It’s got Richard Branson and his Carbon War Room and potentially billions of dollars of investment in the United States. Australia is also in on the act and Melbourne and Sydney are vying to be the first to market.

 It’s the race to roll out the first batch of energy efficiency retrofits for commercial buildings that pay for themselves through savings on the power bills, and use private investment funding repaid through local government rates.

 The City of Sydney has recently posted a draft template for what an environmental upgrade agreement template might look like and Parramatta and North Sydney councils are close behind. The NSW Office of Environment & Heritage has posted a set of guidelines for the state wide legislation that governs the agreements.

 Melbourne already has its guidelines for a program confined initially to its 1200 buildings program and could be close to the first deal involving a building of more than 40,000 and a retrofit worth between up to $14 million. Continue reading →