Living in a tropical country, air conditioned high rises often serve as our oasis. Little do we realize that the comfort they provide comes at a cost.

Since the 1980s economic boom in Asia, high-rise offices, malls and residential compounds have been sprouting here and there. Most of them are more than a decade old now and seem in dire need of a makeover.

Not so much for the sake of appearance, but to curtail their use of high-priced energy, as the building sector currently the second largest consumer of energy.

Retrofitting – in this context, the changing and adding various energy-efficient features in an existing building – has thus become the new buzzword in the field of green construction.

Sucking up between 31 and 40 percent of the total energy produced globally, buildings, especially existing ones, are places where energy can be saved, experts at a recent International Green Building Conference in Singapore say.

“We can potentially save two thirds of the energy consumed in existing buildings by retrofitting them,” World Business Council Energy Efficiency in Buildings co-chairman Constant Van Aerschot said.

“The amount of carbon dioxide emissions originating from buildings, through their use of energy, has been underestimated. While most of us thought the rate stood at around 19 percent, it has actually reached 38 percent of total carbon dioxide emissions,” Aerschot added.

Buildings set to be retrofitted are first audited to identify key inefficient areas, then upgraded with newer and more energy-efficient equipment and monitored to ensure they are run in an energy–efficient manner, Singapore minister for national development Mah Bow Tan added at the launch of the Singapore Green Building Week.

Sounds like three simple steps, but how does one retrofit existing buildings then?

Well, companies in recent years have been busy developing an array of technologies to assist with this process, ranging from energy measurement devices for the auditing process, adjustable glaze on glaze walls to reduce heat absorption, to automated building operation systems.

Even a simple coating of acrylic on the roof of a house can potentially help reduce the energy consumption required for air conditioning.

But, then comes the one thing that often hampers the process. Money, money, and yes, money.
But, guess what, despite the extra investment required, retrofitting a building with energy-efficient features only costs around 5 to 11 percent more than business as usual operational costs.

“We initially had to invest an extra 8 percent into [retrofitting] our headquarters, but quickly recovered our expenses in just a couple of years,” India-based hotel developer ITC Limited technical general manager H. C. Vinayaka said.

Through annual savings in energy consumption, the costs incurred retrofitting buildings are recovered in two to four years time, green building practitioners say.

But, still, additional investment is required. And it’s not always available.

“This is where monetization through carbon trading for buildings can come into play,” said Maria Atkinson, global head of sustainability for Australia’s Lend Lease Corporation.

Buildings can make use of the existing clean development mechanism scheme to finance retrofitting initiatives.

Australia is perhaps one of the few countries that has embraced such a solution. By next year, a
carbon-trading scheme for buildings will be included in legislation, Atkinson added.

The Singapore government started a subsidy scheme a couple of years ago, disbursing S$12.2 million across 61 projects. The Singaporean government says it is willing to co-fund up to 35 percent of the investment required to retrofit buildings.

Subsidies will be disbursed, providing building owners commit to increasing energy efficiency by 10 percent over the next three years, or have already shown a 10 percent rise in energy efficiency in the last three to four years, Singapore Building and Construction Authority deputy chief executive officer Lam Siew Wah said.

“Relying on the market alone will not suffice. Subsidies are needed to eliminate the first cost hurdle,” Aerschot added.

But, once the ball gets rolling and the green market matures, the movement towards a greener built environment will soon snowball.

So, where does Indonesia stand on this?

“The green building movement has just started here. A lot still needs to be done to get the government and the banking sector on board, aside from property owners,” Indonesia Green Building Council chairperson Naning Adiwoso said.

Indonesia, with its decreasing electricity generating capacity — from 37,000 megawatts in 2000 to 30,000 megawatts in 2008 — and growing demand for buildings, needs to put in place an action plan to catch up with the rest of the world.

As the conference jargon says: Build green. The future is now.

— Photos by Anissa S. Febrina

Popular

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Analysis: Indonesia denies normalization with Israel to enter OECD

Citroen to produce electric cars in Indonesia