustainability strategy
• The Commission is directing this strategy towards:
- further development of Victoria’s sustainability standards for residential buildings;
- reform of energy performance standards for all classes of buildings through the Building Code of Australia
- engaging with stakeholders to promote the design & construction of buildings with performance in excess of regulatory minimum standards
- options for addressing the ecological footprint of the existing building stock