Throughout 2015, a team of cross-divisional specialists have been working on tangible solutions to reduce energy consumption at Westfield shopping centres in Australia.
The Sustainability Innovation Group has brought people together to identify innovative solutions to improve the long-term performance of our shopping centres and to generate sustainable outcomes.
Energy consumption has long-been an area of focus for Westfield shopping centres’ environmental considerations, with nearly 65% of energy consumed across the portfolio for cooling and ventilation purposes.
Scentre Group has the opportunity to generate significant benefits for the environment and the sustainability of the organisation.
The multi-divisional structure of the Sustainability Innovation Group recognises that valuable ideas can emerge from anywhere in the organisation, and throughout the year ideas have been sourced from a wide cross-section of the business. The Sustainability Innovation Group uses its evaluation process to make qualitative assessments of ideas presented, with the overarching goal to implement those initiatives that are commercially viable and have tangible outcomes to reduce Scentre Group’s energy consumption and carbon footprint.
One idea trialled as a result of the Sustainability Innovation Group’s solution generation is the UVC coil treatment technology installed at Westfield Hornsby during the first half of 2015.
The project was a culmination of more than 12 months’ product review, trials, testing and lifecycle analysis.
In conjunction with partner Steril-Aire, 250 UVC emitters were installed throughout 37 air handling units in order to maintain the equipment free of dust and bacterial agents. This not only allows for the air to go through the unit more efficiently and to remain cleaner, but reduces the need for repetitive maintenance throughout the life cycle of the plant.
Conservative estimates suggest that an approximate 10% annual reduction in cooling demand can be achieved with the technology, equating to 641,277kWh at Westfield Hornsby 'the equivalent annual consumption of 110 Australian average households'*.
A further outcome of the trial is that UVC emitters are now included as standard in specification for new air handling units, and thanks to the delivery of expected energy savings, a business case is in place to expand the initiative to other Westfield centres.
The Sustainability Innovation Group has had a number of other projects under review during the year which if viable will lead to implementation throughout the Westfield portfolio in due course.
*conversion factor of 5.817 MWh national average household energy consumption. Source Acil Allen Consulting ‘Electricity Bill Benchmark for residential Customers’ March 2015.
