NABERS Energy

Reducing energy consumption also results in lower electricity costs and a demonstrable commitment to the environment creates a more resilient portfolio, delivers shareholder value and improves shared facilities.

A NABERS Energy rating is independent, based on real energy data and provides a comparison to buildings like yours. For example, a building in Darwin is going to use cool air-conditioning more than a building in Melbourne. A NABERS Energy rating takes this into consideration when looking at your building’s energy consumption to compare like-with-like. NABERS Energy ratings give you a fair reflection of how you are progressing versus your energy saving commitments.

A NABERS star rating can be used to:

• Understand your energy efficiency, and potential for savings
• Track progress and demonstrate impact of changes
• Communicate your performance and commitment to efficiency

We offer NABERS Energy ratings in the following built environments:

• Office buildings and tenancies
• Shopping centres
• Apartment buildings
• Hospitals (public)
• Hotels
• Data centres
• Residential aged care
• Retirement living
• Warehouses and cold stores
• Retail Stores
• Schools
• … and we’re adding more sectors every year

Don’t see your sector here? If you’d like your sector to be next in line for expansion for a NABERS Energy rating, click here to register your interest.

Office Buildings and Tenancies

NABERS Energy measures the efficiency of an office building and rates either the base building, tenancy or whole building. An energy rating works by comparing the energy consumption of a building against a set of benchmarks that have been developed using actual data. A NABERS Energy rating can be done with or without Green Power.

Base building NABERS Energy rating: occurs when central services like heating and cooling systems, lifts and lobby lighting are rated. Whole building NABERS Energy rating: this rates the base building and tenant occupied space.

Tenancy NABERS Energy rating: when businesses choose to rate the space they occupy within a building. The energy used by office tenancies can account for around 50% of the total office building’s energy use. To tailor the tool for the tenancy market, we look at:

• Area of office
• Hours of occupancy
• Number of computers

NABERS Co-assess for business: an application process that allows tenancies/businesses to be rated alongside the base building and/or whole building energy rating. This provides one streamlined process for multiple ratings at the same property.

Carbon Neutral Certification: this is an extension of a NABERS Energy rating. It first determines how much, or little carbon a building is producing. The certification then incorporates carbon offsets or carbon credits purchased with the intention of a building becoming carbon neutral.

Carbon Neutral certification is only available for buildings with current NABERS Energy ratings of 4 stars and above. This is done through Climate Active, visit https://www.climateactive.org.au/ to find out more.

Speak to someone about NABERS Energy for your office building: nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au

Offices also have NABERS Water, Waste and Indoor Environment ratings available.

Shopping Centres

NABERS Energy ratings are available to shopping centre owners looking to rate the central services of their retail shopping centre.

Shopping centres come in all shapes and sizes, and NABERS Energy takes this into consideration. This includes (but is not limited to):

• Postcode
• Total shopping centre area retail (GLAR)
• Centrally serviced shopping centre area
• Number of mechanically or naturally ventilated parking spaces
• Annual number of trading days
• Weekly hours of service
• Floor configuration (single or multi-storey)
• Number of food court seats
• Number of Cinema theatrettes
• Total gymnasium area

NABERS Energy ratings for shopping centres does not include tenancy energy use for light and power.

Shopping Centre rating: refers to rating the central services of a retail shopping centre including food courts, cinemas and gymnasiums

Speak to someone about NABERS Energy for shopping centres: nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au

Shopping centres also have NABERS Water ratings available.

Apartment Buildings

There tends to be a lot of focus on tenant energy consumption when it comes to apartments. They’re a big part of the consumption, but the fact is that energy used by common property can account for up to 60% of the total building’s energy consumption and 25% of Administrative fund levies.

NABERS Energy rates the entire common property areas of your strata scheme. This includes (but is not limited to):

• Reception areas
• Stairwells
• Lifts and lobby areas
• Car Parks
• Gyms, Pools, and common areas
• Heating and cooling services

Getting a NABERS Energy rating for your apartment block will give you the power to drive down energy and water bills, reduce carbon emissions and add value to your building.

Common property rating: refers to rating the apartment building common property including reception areas, lifts, car parks and gyms.

Speak to someone about NABERS Energy for your strata scheme: nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au

Apartment buildings also have NABERS Water ratings available.

Hospitals (public)

NABERS Energy for Public Hospitals rates the efficiency and environmental impact of entire hospital campuses. The benchmark and methodology was developed with data from real, operating public hospitals. Unlike other NABERS Ratings, NABERS for Public Hospitals operates through a direct relationship with State Health Departments in partnership with the Australasian Health Infrastructure Alliance (AHIA), rather than via third-party Assessors. Rating are conducted by trained Assessors within Health Departments, to be certified and audited by NABERS.

NABERS adjusts for:

• Peer Group classification (for fair comparison between similar types of hospitals)
• Occupied Bed Days and Commonwealth Funded Aged Care Bed Days
• Number of separations
• Postcode

NABERS Energy for Public Hospitals ratings is reported and disclosed at the discretion of the relevant State Health Departments.

Whole campus rating: NABERS for Public Hospitals is designed to assess the performance of the entire hospital campus. It can account for the variety and diversity of different hospital types.

Speak to someone about NABERS Energy for Public Hospitals: nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au

Hospitals also have NABERS Water ratings available.

Hotels

NABERS Energy can be used to rate the efficiency of a hotel. The benchmark and methodology only contain data from real, operating hotels.

NABERS recognises that there are fundamental differences between hotels in each quality star band in both building design and operation. A 5-star hotel is expected to use more energy than an equivalent size 3-star hotel. This is due to the range of services offered to guests (e.g. reception, room service, food, gym) and hours of operation of those services. This is an important factor that NABERS does adjust for.

In addition to the hotel quality star rating, NABERS also adjusts for:

• Number of guest rooms
• Number of guest rooms with full-service laundering
• Number of function room seats
• Heated pools

Disclosure of your NABERS Energy for Hotels rating is voluntary.

Whole building rating: refers to rating the hotel common areas, guest rooms, back of house, and all onsite services offered by the hotel for guests including car-parks, laundries, function and conference rooms, day spas, indoor/outdoor swimming pools, spas and saunas, restaurants, cafés and gyms.

Speak to someone about NABERS Energy for your hotel: nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au

Hotels also have NABERS Water ratings available.

Data Centres

NABERS ratings for data centres provides an indication of the operational energy efficiency of data centres in Australia. NABERS ratings for data centres are based on actual operational performance of a facility.

NABERS Energy for data centres (IT Equipment): This type of rating is for organisations who own or manage their IT equipment (including servers, storage devices, network equipment) and do not control data centre support services such as air conditioning, lighting and security. The rating benchmarks the emissions associated with the energy consumed by the IT equipment. This allows organisations to determine the efficiency of their equipment. The less energy consumed for a given level of capacity, the more efficient the data centre and the higher the rating.

NABERS Energy for data centres (Infrastructure): This rating is for data centre owners and managers. It allows them to determine their facility’s energy efficiency in supplying the infrastructure services to the IT equipment housed in a data centre. This rating is suitable for co-location centres where the operators do not have control of any tenant IT equipment but provide the cooling and power delivery systems.

NABERS Energy for data centres (Whole facility): This rating combines both the IT Equipment and Infrastructure tools and is designed for organisations that both manage and occupy their data centre or where internal metering arrangements do not permit a separate IT Equipment or Infrastructure rating.

Speak to someone about NABERS Energy for your data centre: nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au.

Residential Aged Care

For the residential aged care sector, healthier environments create a positive place where our elderly loved ones can live a life of relaxation and fulfillment.

NABERS ratings for residential aged care centres can be used to identify areas for cost savings and building improvements as well as to promote the environmental credentials of your residential aged care community. This can help attract more residents and reduce vacancies.

NABERS Energy rates the entire common property areas of your property. This includes (but is not limited to):

• Occupied bed days
• Heavy laundry processed on site
• Meals cooked
• Heated pools
• Postcode

Speak to someone about NABERS Energy for Residential Aged Care nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au.

Residential Aged Care also have NABERS Water ratings available.

Retirement Living

Environmentally friendly buildings create a healthy space for retired citizens to live a life of independence and leisure.

NABERS ratings for retirement living buildings can be used to identify areas for cost savings and building improvements as well as to promote the environmental credentials of your retirement living community. This can help attract more residents and reduce vacancies.

NABERS Energy rates the entire common property areas of your property. This includes (but is not limited to):

• Number of dwellings on site
• Serviced apartments on site
• Retirement village site area
• Heated pools
• Postcode

Speak to someone about NABERS Energy for Retirement Living nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au

Retirement Living also have NABERS Water ratings available.

Warehouses and Cold Stores

NABERS Energy ratings are available to warehouse and cold store facility owners and tenants.

NABERS for warehouses and cold stores quantifies your building’s energy performance. NABERS ratings take into consideration factors that are unique to your facility to ensure a fair, like-with-like comparison.  

Depending on your rating type, we look at: 

• Conditioned area
• Non – conditioned area
• Cold store and cool store volume
• Weekly operating hours 
• Number of full-time equivalent workers 
• Annual turnover ratio 

For additional information about NABERS Energy for Warehouses and Cold stores, email nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au.

Schools

Environmentally friendly buildings are not only better for the planet, but they also create healthier and more productive learning environments for our children to thrive.

NABERS ratings for schools offers a robust and low-cost solution that empowers education departments and individual schools to evaluate the sustainability performance of different schools and identify those in need of significant improvements. This can help demonstrate your commitment to a better tomorrow for your students, staff and wider community.

NABERS Energy consider factors unique to your school campus to ensure a fair, like-with-like comparison. This includes (but is not limited to):

• Students enrolled
• Climate and remoteness area classification
• Gross Floor Area
• Presence of swimming pools
• School sector (Government, Independent, Catholic Systemic)

Speak to someone about NABERS Energy for your school: nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au

Schools also have NABERS Water ratings available.