Energy Efficient Office Buildings Grant

Sustainability Victoria’s Smarter Resources Smarter Business - Energy Efficient Office Buildings program provides funding and support for building owners to improve energy efficiency. Eligible building owners can access matched funding amounts of between $20,000 to $150,000 to carry out an opportunities analysis, building tuning and monitoring activities.

Research has shown that by making some simple adjustments to building system controls and operations, building owners can expect to save an average of $10,000 per year in energy costs (based on an average sized office of 2,500m2).

Eligible buildings must be:

• Non-premium, non-A grade buildings as defined by the Property Council of Australia
• Primarily used as an office
• Located in Victoria
• Built prior to, and not have had a major refurbishment or retrofit since, 2007
• Compliant with relevant legislative requirements including Essential Safety Measures

Working collaboratively with the Energy Efficiency Office Buildings program, the Sustainable Melbourne Fund can provide funding for the out-of-pocket expense required by eligible building owners. This funding can also be used to undertake tuning of existing energy using equipment identified in the Opportunities Assessment that will further improve the energy performance of the building. “Building tuning” is the re-calibration, re-commissioning and optimising of existing equipment to ensure that the building is preforming optimally.

SMF can also fund other items that could potentially be identified in the opportunities assessment - including lighting upgrades, chiller or boiler replacements or lift upgrades. These deeper upgrades and end-of-life replacements typically yield improvements in energy efficiency and by taking advantage of the Sustainability Victoria grant funding opportunity and SMF finance you can receive a full building audit and select upgrade for no out of pocket expense.

Apply today
To download an application form visit www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/eeob or call 1300 363 744. Funding is approved on a rolling basis until program funding is exhausted, so don’t miss out.

If you have an upgrade in mind for your building or would be keen on getting a clearer understanding of the grant/SMF opportunities and process please contact Michael Lambden, Client Manager at Sustainable Melbourne Fund by email or by calling 9658 8740. Please visit our case studies page to see the types of projects we’ve facilitated funding for in the past

Image credit: Jes via Flickr Creative Commons