Building Case Studies

Note: The production of the materials on this website was funded by the Australian Government for use by local governments which were part of the Cities for Climate Protection Australia Milestone Support Program that ended on 30 June 2009. Please note that ICLEI Oceania Program and Project support, the Greenhouse Gas Application (GGA) and milestone recognition is no longer available.

These case studies examine the process and outcomes of various successful energy efficient building and office initiatives.

• Maribyrnong's Hand dryers versus paper towel: Council has investigated the situation that often has people wondering whether to use paper towel or a hand dryer in the bathroom. The resulting action has saved council over 2.5 tonnes of CO2^e and $20,000.

• Solar Hot Water Recreation Centre - City of Whitehorse, Victoria: Aquatic centres can be high energy users. The City of Whitehorse, Victoria, has installed a gas boosted solar hot water service at its principle recreational centre, Aqualink Nunawading.

• Sustainable Building Initiative - City of Melbourne: The City of Melbourne's new office building, Council House 2 (CH2), is a visionary new building for about 540 City of Melbourne staff, representing world leadership in building design. CH2 has sustainable technologies incorporated throughout, including a water-mining plant in the basement, phase-change materials for cooling, automatic night-purge windows, and a façade of louvres (powered by photovoltaic cells) that track the sun.

• Energy Efficient Office Equipment - City of Adelaide: [PDF, 48 KB] The City of Adelaide (pop. 1.24 million) undertook to improve the efficiency of office equipment through enabling energy saving devices, primarily on computers. The case study provides details of the estimated energy savings to be made by the City in enabling the energy saving devices on its networked computers.

• Sustainability: the key to redeveloping Kogarah's Town Centre - Kogarah Council, NSW: [PDF 136KB] Kogarah Council's project demonstrates that sustainable development is feasible through negotiated solutions and public/private partnerships.

• Office Lighting Retrofit: Maroochy and Tweed Shire Councils, QLD: [PDF, 164KB] Maroochy Shire (pop. 136,000) and Tweed Shire (pop. 75,000) Councils demonstrated that, as well as significant cost savings, substantial reductions in council greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved through office lighting retrofits. Results of a pilot programme of lighting retrofits on two council administration centres in Maroochy and Tweed Shire Councils have met with promising results.

• Renewable Energy Projects in Council Buildings: [PDF 316KB] This case study highlights examples of renewable energy projects from three CCP councils in Australia.