Report on the benefits of Green Star buildings

A report by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) reveals that 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.

‘The Value of Green Star: A decade of environmental benefits’ analyses data from 428 Green Star-certified buildings and fit-outs and compares it to the ‘average’ Australian building and minimum practice benchmarks.

There have been a number of case studies on Green Star’s effect on sustainability at the individual building level but, as GBCA Chief Executive Romilly Madew explained, “This is the first time we’ve quantified Green Star’s overall impact on Australia’s built environment.”

The report examines the impact of Green Star on greenhouse gas emissions, operational energy and water consumption, and construction and demolition waste.

Energy and greenhouse gas emissions

On average, Green Star-certified buildings produce 62% fewer greenhouse gas emissions and use 66% less electricity than average Australian buildings.

They produce 45% fewer greenhouse gas emissions and consume 50% less electricity than new buildings designed and constructed to meet the construction code requirements.

Taken together, the 428 Green Star buildings in the study have reduced electricity consumption by 580,000 MWh per year. This is equivalent to 76,000 average households’ annual electricity use.

The cumulative greenhouse gas savings from the Green Star-rated buildings surveyed, when compared to the average, totals 625,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. That’s equivalent to taking 172,000 cars off the road.

Water

Green Star buildings use 51% less potable water than average buildings. That saving amounts to 3,300,000 kL of potable water per year and is enough to service 18,000 households or fill 1320 Olympic swimming pools.

The water-saving measures deliver significant payoffs, including habitat conservation, reduced pressure on infrastructure and energy conservation, as improved water efficiency reduces the need for water pumping, delivery and wastewater treatment.

Waste

The 2010 National Waste Report found that construction and demolition waste accounts for 38% of the total waste sent to landfill. The average new construction project has a 58% recycling rate.

In comparison, Green Star - As Built certified buildings (those projects that achieve a rating for completed construction) recycled 96% of their construction and demolition waste.

In total, 37,600 truckloads of construction and demolition waste from Green Star-rated projects - 564,000 tonnes - have been diverted from landfill due to good waste management practices.

Madew noted that the higher the Green Star rating, the greater the environmental savings will be.

“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.”

The report can be downloaded here.