by Brianna Crandall — December 30, 2015—City-state Singapore is continuing its pace-setting sustainability initiatives, this time in the area of energy performance contracts (EPC), which are designed to guarantee energy savings for an existing building without an initial financial outlay. Singapore is considered one of the cleanest and greenest cities in the world.
To help building owners overcome the initial financial barrier to retrofit their buildings, the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) has collaborated with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to develop a standard EPC template for building owners and EPC firms to use.
Developed in consultation with several established EPC firms and building owners, the standard template assists in accelerating the retrofitting process by clearly spelling out the key conditions of contract for both the building owner and the EPC firm so that building owners can better focus on the critical component in any EPC: the amount of energy savings guaranteed.
The EPC template complements the Building Retrofit Energy Efficiency Financing (BREEF) program by BCA that offers financing to building owners, Management Corporation Strata Titles (MCSTs), Special Purpose Vehicles and EPC firms for energy efficiency retrofits.
BCA explains that in an EPC, the EPC firm will guarantee specific energy savings for the building over a set period of time, either in monetary terms or a savings percentage. The EPC firm can either provide financing to undertake all the necessary works to complete the retrofit of the building, or the building owner can finance the retrofit. For the first option, the building owner will not need to incur an initial financial outlay to start saving energy. In both cases, the cost of these works will be offset by the energy savings as a result of the retrofitting.
As buildings present a tremendous opportunity to reduce emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change while creating a healthy environment for occupants, this new EPC template is part of SGBC’s commitments made during Buildings Day at COP21 in Paris to drive change and market transformation for green buildings.
BCA points out that in the latest BCA Building Energy Benchmarking Report 2015, a study on 83 existing buildings certified to have met the Green Mark rating of Gold or higher showed that retrofitting existing buildings can save up to $41 million annually. Energy retrofits have also been shown to increase a facility’s value to prospective buyers and tenants.
For example, Treetops Executive Residences, a 16-year-old eco luxury serviced apartment building, has reportedly reaped energy savings of 52 percent after its retrofit. According to Tay Hock Soon, general manager of Treetops Executive Residences:
By having an EPC with a professional vendor, the energy savings and measures that have been proposed can be constantly measured and guaranteed. The team can also give professional advice on how the targets can be achieved and ensure that the improvement in energy efficiency is sustained in the long term even upon completion of the retrofits. As the expert in this area, the EPC firm can also advise on new and better green initiatives that tap on the latest technology advancements to push for greater sustainability. This green retrofit has also helped us to anchor our brand position as an eco-friendly building in an increasingly competitive market.
The standard template EPC will be available for purchase from SGBC in early 2016. EPC firms certified under SGBC’s Singapore Green Building Services (SGBS) labeling scheme will also use this contract in their EPC projects.
