For 20 years, the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has been championing innovative building design, construction and operations. Time and again, they have identified important ESG challenges that are beyond the bleeding edge for most organisations, and then brought solutions to the mainstream by rewarding leaders and supporting followers.
And once again they are leading the way.
Late last week, without pomp or fanfare, the GBCA quietly unveiled a “leadership challenge” that may turn out to be a pivotal moment in the reshaping of building owners’ and operators’ (basically everyone’s) relationship with energy. Only time will tell, of course, but as many of our recent posts have illustrated and the GBCA’s research has also shown, the indications are strong.
In developing its “Time of Energy Use Leadership Challenge,” the GBCA is seeking to …
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from grid electricity use and contribute to solving some of the infrastructure challenges facing Australia’s electricity systems by changing energy usage patterns through load shifting and grid interaction.
The idea is to shift conventional thinking about energy efficiency from “use less” to “use smarter.”
If we accept that burning fossil fuels causes global heating and that renewable energy generation displaces the burning of fossil fuels, then we should try to use electricity at times when it is being generated from renewable sources.
Given that most renewable electricity generation in Australia occurs during the daytime, the GBCA has proposed a very simple measure of load-shifting and grid-interaction that will no doubt become more nuanced over time (taking into consideration wind generation, for example). Essentially, they want to encourage buildings to use relatively more electricity during core solar hours as illustrated by this diagram contained in the fact sheet.
The diagram shows a simplified electricity consumption profile of a building to illustrate how the “Time of energy use effectiveness metric (TEEM)” contained in the leadership challenged will be measured. TEEM is the annual electricity consumption between 9am to 3pm divided by the total annual electricity consumption and is expressed as a percentage (%).
As noted in the fact sheet, “The leadership challenge is aimed at increasing the TEEM compared to a base year and then making year-on-year improvements. The definition of the TEEM is likely to become more sophisticated over time to reflect the evolving nature of the electricity grid as generation and demand profiles change. But we have to start somewhere!”
Bravo GBCA!
Buildings Alive has been delighted to work with the GBCA and its advisors, Positive Zero and CSIRO, on the development of this leadership challenge and we are looking forward to helping industry leaders as they introduce clever and cost-saving initiatives to further enhance their Green Star Performance ratings. Please contact us if you would like to know more.