AIB
Welcomes $90million
Green Building Fund Announcment
The
Australian Institute of Building
— 30 October 2008
The leading
association for building and construction professionals, the Australian
Institute of Building (AIB), has welcomed today’s announcement
of a $90millon green building fund by the Minister for Innovation,
Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr.
This initiative provides grants to owners of existing commercial
office buildings for retro-fitting and retro-commissioning projects
that reduce energy consumption and emissions. It offers dollar-for-dollar
support, with grants ranging from $50,000 to $500,000.
“Numerous research reports have shown that significant reductions
in greenhouse gas emissions are possible by making our buildings
more energy efficient. This new fund provides the incentives to
encourage building owners to retrofit the nation’s existing
commercial building stock,” said Troy Williams, AIB Chief
Executive.
The fund provides subsidies to upgrade office lighting and heating,
ventilation and air-conditioning systems. Improved glazing and shading,
or investment in monitoring equipment and control systems to improve
the building's energy efficiency may also be covered.
AIB has observed that clients are demanding that new office buildings
are more energy efficient with developers and buildings meeting
this demand. In this context, the problem was going to be with the
existing building stock.
“The Green Building Fund provides the financial incentives
necessary to ensure that not only new buildings have improved energy
efficiency, but also existing office buildings too,” Mr Williams
said.
AIB is working with senior building and construction professionals
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment.
“The institute has been a long-standing supporter of various
initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment.
We welcome this initiative that provides added incentives to make
our buildings more efficient,” Mr Williams said.
Ends.
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