TABLE OF CONTENTS - The Professional Green Building Council

Theme C: Education and Market Transformationwholesale reduction in office sector emissions by 32% may be feasible within thebroader Australian market. Indeed, all buildings examined within this study werecapable of cost-effective refurbishment to achieve an average ABGR rating of 4.3stars across the portfolio.There is a poor quantification of office building emissions within the commercialbuildings sector. Indeed, national greenhouse accounts bundle all emissions forcommercial buildings (including offices, retail buildings, hotels, hospitals etc) intoa single category, responsible for 14% [2] of Australia’s total emissions. Analternate study presents findings that greenhouse emissions from the office sectorare responsible for 27% of greenhouse gas emissions within the commercial sector[7]. Whilst there is no guarantee that the classifications are identical between thestudies, a broad assumption can be made. Hence, self funding, market drivenretrofit solutions to existing office buildings may be capable of achieving a 32%reduction in office sector emissions, equivalent to a 1.2% decrease in nationalgreenhouse emissions. A change of emissions of the order of 1.2% of nationalgreenhouse emissions is significant in itself as a methodology to help achieveoverall carbon emission reductions by implementing measures that are currentlyfeasible, and economically rational based on current energy costs.The fact that such a large economic opportunity exists untapped is characteristic ofa typical market failure. The precise root causes of this market failure aresomewhat uncertain. However, the nature of the measures identified indicate thatthe primary drivers for this failure have been due to time lags associated withadvancing technology, and incomplete information available to all marketparticipants.Recent regulatory change and transparency of building greenhouse accounting(through schemes such as ABGR) show promise of achieving markettransformation within the sector. Often, the primary driver for building owners isinitially to improve the building’s “green image” through reduction in emissions –effectively a market driven penalty for poorly performing buildings. However,600