The City of Sydney is looking for 20 high-rise apartments to join its free 2018-19 Smart Green Apartments program, which collectively saved last year’s cohort $1 million in energy and water bill savings.
The council said this year’s cohort could expect to save an average of $57,000 on annual power bills alone. And, for the first time, a NABERS Apartment rating will be provided free of charge.
The program is open to strata or company-titled buildings that are more than six storeys or 80 apartments. It involves a comprehensive audit to identify, cost and progress energy and water saving projects, a waste and recycling assessment, an online monitoring platform, access to the Sydney Water Waterfix program, and training and networking events.
Potential upgrades include LED lighting retrofits, car park exhaust fan tuning, variable speed drives on pumps and fans, HVAC tuning, efficient heat pumps and solar PV panels.
Last year, property services group PICA had six of its buildings get into the program, and, according to head of product strategy and innovation Mark Glass, “introduced sustainability into the mindset and budgets of our buildings”.
“This was an excellent opportunity to introduce energy and water efficiencies with the prospect of year on year cost savings for our buildings, as well as improving the liveability of the residential communities,” Mr Glass said.
Applications close 5pm 14 September 2018.