If Australia is to meet the 2020 emission commitments there is an urgent need to take macro policy decisions about making deep GHG emission cuts in the built environment and the associated disciplines. The extent of energy efficiency upgrading required in most existing building stock is considerable.
Therefore it is necessary to demonstrate the critical issue of incorporating energy efficient retrofits in existing building at a macro level, mainly in the area of lighting and HVAC to achieve deep cuts in emissions, through existing literature and studies which have been conducted for GHG emission from existing commercial office buildings. Highlighting the major areas of commercial office end energy use and in the process areas in which major reduction can be achieved by building energy efficiency retrofits.
Literature illustrates that there’s an urgent need to retrofit existing buildings for lighting and HVAC energy efficiency at the earliest possible to reduce the future cost of GHG abatement, as 90 – 95% of Australian building stock is existing. These buildings are using old outdated energy intensive technologies.
Further study need to be undertaken to identify specific retrofits for lighting and HVAC, which are most efficient when compared to others with regards to energy consumption and cost reduction.