NABERS (the National Australian Built Environment Rating System) is a performance-based rating system for existing buildings. NABERS rates a commercial office, hotel or residential building on the basis of its measured operational impacts on the environment.

The buildings we live and work in have a measurable impact on our environment:

• Energy is used to provide lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation.
• Water is used for washing, drinking, for toilets and air conditioning.
• Waste is generated.
• Occupants are affected by the quality of the air in buildings.
• Local biodiversity is affected by the construction and tenancy of buildings.
• Natural storm water flows are redirected and often concentrated.
• Toxic materials may be present in buildings.
• People travel to and from buildings, often in greenhouse gas-emitting vehicles.

Building owners, managers or occupants can manage and reduce these environmental impacts. NABERS is designed to provide you with a simple indication of how well you are managing these environmental impacts compared with your peers and neighbours.

NABERS provides property owners, occupants, investors and other stakeholders with a reliable and easy-to-use method of assessing the environmental impacts of buildings in use.

NABERS can be used to define and set operational performance targets and measure and rate actual performance. Accredited ratings can also be used to disclose and report on performance to interested parties, establish commercial relationships for the monitoring and maintenance of performance targets, enlist professional services to improve a rating, and make decisions about priority actions or investment options.

Government agencies and councils, planning and housing authorities, and utilities may also be interested in the information that NABERS generates as a means of encouraging environmental improvement and providing incentives.

Currently, NABERS provides separate ratings for:

• Office buildings: This covers the environmental impacts of the activities and services traditionally supplied by, or within the control of, the landlords/operators of office buildings.
• Office tenancy: This covers the environmental impacts of the activities that are under the control of office occupants.
• Hotels: available for AAA-rated business hotels
• Shopping centres: for centres over 15,000 sqm GLAR
• Homes: This is designed for occupants of homes, covering all situations where the home carries all of its own services and land as a single identifiable package.

Ratings are also in development for hospitals, schools and data centres.

NABERS measures environmental performance against the impact categories listed below. The relevance of these impact categories in a NABERS assessment will depend on what sort of premises is being rated. NABERS is structured this way because it is important for a rating system to recognise:

• The different realms of accountability and responsibility for commercial building owners, commercial tenants, or home owners.
• The varying key environmental issues relevant to different building types.

Key impact categories:

Energy use and greenhouse emissions – Energy-related greenhouse emissions are a key factor in increasing the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, leading to human induced climate change. How buildings are operated can affect their energy demand significantly.

Water use – Building users can be major water consumers, but users can also adopt practices to harvest water sustainably and effect considerable reductions in demand on existing constrained supplies.

Waste – Waste contributes to resource depletion and a range of pollutants and emissions. The reduction of waste minimises the area needed for landfill, and reduces the environmental impact of overall materials throughput.

Indoor environment – As well as minimising impacts to the wider environment, It is important for the health, satisfaction and productivity of occupants that buildings provide a comfortable indoor environment for those who use them.

Other impact categories are under development.