EoIs open for new rating tool for existing buildings

The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has opened the EoI process for the Green Star - Performance rating tool, said Robert Milagre, Acting Manager, GBCA, at the Total Facilities Expo.

The tool - to be launched as a pilot in October - is designed to help building owners, operators and occupants ensure sustainable ongoing operation of buildings. It assesses individual building operations against nine environmental impact categories for a 12-month period. The categories are detailed below.

Management - This category reviews the building management aspects including the ongoing monitoring and metering of energy and water, waste handling policies and procedures, cleaning and maintenance, tuning and commissioning, current building information including user guides and manuals.

Indoor environmental quality - The quality of the indoor environment within buildings is an integral part of holistic building performance. This category assesses the systems that provide air, the quality of the air supplied to a building’s occupied spaces, natural and artificial lights, and noise levels.

Energy - The two key issues covered in this category are: peak electricity demand and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy consumption. Technical guidance will be provided within the rating tool to help ensure building owners and managers are demonstrating compliance.

Within this rating tool, a baseline for peak electricity demand reduction is set based on historical data from the building’s annual peak loads, as well as information about the peak electricity demand for the electricity network. Reductions to load on the network are encouraged and rewarded.

A building’s greenhouse gas emissions performance is also assessed against a baseline, from which building owners and operators can set targets for improvement over time. A baseline for greenhouse gas emissions reductions is set for buildings seeking a Green Star - Performance rating based on historical energy-use data for comparable buildings within the same area or, if no such data exists, then historical energy-use data for the building itself.

Transport - This category rewards strategies and actions that discourage single-occupant vehicle use and encourage the use of alternative transportation modes such as public transport, cycling or walking. Building owners and operators may address this category in a number of ways, including: providing and maintaining cycling facilities; facilitating the purchase of public transport tickets; providing shuttle buses to transport hubs.

Water - The Water category assesses and rewards reductions in potable water use through the efficient design of building services, water re-use and substitution with non-potable water sources such as rainwater or greywater. In addition to addressing potable water that is typically metered by the local utility company, Green Star - Performance also addresses water use associated with the testing of fire safety systems. As with the Energy category, a building’s potable water use is assessed against a baseline from which building owners and operators can set targets for improvements over time.

Materials - This category assesses materials used for building operations including paper, plastic, food waste etc. Sustainable procurement and waste management is reviewed by this category.

Land use and ecology - This category reviews the approach taken to determining the ecological value of a site and the management and improvement of biodiversity through policies and management practices. The relationship between permeable landscaped areas and impermeable surfaces, and how this affects the ecological value of a site, are also explored in this category.

Emissions - This tool primarily addresses the operational issues related to HVAC and lighting, such as Legionella control and refrigerant management. It focuses on ‘point source pollution’ from buildings and building services. Point source pollution is contamination that affects the natural environment through any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, such as a pipe, a duct or a floodlight.

Innovation - This category relates to innovative technologies or processes in building operations, improvements on Green Star benchmarks, exceeding the scope of Green Star, or taking on what will be known as ‘Green Star Challenges’. These challenges will be designed to encourage building owners and operators to go beyond best practice and develop more stringent environmental requirements for the continuous improvement of Green Star - Performance.

Interested parties can express their interest in the pilot phase here.