With the growing number of living apartments in Australia, the government needs to ensure the environmental safety for the residents living in the country. Not less than a 78% increase has been observed over the past 25 years in the number of occupied apartments across Australia.
The Australian government is working hard to reduce its carbon footprint and develop a sustainable environment. A rating system named NABERS has been introduced by the government. This system is similar to the one you see on home appliances but it is applicable to the building. The National Australian Environmental Rating System is in existence since the early 2000s and is intended to improve the energy and water efficiency of the building. This rating plays a major role and has an impact on the purchasing and the selling value of a property.
The regulations have set benchmark values for the usage of water and energy while doing normal operations. The benchmarking process adjusts different consumption variables based on the number of apartments, central air-conditioning configuration, water metering configuration and more.
The ratings range from 1 to 6 stars where 1 means the lowest energy efficient and 6 being super efficient of all. The rating comparison is based on the other building’s ratings and hence it is fluid over time. Buildings become more efficient and the average value keeps scaling up.
Benefits of NABERS rating for the buildings:
- Identification of incorrect buildings;
- Attract more investors;
- Reduce energy and water costs;
- Remove energy and water wastage;
- Get a better understanding of energy and water usage.
Who will perform the NABERS Analysis?
Officials who are NABERS accredited can perform the rating analysis. For submissions, you can take help from an expert consultant like Ecocertificates.
How does this work?
- The apartment decides if they want to participate and get the NABERS ranking or not;
- All the information related to the metrics data of the building, water and energy billing and resources is collected by the apartment manager.
- An official appointed as a NABERS assessor, asses the data, performs the site visit and submits the NABERS rating.
- Based upon the building data, an automated rating is generated which is a quality check and certified by NABERS.
- If the building authorities make any improvements between the assessment, it shall be taken into consideration by the NABERS authority and increase the rating.
- The procedure from Step 2 to 4 will be performed annually to hold on the NABERS ratings of the building.
Since the whole dictum behind the NABERS for apartments is to encourage a healthy lifestyle and promote healthy living, buildings who represent the NABERS rating will have good purchasing value. It may happen that in the future, the prospective buyer will inquire first if the building possesses NABERS rating or not.