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[Jimmy-T]

A strata scheme not a million miles from where I sit is facing a very modern quandary – how do they deal with global warming when it gets real but air-con just adds to the problem?

Now, if you are one of these people who say “the jury is out” on man-made climate change – because only 99 percent of the world’s scientists believe in it, and a few self-seeking politicians and loud-mouth commentators deny it – stop reading now.

Oh … they already have.

OK,  here’s the issue.  You take a building that has won major global environmental awards for its cross-ventilation and its by-laws limiting air-conditioning to only 10 out of more than 100 apartments.

However, these days there’s a growing number of complaints that it just gets too hot inside the units at the height of summer.

The cross-ventilation simply doesn’t work in some apartments and others don’t want to leave their windows open because of the noise (and don’t get me started on barbecue smoke).

“Real estate agents say we could make more money when we sell our apartments if we had air con,” say some – and I’ll stop them right there. If you’ll get less when you sell your unit, it means you spent less when you bought it, so that argument doesn’t fly.

However, there’s the small matter of the planet getting hotter.  Since the turn of the millennium, there hasn’t been a single month that didn’t experience record temperatures, year after year.

Only last week a study in Scandinavia said that heatwaves were twice as likely to happen because of global warming.

So something has changed significantly since this building was designed and built two decades ago. But if the residents all install air-con, won’t that just contribute to global warming?  Of course, it will – that additional electricity has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is probably coal-fired.

And will they have to hand back their Environmental awards like Olympic athletes who turn out to be drug cheats?

However, there’s an even more fundamental economic problem in this particular block: having been designed to be groovy and green, the building’s power supply and wiring was never intended to run 100 or more air-conditioners.

If they tear up their environmental credentials and bring the wiring for the whole block up to speed, all the owners will be faced with an additional charge of an extra quarter’s levies (and a bit more)– whether individuals want air-con or not.

It’s funny how your environmental concerns melt away when the thermometer goes over 30, but it’s also amazing how much discomfort you can endure when your hip pocket starts throbbing.

And again, the economic argument is not as simple as it may seem.  Will the cost of the rewiring, plus the installation of the individual air-con systems, be offset by the added value to the apartments, especially in a slowing market?

In any case, will the additional profit be diminished by the loss of the environmental kudos? However, what price a good night’s sleep on a hot still night?

For what it’s worth, I doubt if this will attract the 75 percent vote required to get the necessary by-law changes over the line.

But if your block is facing similar demands to confront the immediate effects of global warming by making it worse, there’s an interesting post on strata lawyer David Bannerman’s website.

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[Jimmy-T]

This in today from the NSW government:

Finding sustainably built office space and green businesses has been made easier thanks to a NSW Government online initiative.

The NSW-based world-leading energy rating program, the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS), has launched an Australian-first search engine for green buildings.

“This new tool will allow people to find the best examples of sustainable buildings and green businesses in the country ,” Environment Minister, Gabrielle Upton said.

NABERS is a national program, administered by the NSW government, that measures the environmental performance of buildings.

This initiative allows organisations to find Australia’s most sustainable buildings to house their operations, host their events, and do business, Ms Upton said.

“Our State, Commonwealth and Local Government partners can now easily highlight buildings and businesses that are leading examples of sustainability in their jurisdictions by checking out http://www.nabers.gov.au,” she said.

“Meanwhile NABERS has also brought new members into the National Steering Committee for a three year term.

“For the first time, NABERS will be led by two very talented women: Michelle Croker from the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Energy as Government Chair and Francesca Muskovic from the Property Council of Australia as Stakeholder Chair.

“The new Committee is the most inclusive to date with representatives from State and territory governments throughout Australia, as well as the Commonwealth.

“The new membership includes organisations like the Property Council of Australia, the Energy Efficiency Council, the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) and seven other peak industry bodies actively participating and providing advice to the program.

“I’m sure that these latest initiatives will maintain NABERS as the cutting edge program it has always been since it was established by the NSW Government twenty years ago,” Ms Upton said.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

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[Lady Penelope]

If your OC wants to stay ‘green’ and maintain its sustainability credentials is your OC able to put solar panels on your building to make ‘green’ power to run the a/c units?

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[BONNIE L]

Hi, Really appreciate the learning curve I am on as a fairly recent strata tragic, however,  would like to add that ceiling fans, while not fully addressing the aircon v  solar case, especially in savings elsewhere across a home with solar, are very effective in summer. Cost of purchase and installation compare well in terms of savings on aircon if used frequently.  Good luck!

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