This is in adherence to the amendment to the National Energy Act of 1998 proclaimed in December 2020 by the minister of mineral resources and energy requiring building owners to publish the electrical consumption per square metre by 2022. The new legislation makes it mandatory that all building owners monitor the electrical consumption for all commercial buildings bigger than 2,000m².
According to Nadeem Gafieldien, director property services at SU’s Facilities Management Division, this building was the first of many buildings on SU’s campuses that are being audited and certified in this way. “This is the best rating possible for such an office building in this climatic zone, according to the SANS 10400 XA standards for EPC’s for buildings in SA.
“Systemic sustainability is one of the key attributes of SU’s Vision 2040 and Strategic Framework 2019-2014," said Gafieldien.
"We work hard to change our systems and processes to more sustainable energy sources and reduce the impact on the environment. Also, as a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, SU is committed to attaining the United Nation’s sustainable development goals.”
Gafieldien said that SU has been collecting data for several years by installing electronic Elsta meters, which periodically transmits live data from these meters to the central utilities management system. “We appointed Mess Blue Dust Engineering Solutions, represented by Dr Frank Duvenhage, to complete the data verification, and this was handed to Mess Energy Management and Validation Service (Pty)Ltd who are accredited by South African National Energy Development Institute (Sanedi) to issue the Electrical Performance Certificate.”
