Singapore building owners missing out on millions in energy savings: Study

Supports the case for green retrofitting.

A new study of 40 commercial buildings in Singapore showed that energy savings totalling 90 Gigawatt hour or S$24 million savings a year can be achieved after they have undergone green retrofitting. A selection of hotels, office buildings, retail buildings and mixed developments, which had undergone retrofitting to achieve BCA Green Mark Gold, GoldPlus or Platinum status, was used for the study.

Professor Yu Shi Ming from the NUS Department of Real Estate was the primary researcher in the second phase of the joint study with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), in collaboration with CBRE, Colliers International, DTZ, Jones Lang LaSalle, Knight Frank, RICS and Suntec Real Estate Consultants.

The new findings were released at BCA’s Breakfast Talk for CEOs themed “The Value of Green to Corporations”. The talk topped off the last day of the International Green Building Conference 2013 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

The findings also showed that there was a reduction in the building energy consumption ranging between 6 to 40 percent, with an average of 20 percent energy savings achieved among the 40 buildings. Landlords and owners of the retrofitted buildings reported reductions of 14 to 53 percent in energy bills, with average savings of 26 percent.

Dr John Keung, CEO of BCA said, “There is without doubt a strong business case for retrofitting existing buildings. In doing so, both building owners and tenants can improve energy efficiency, cut down operating expenses, and increase the capital value of their properties. This is supported by findings from our joint study with NUS, which showed that green office buildings can achieve an average reduction of 11.6% percent in total operating expenses and an increase of 2.3% percent in capital value; with an average payback period of about 6.3 years after the retrofit. It is clear that benefits of green buildings greatly outweigh their initial costs.”

The Talk, which gathered some 250 guests comprising CEOs and senior management of major developers, industry professionals, building owners, valuers, leasing executives and building tenants, also unveiled BCA’s new Green Mark for Healthcare scheme and the Green Tenant Pledge and Green Partnership with Developers initiatives to further spur organisations to green existing premises, extended offices and premises.

The nine organisations who have signed the Green Tenant Pledge are Autodesk Asia Pte Ltd, BP Singapore Pte Limited, Dairy Farm Singapore, Greenpac (S) Pte Ltd, J’s Salon Pte Ltd, National Climate Change Secretariat, NetApp Singapore Pte Ltd, NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Limited, and Visa Worldwide Pte Limited.

“With the 3rd Green Building Masterplan, we are placing greater emphasis on how stakeholders can contribute to the drive for environmental sustainability, and this pledge and partnership with developers is aimed at encouraging tenants, building owners and corporations to join in to help sustain and accelerate the green building movement,” Dr Keung continued.

Six developers – CapitaLand Limited, City Developments Limited, Ascendas Pte Ltd, Keppel Land International Limited, Lend Lease, and Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd – have agreed to join BCA on Green Partnerships to get present and future tenants to reduce the environmental impact of tenanted areas.

“This initiative is a positive step, which will help enhance the environmental performance of tenanted areas and improve the overall energy efficiency of buildings. We see potential implementations such as green occupancy plans, planning for green improvement works, and operating of offices, restaurants or retail outlets in a sustainable manner through green leases. The initiative also reinforces our ongoing efforts to educate our tenants on operating in a green manner through our green fit-out guides, green tips and energy efficient mock-ups. Our Green Mark Platinum malls, Bedok Mall, Bugis+, JCube, Junction 8 and Westgate, adopt a Green Lease model where tenants are required to comply with operations and maintenance guidelines that will contribute towards the malls’ long-term sustainability,” said Mr Francis Wong Hooe Wai, Chairman of CapitaLand Green Committee, CapitaLand Limited.

To further advance the green building movement, BCA also unveiled today the BCA Green Mark for Healthcare Facilities scheme, the first such scheme in the tropics. At the same time, BCA announced that Yishun Community Hospital, the largest community hospital in Singapore, and Seng Kang Hospitals (General Hospital, Community Hospital and Specialist Outpatient Centre) have agreed to pilot the scheme.

The scheme, which is a collaboration between BCA and MOH Holdings, aims to address the sustainability needs of the full suite of healthcare facilities, including general hospitals, community hospitals, specialist outpatient centres, polyclinics as well as nursing homes for aged care.

“This addition to our suite of Green Mark schemes aims to deliver more sustainable healthcare through improved energy and resource efficiency to address the high cooling demand and heavy service water heat load that healthcare facilities require in order to maintain a stringent hygienic standard. At the same time, the scheme aims to bring the health benefits of green buildings to healthcare staff and patients,” said Dr John Keung.