Improving office building energy-efficiency ratings using a smart-engineering–computer-simulation approach: an Australian case study

Energy and economic analysis of environmental upgrading of existing office buildings

“…Energy efficiency upgrading of existing office buildings is a key target for public policy addressing climate change (Kentwell, 2007;Wild, 2008;Burroughs, 2018;Regnier et al, 2018). However, budget constraint is a major barrier to restrict building upgrading activities.…”

“…The financial return is one of the major drivers as sustainable upgrading has the potential to improve an existing building to satisfy the economic needs of long-term wealth and the requirements of environmental protection (Pitt et al, 2009;Häkkinen and Belloni, 2011). Tenant demand is another significant driver for energy efficiency upgrading as these buildings will benefit from the green branding, meet standards for the building leases and occupations, and provide an indoor environment quality that improves user's health and productivity (Henderson, 2006;Wilson and Tagaza, 2006;Clarke, 2009;Cleugh et al, 2011;Burroughs, 2018). The building sector is moving towards becoming greener with more injections of green buildings, and when a building is deemed outdated, building owners could consider upgrading the building, so that it can re-entering the building market (Chan, Qian and Lam, 2009).…”

“…• These buildings range from 24 to 33 years old represents a suitable range of ages for the investigation as literature review reveals that buildings within this range are due for refurbishment or upgrade (Burroughs, 2018). • They are medium and high-rise office buildings having gross floor area (GFA) from 17,000m 2 to 45,000m 2 .…”

“…This has been driven at all levels. Nationally, the government has implemented an energy efficiency policy and has introduced the Green Lease policy which requires tenant occupied buildings to have a low impact on the environment, such as a 4.5 star or higher in the National Australian Built Environment Rating Scheme (NABERS) energy rating (Bannister, 2012;Burroughs, 2018). Under the national energy program for Commercial Building Disclosure, from 1 November 2010, when selling or leasing an office space greater than 2,000 m 2 sellers or lessors are required to obtain or disclose up-to-date NABERS energy ratings with the Building Energy Efficiency Certificates for all existing buildings (Newell, MacFarlane and Walker, 2014;DIS, 2015).…”

“…The primary target in reducing the impact of buildings in the environment is to reduce CO 2 emissions (Lynas, 2007;Li and Yao, 2009;Burroughs, 2018). Research has shown that sustainable upgrading of the existing building stock can achieve this and so improve the value of buildings (Newell, MacFarlane and Walker, 2014;Wilkinson, 2014).…”