Quake rebuild chance to save power

A brick building at 90 Riccarton Road is demolished. Photo / Greg Bowker

An energy management specialist says anyone rebuilding commercial premises after the Canterbury earthquake has a great opportunity to save huge amounts of power with good design and fitout.

Schneider Electric says savings over the lifetime of a building are enormous. Its power business unit general manager Mike Heron said efficiency started with buildings being designed to pull in large amounts of natural light.

Dozens of buildings will have to be rebuilt or substantially modified following the September 4 earthquake.

Schneider Electric uses its headquarters in Highbrook commercial zone as a showcase for energy efficiency. The building has been open for just over a year and more than 1000 business groups and executives have been through to see how savings can be made. The building combines an 1800sq m office and 4000sq m warehouse. A series of intelligence systems manage daylight harvesting, temperature and energy needs.

The building was completed within its original budget and uses no more than 88 kWh of energy per square metre a year against the standard of 100 kWh for buildings built after 1980 and 200 kWh for buildings before 1980.

It is estimated it will save $2.5 million in energy costs compared with a building of the same size. The company has calculated it will save between 50 and 400 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, depending on a comparable building's age and the technology it has in place.