Green Building Fund

The Green Building Fund is a program under which the government will provide up to $90 million in grant funding over 5 years with the objective of reducing green house gas emissions in the built environment by reducing energy consumed in the operation of commercial office buildings.

The grants are available in 2 streams.  The next round of applications for funding for Stream A grants closes on 30 June 2009.  No closing date has yet been set for the next round of Stream B applications.

Stream A grants are available to owners of existing commercial office buildings in amounts between $50,000 and $500,000 up to a maximum of 50% of project costs.

Stream B grants are more limited and are available for projects developing the knowledge, skills or capability of those involved in operating commercial office buildings to enable improvements in energy efficiency.  These grants are for up to $200,000 to a maximum of 50% of project costs.

Eligibility criteria for Stream A include:

must be a commercial office building within Australia

• must be able to demonstrate the level of green house gas emissions prior to commencement and the projected savings likely to result
• savings in green house gas emissions must arise from savings in base energy consumption (or if the owner is the sole occupant, from total building energy consumption)
• must be able to demonstrate an ability to fund the project (other than due to the grant).
• the project must be directed  towards retro-fitting or retro-commissioning

Examples of eligible projects are upgrades to common area lighting, heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, building fabric upgrades and installation of new monitoring, automation or control systems to improve energy efficiency.  Examples of ineligible projects include upgrading of equipment owned by tenants, building managers and owners.