The Victorian Government has announced $3.59 million in funding to improve the energy efficiency of the state's office buildings.
Minister for Environment and Climate Change Ryan Smith officially launched the Smarter Resources Smarter Business - Energy Efficient Office Buildings program providing support for building owners to identify HVAC system upgrades.
Building owners are invited to provide an opportunities report on the current energy efficiency of building systems such as lighting, lifts, and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems as well as identify opportunities to maintain optimal building performance.
The program also includes metering and monitoring to enable an evaluation of building performance for the 12 month period following building tuning, in order to measure the effectiveness and cost savings achieved through the building tuning upgrades.
Matched funding grants of $20,000 to $150,000 are available to owners of mid-tier commercial office buildings across Victoria to deliver cost effective energy savings and applications open on September 9, 2013.
Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) chief operating officer, Robin Mellon, welcomed the program.
"We have been calling for visionary government leadership – and this program does just that," Mellon said.
"We have also advocated large-scale investment in retrofitting programs – and this initiative will deliver more efficient, cost-effective, productive and environmentally sustainable buildings across Victoria.
"We congratulate the Victorian Government for investing in better buildings.”
For more information or to register interest email buildings@sustainability.vic.gov.au
