The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has released Green Star 2014 Design and As Built tool. The revised tool includes credits requiring Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to measure sustainability performance at both the whole of building and building component level.
These credits represent a ‘coming of age’ for LCA within the building and construction industry in Australia and are expected to stimulate the use of LCA and development of Environmental Product Declarations. This follows international developments including incorporation of a pilot credit for LCA based building product information and a pilot credit for whole building LCA in LEED and similar moves in BREEAM.
For Green Star 2014, up to 7 points are available when a whole of building LCA is undertaken. The LCA measures impacts from raw material production through product manufacturing, transport, construction, building use, maintenance, de-construction and disposal. Points are awarded based upon the cumulative impact reduction against a standard reference building; from 1 point for a 30% reduction to 6 points for a 130% reduction. Points are awarded for reporting across 6 environmental impact categories with a bonus point is awarded when an additional 5 environmental impact categories are included.
Up to 3 points are available for a range of product sustainability criteria including;
- Environmental Product Declarations
- Third-Party Certification
- Stewardship Programs
- Recycled Content Products
- Reused Products.
Points are awarded according to a formula that includes a Sustainability Factor (based on the five categories above) and the dollar value of the product. More information can be found in the Green Star Manual.
Recognising the stimulus that this will provide for LCA knowledge, the GBCA is partnering with Edge Environment to deliver a number of LCA Trainings. The trainings are designed to build capacity and technical knowledge of LCA within the building and construction industry. The first module has been presented and three detailed modules will be delivered in November and early December in both face-to-face and webinar formats:
Product Transparency and Sustainability (Module 2) – Who should attend this training? Building product managers and suppliers who want to benefit from the shift by specifiers toward products with comprehensive environmental information.
Building and Asset Life Cycle Impacts (Module 3) – Who should attend this training? Developers, architects, designers and engineers who want to optimise environmental impacts of their assets over their whole life.
Sustainable Procurement and Strategy (Module 4) – Who should attend this training? Strategic thinkers, heads of sustainability and procurement strategists who want to incorporate best practice strategic environmental decision making throughout their supply chain.
The trainings accrue credits under the GBCA’s Continuing Professional Development program.