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Water for the toilets, the fountains, wash basins, drinking water, to wash a lot of flooring and many interior and exterior windows. Electricity for the glittery lights, attractive window displays (especially around Christmas), video boards, rolling adverts, in-store music, cooking in the food court, to keep the hot drinks hot, the cold drinks cold and the ice icy. The underground car parks need to be kept lit, barriers need to be kept in place and security cameras working. Warehouses must be kept warm in winter and cool in summer. If you’re buying a TV or a new DAB radio, Blu Ray player or a games console you want to see it actually working before you buy it…
These are just some of the things in a shopping centre that uses water and electricity – and they use a lot of it – reported to be around 50% of Australia’s annual commercial power consumption. As retail outlets and hubs are something that we all use, the responsibility is not just on centre management teams to reduce their utility consumption, but on everybody to think more carefully for the cost of the business and the impact on the environment.
Reduction of water and electricity consumption and a good NABERS rating for a shopping centre is going to benefit everyone. Why? A new business moving into a shopping centre is going to look at projected overheads – especially the cost of utilities. If you as part of the Centre Management Team is able to reduce overheads for prospective tenants by adherence to the NABERS criteria, that will certainly make your centre a more attractive place to set up shop. In turn, your units will be in greater demand and you will be able to charge higher rents. What’s more, more customers will be attracted by your environmental rating.
You might think because of the vast amount of water that it would be difficult for a shopping centre to attain a good NABERS rating, but you would be wrong. There are many simple things that a shopping centre management team can do without the need of a consultant such as replacing lighting systems, using energy efficient bulbs and training cleaning staff on effective use of water and other typical methods of good housekeeping. There are some things that you might think are untouchable but always try to identify areas where even small changes might be made. Any reduction of water and electricity consumption can improve your rating.
Realising that shopping centres are indeed special cases, there is a specific set of NABERS criteria for these types of commercial properties. Ausnviro is a fully accredited assessor operating across Australia. In just four years, we have built a solid reputation on our NABERS assessments. On our information page is a list of a number of large business properties that have already used our services in reducing their energy costs; they have acquired a good NABERS rating in the process.
