ENERGY PERFORMANCE AND MARKET OUTCOMES: THE CASE OF COMMERCIAL PROPERTY IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The built environment is one of the largest consumers of energy in Singapore, and accounts for almost 16% of Singapore’s total greenhouse gas emissions. As Singapore’s urban landscape develops, the growing cityscape poses a significant risk to global warming. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the determinants of energy efficiency in buildings to reduce overall emission levels. The main objectives of this research is to establish a relationship to a commercial building’s energy efficiency based on its Green Mark rating, its transactional properties, and exogenous factors such as local climate patterns. Regression models were used in this paper to analyze the energy consumption patterns of 696 commercial buildings in Singapore, particularly buildings that are Green Mark certified. Independent variables were split into three main categories: endogenous, exogenous and policy variables. Three main models were used, and returned R-square values of 64.6%, 68.5% and 83.2%. It was found that buildings that are Green Mark certified are 0.6635% to 0.6948% more energy efficient as compared to regular buildings. The year of attainment of the Green Mark Award is statistically significant and average at 0.03% increase in overall energy consumption per year. Other findings include factors that are statistically insignificant to energy efficiency, such as property type, the unit rent price of a building (in square foot) and the prevailing weather. The results also suggest that Green Mark buildings are weather resilient, as energy consumption levels are unaffected by change in outdoor ambient temperatures.