Hotels Looking to their NABERing Stars

Sep 28, 09 | 1:55 am

By Peter Lovett

Several years ago, I started noticing how many consumables in hotels and motels were preceded by the éco' prefix. First, there was eco-soap, then eco-shower caps all the way through to eco-traveller! Now, that's what I always wanted to be - an eco-traveller - idly circling the planet without leaving a trace that not even Sherlock Holmes would detect! Well, I'm not an eco-traveller, but I could easily be.

I am, however, involved in looking after hotels and other commercial buildings as they ‘reach to the stars' in applying new energy ratings and making the stay of the traveller much more environmentally enjoyable. We have long passed the stage where a hotel's quality would be ranked on a green star basis. Today, with the emphasis on operating a sustainable business, we welcome the NABERS ratings that many hotels are starting to adopt.

You will be aware that hotel buildings have significant opportunities to reduce their energy, water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. An energy efficient hotel can reduce its impact on the environment, and save operating costs for the owners - and all for a good cause.

In Australia, commercial buildings account for more than 10% of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions (if we ignore emissions during construction). Furthermore, these emissions climbed 87% for the fifteen years prior to 2006, indicating a need for something to be done, since market forces were not leading the way. Professor Ross Garnaut captured the essence when he observed market failures for information-based energy efficiency measures for commercial buildings. Among the options provided as an emissions solution, the one chosen is NABERS, where certain property owners would have to report a NABERS Energy rating to office buyers or tenants over the critical size of 2000 m2.

NABERS is the new industry standard for measuring and benchmarking the environmental performance of existing Australian buildings. It provides a suite of tools to rate a range of environmental impact categories of hotel, office's. Energy and Water ratings for Hotels allow a comparison of hotels to others with similar buildings. This will enable owners to take the first step in managing the impact of their hotel on the environment. NABERS is a national initiative of federal, state and territory governments, and is managed by the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water.

The Commonwealth's Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) is proposing to mandate the disclosure of the energy efficiency rating of commercial office buildings, where they contain over 2000 m2 of Net Lettable Area, or for any part of a building greater than this that is subject to sale, rental or sub-rental. Hotel are likely to follow suite in similar fashion in the coming years.

Many hotels are now taking steps to improve their sustainability outcomes. At the same time, guests are seeking evidence of environmental responsibility when they choose where to stay. NABERS ratings provide a robust, relevant and transparent measure of the environmental performance of individual hotels and sets sustainability benchmarks for hotels.

Furthermore, NABERS ratings are based on actual data related to the performance of premises over the last twelve months. To make this real-life performance data comparable with other sites, certain adjustments are made to take into account the specific nature of different sites to make the comparisons relevant and realistic. These ratings can be granted only by accredited Assessors, who can promote a hotel's rating and the NABERS trademark in marketing.

Obtaining an accredited NABERS rating is just the start along the pathway of a more sustainable hotel. Once you know how well your hotel is performing, improvements can be started. Using NABERS, you can measure the impact of your projects, and communicate successes to your stakeholders - staff, guests, facility managers, investors, etc.

Improved energy efficiency technologies are starting to come into their own, since a post-2000 review of 500 buildings revealed that the median performance for a base building was assessed as 2.5 stars without Green Power offsetting, equating to 150 kg of CO2 for each square meter per year. In October 2008, some 33 commercial buildings achieved a NABERS Energy rating of 4.5 stars or better, much of the improvement due to the purchase of Green Power products to offset consumption.

With higher standards being imposed in a new carbon-measured world, as well as expected higher energy prices, the stage is set for new commercial office buildings to achieve this level of performance without using Green Power. What I really find interesting in all this activity, is that had we applied more environmentally sustainable business practices years ago, all of this may have been averted. However, humans don't always act in a timely manner and end up paying for their omissions later.

Peter Lovett is the Managing Director of Green Pass is a NABERS professional. He can be contacted at peter@greenpass.com.au or on 03 9428 9126.  


Please visit www.greepass.com.au