Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa September 2014 | Page 20

COVER STORY

tenants need to get as much as they can out of each unit
of energy, water and material used in a building due to
the high operating costs. He says that greater energy
efficiency is therefore needed to control rising energy
costs, reduce a business’s environmental footprint and
increase the value of buildings.
He points to the McGraw-Hill Construction’s
SmartMarket Report, which revealed that 28% of
architects, engineers, contractors, building owners and
building consultants around the world are focusing on
sustainable design and construction, and are ensuring
that at least 60% of their projects are green. “A
remarkable finding in this report is that green buildings
are by no means a trend growing in developed countries
only. The report stipulates that from 2012 to 2015
industry players are expecting that their work related
to green projects will more than triple in South Africa.”
Chien references South Africa’s recent achievement
of 50 Green Star SA certifications in only six years, a
series of Green Star rating tools that set the standards
for green buildings by the Green Building Council
South Africa (GBCSA). “The developers of the 50
certified projects that received Green Star Rating
certifications have revealed that their buildings will
result in the combined annual savings of 76 million
kilowatt hours, which is the amount of electricity
needed by 5300 households for a year, and / or 115
million kilograms less of carbon emissions every year.
This is equivalent to taking 28,000 cars off the road and
saving 124 million litres of water per annum, which is
sufficient to keep 34,000 households going for a year.
Chien says that in order to keep environmental impact
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September 2014 SA Real Estate Investor

of a building to a minimum renewable energy should
be part of every corporate sustainability strategy.
“Strategies should include sustainable energy practices
such as the implementation of the latest energy saving
technologies which reduce waste, pollution and
environment degradation, and increase the efficiency
with which energy, water and materials are produced.
The strategy should also ensure that the environment
is not be harmed throughout the building life-cycle.”
An increasingly popular choice of technology is the
use of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy on larger rooftop
systems of commercial buildings, parking garages,
warehouses and retail stores, as it allows buildings
to harvest the sun’s free, clean energy to power the
building, while lowering electricity costs and impact
to the environment. “Green initiatives such as PV
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