MT NEWMAN HOUSE

Mount Newman House showcases energy efficiency for established buildings

With a 4 star base building rating from the Australian Building Greenhouse scheme, Mount Newman House is an excellent example of the energy efficiencies that can be achieved in an established building.

This 31-year-old St Georges Terrace office building has been the corporate address for many of Perth's top businesses and building managers CB Richard Ellis wanted to show its current and future tenants that Mt Newman House was managed in a highly energy efficient manner.

The building management team has worked tirelessly to reduce energy consumption and began with establishing a dead band of 2 degrees in the building's air-conditioning system.

“This ensured the heating and cooling did not overlap and, as a result, it has reduced the boiler's oil consumption from around 100,000 L per annum to 30,000 L,” said Building Services Manager John Coen.

“Further fine tuning through the Building Management System has now reduced that amount to 15,000 L which represents a saving of approximately $80,000 a year.”

Combined with the cost savings is an improvement in comfort levels for the building's tenants. Calls from tenants regarding air-conditioning temperature have dropped from between 5-10 a week to an average of two showing that the new system has created a win/win scenario for both the building's managers and its tenants.

Saving energy saves money

During a major refurbishment, completed in 1996, the building's lighting was upgraded and changed to a more energy efficient tri-phosphorus version. This produced a 100,000 kWh energy saving that produced a $10,000 a year reduction in running costs.

“A Building Management System was also installed at that time and this allowed us to have better management of the controls and reduced energy consumption by a further 120,000 kWh – equating to an additional cost saving of $12,000 annually,” Mr Coen explained.

The heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system was carefully programmed so that the set points for chilled water temperature and condenser water temperature are reset by the temperature and relative humidity of the outside air. This means less energy is needed to maintain a comfortable building and has reduced power consumption by 60,000 kWh saving the company $6,000 per annum.

Innovative Technology

More recently, CB Richard Ellis installed a chemical free cooling tower sanitising system to replace its existing chemical treatment system.

The new system is the brainchild of WA company Hydro Science and, according to Mr Coen, it is considered as the first of its kind in the world.

“We believe the Hydro Science system will reduce chiller consumption by five to 10 per cent,” said Mr Coen. “This system was installed in the last quarter of 2003 so additional savings are likely to be seen when it has been in use for a full year.”

Illuminating ideas

To secure a further reduction in energy use, CB Richard Ellis aims to minimise its lighting needs by improved control of lift lobby illumination. Lighting in these areas will operate via motion sensors and in conjunction with the newly upgraded security access system. Lights will no longer stay on when not required after hours.

To provide illumination for tenants working outside business hours, the lift lobby lights are linked, via computer, to the staff security cards that give tenants access to the building after hours. Using the card activates the lift lobby lights on the floor in which they work and these lights then go off after a pre-determined time. Motion detectors turn the lobby lights back on as the tenant is about to re enter the lift lobby.

A 20,000 kWh reduction and $2,000 saving a year is expected from the implementation of this illuminating idea, and Mr Coen says the estimate is an extremely conservative one.

Looking further ahead

Two additional energy saving strategies are being investigated by Mount Newman House.

The heating boilers are being considered for conversion from oil to gas, which would further reduce energy consumption and combustion emissions. CB Richard Ellis is also investigating ways to reuse wastewater from the air-conditioning units for use in the building's toilets.

Lessons learned

Mr Coen says “we are now more aware of other potential energy-saving strategies that we can implement.”

“Obtaining our 4 star Australian Building Greenhouse scheme base building rating involved an extensive and thorough review of all elements of energy use. And, in the process, we became aware of meters that were no longer in operation and we have now removed them from service.”

Not only does this highlight the savings that can be achieved through attaining an Australian Building Greenhouse scheme rating but Mr Coen says it shows existing and future tenants that, even though the building may be three decades old, it is still being run in an energy efficient manner using the best practice standards of today.


“Today's choices determine tomorrow's achievements.”

John Coen, Mt Newman House - Building Services Engineer
CB Richard Ellis.