Abstract
This paper looks at the City of Melbourne's new office development CH2 as a case study of world class energy performance. In particular, the integrated design of conventionally independent systems has led to the potential to deliver significant savings to the Council and to deliver better environmental conditions to building occupants that in turn may contribute to satisfaction, well-being and productivity. It is concluded that this project has the potential to be an iconic example of effective implementation of ESD (environmental sustainable design) principles and therefore act as a demonstration project to others. Energy efficiency of more than 50% of current benchmarks for Melbourne is effected. Energy harvesting is defined as arising from squander, waste and nature, which is a new concept introduced in this paper to better describe the design decision process.
Highlights
Environmental depletion, global warming and the consequential climate changes are key environmental issues for today's generation
According to PCA (2001), commercial buildings in Australia generate more than 35 million tonnes of CO2 a year, and if no action is taken to reduce growth, that figure is projected to double within a decade
The heart and soul of this breed of buildings is a complete departure from the ad-hoc 'environmental buildings' with environmental add-on features applied
Summary
Environmental depletion, global warming and the consequential climate changes are key environmental issues for today's generation. These result from excessive greenhouse gas emissions from burning of fossil fuel since the industrial revolution (Lawson , 1996; Steele, 1997). Australia has the highest greenhouse gas emissions per capita in the world (SEAV, 2001). Commercial buildings are large energy consumers, as energy is the lifeblood of contemporary office buildings. No office building can function properly without energy supply. According to PCA (2001), commercial buildings in Australia generate more than 35 million tonnes of CO2 (carbon dioxide) a year, and if no action is taken to reduce growth, that figure is projected to double within a decade
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