THE VALUE OF GREEN STAR
19 Jun 2013
Green Star-rated buildings emit around a third of the greenhouse gas emissions and use a third of the electricity when compared with the average Australian building.
Green Star-rated buildings emit around a third of the greenhouse gas emissions and use a third of the electricity when compared with the average Australian building, a new report finds.
The Value of Green Star: A decade of environmental benefits, released by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), analyses data from 428 Green Star-certified buildings and fitouts and compares it to the ‘average’ Australian building and minimum practice benchmarks.
“Hundreds of buildings around Australia, from offices to factories, shopping centres to schools, libraries to hospitals, have achieved Green Star ratings,” explains Romilly Madew, the GBCA’s Chief Executive.
“This is the first time we’ve quantified Green Star’s overall impact on Australia’s built environment. This new report complements the large number of case studies and substantial anecdotal evidence of Green Star’s transformative effect on sustainability at the individual building level,” Ms Madew says.
The report examines the impact of Green Star on greenhouse gas emissions, operational energy and water consumption, and construction and demolition waste.
“Our research also finds that the higher the Green Star rating, the greater the environmental savings across the four key areas of greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, water consumption, and construction and demolition waste,” Ms Madew says.
“This report confirms what we’ve been saying for a decade – Green Star buildings are slashing greenhouse gas emissions, making significant savings on energy and water consumption and costs, and preventing truckloads of waste to landfill.
“The savings that Green Star is delivering for the built environment – financial, social and environmental – are just too good to ignore,” Ms Madew concludes.
Download The Value of Green Star: A decade of environmental benefits from the GBCA website.
*Image credit - The GreenHouse - meeting hub - Emma Cross Gollings Photography
