Energy efficiency in commercial offices: who can transform the market?

Panel: Panel 4. Building the bridge from lab to customer

Authors:
Jacky Pett, Association for the Conservation of Energy
Lotte Ramsay, Association for the Conservation of Energy

Abstract

This work develops themes from earlier research published as “White Collar CO2” (Scrase 2000). This paper is developed from a scoping study of energy efficiency in offices that was carried out in summer 2002.

A number of stakeholders were interviewed to establish views and attitudes to energy efficiency in office properties, addressing the investment, management, occupation and development of such buildings. Stakeholders included fund managers, pensions companies, insurance companies, large corporates whose business is not related to property, valuation surveyors, property agents, facilities managers, architects, consulting engineers and property developers.

Results indicated that existing economic instruments could be designed more effectively to promote energy efficiency in offices. The main barriers to investment included perceived lack of demand and poor return on investment. However, investment is promoted by the risk of property losing value as climate change impacts become more obvious.

Addressing the costs of energy efficiency in ways that address the realities of lease management and building systems can stimulate demand. Key partners in this are the property managers, institutional investors and responsible large companies. Many of these are beginning to consider risk from climate change as an issue in investment practices, as well as ethical and corporate social responsibility benchmarks.