The legislation to green existing buildings (EB legislation) was passed in September 2012 as part of a strategy by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) under the 2nd Green Building Master Plan (GBMP) to achieve the national target of greening at least 80% of the building stock by 2030. The implementation of this legislation signals a shift in focus from new to existing buildings. This was driven by the realisation that targeting the latter is the key to reducing emissions in the greater portion of the building stock in Singapore.

The EB legislation instituted three key elements:

1. Minimum Green Mark Certified standard: Building owners are required to meet a minimum environmental sustainability standard at the time of an installation or replacement of any water-cooled/air-cooled chiller or unitary system. This aims to spur building owners to install energy efficient centralised air-conditioning systems to reap energy saving benefits over the typical lifespan of 15 to 20 years.
2. Three-yearly energy audit on building cooling system: Notified building owners must engage a Professional Mechanical Engineer or an Energy Auditor registered with BCA to carry out an energy audit on their chiller system in accordance with the prescribed Code and submit the necessary documents to BCA. This is to ensure that a building cooling system continues to operate efficiently and comply with minimum standards throughout its lifetime.
3. Annual mandatory submission of building information and energy consumption data: Building owners are to submit building information and energy consumption data annually through an online submission portal. The submitted data will form the basis of national building energy benchmarks, which will be shared with building owners to encourage them to pro-actively improve the energy performance of their buildings.

How does it work?
Under this legislation, all eligible commercial building owners are required to submit building information and energy consumption data starting from 1 July 2013. The Building Energy Submission System (BESS) facilitates seamless data collection by drawing electricity data directly from utilities. Building owners are only required to update any changes to the building information as they arise and review the energy consumption data prior to completing the submission. BESS also includes access to downloadable self-help tools such as a user submission manual, technical guides, and training and demonstration videos.

At the close of the submission period, data collected through BESS is checked for any inconsistencies or data entry errors. Once all the data has been verified, national energy benchmarks for commercial buildings and the findings and benchmarks are shared with building owners via the BESS and the BCA Building Energy Benchmarking Report (BEBR).

Sources:

C40 – attached report and case study on website.