Green Star (Australia)

Green Star is a voluntary sustainability rating system for buildings in Australia. It was launched in 2003 by the Green Building Council of Australia.

The Green Star rating system assesses the sustainability of projects at all stages of the built environment lifecycle. Ratings can be achieved at the planning phase for communities, during the design, construction or fitout phase of buildings, or during the ongoing operational phase.

The system considers assesses and rates buildings, fitouts and communities against a range of environmental impact categories, and aims to encourage leadership in environmentally sustainable design and construction, showcase innovation in sustainable building practices, and consider occupant health, productivity and operational cost savings.

In 2013, the GBCA released a report, The Value of Green Star, which analysed data from 428 Green Star-certified projects occupying 5,746,000 million square metres across Australia and compared it to the ‘average’ Australian building and minimum practice benchmarks. The research found that, on average, Green Star-certified buildings produce 62% fewer greenhouse gas emissions and use 66% less electricity than average Australian buildings. Green Star buildings use 51% less potable water than average buildings. Green Star-certified buildings also have been found to recycle 96 per cent of their construction and demolition waste, compared to the average 58% for new construction projects.

Green Star benchmarks projects against the nine Green Star categories of: Management; Indoor Environment Quality; Energy; Transport; Water; Materials; Land Use & Ecology; Emissions and Innovation.

Within each category are credits which address specific aspects of sustainable building design, construction or performance. Ratings for buildings are available at the design stage ('Design' ratings), at the post-construction phase (known as 'As Built' ratings) or for interior fitouts (‘Interiors’ ratings).

Green Star - Communities rates projects at the community or precinct scale against the categories of: Liveability; Economic Prosperity; Environment; Design; Governance and Innovation.

Green Star certification is a formal process in which an independent assessment panel reviews documentary evidence that a project meets Green Star benchmarks within each credit. The assessment panel awards points, with a Green Star rating determined by comparing the overall score with the rating scale:

Green Star rating tools for building, fitout and community design and construction reward projects that achieve best practice or above, which means ratings of 1, 2 or 3 are not awarded. Ongoing performance of a building can be rated at any of the 6 star ratings.

...
Wikipedia