Cover Story

With growing concern about global warming and rising energy prices, high-performance buildings and sustainable initiatives are becoming increasingly important to businesses around the globe. A holistic approach from concept, to construction, to sustained maintenance is required to reduce the environmental footprint of the growing building industry.

In our earlier issues, we talked about the importance of building "green" to the environment and the community. One such building standard is the Green Star, launched by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), the region’s most followed voluntary building environmental assessment scheme that reviews the environmental design and achievements of buildings. Green Star built its procedures on existing international rating systems such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). It is gaining attention in the international green building community with the unique support it receives from the most influential building owners, developers and contractors, the government, academe and non-government organizations.

Green building rating system is a performance-oriented system where points are earned for satisfying the specific criteria. Similar to most green rating systems around the world, rating systems measure a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in key areas: such as sustainable sites, energy, water efficiency, material resources used, and indoor environmental quality.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is one of the fore runners in building rating systems and is considered as one of the most established rating systems developed in the U.S. and is being adapted by different regions. Green Star in particular built its systems based on LEED rating procedures as well. LEED rating systems’ acceptance can be attributed to its logical and structured approach for measuring and validating building performance. There are several LEED Rating systems created to address the different building applications as seen below.

www.usgbc.org

LEED is divided into six categories related to sustainable sites (SS), water efficiency (WE), energy and atmosphere (EA), materials and resources (MR), indoor environmental quality (IEQ), and innovation and design (ID) and regional credits. There are 110 possible credit points divided among the six green design categories. Each category contains a specific number of credits; each credit carries one or more possible points. Green Star also works the same way: a credit rating system is used whereby a number of points are allocated to the credits to be able to determine the total scores, and ultimately, the level of certification.

View LEED 2009 for New Construction checklist
View LEED 2009 Existing Buildings: Operation and Maintenance
View LEED 2009 for Commercial Interiors
View LEED 2009 for Core & Shell
View LEED 2009 for Schools
Source: United States Green Building Council (www.usgc.org)

As shown below, a project that earns enough points (40-49) can become LEED certified. Additional points earn higher certification levels, including Silver (50-59), Gold (60-70), and Platinum (80 or more).

The LEED certification program offers property owners a very clear connection between increasing energy efficiency and cost savings. Boosting the efficiency of existing buildings creates a large return on investment, especially when deployed across a chain of properties. There are many benefits to LEED certification; however, the key underlying theme is savings.

According the GBCA, Australia's commercial buildings account for 8.8% of the national greenhouse emissions. The study conducted by a commercial building sector yielded hospitals and office buildings as two of the largest emitters, resulting to 40% of the total sector’s emissions. Green Star particularly established individual environmental measurement criteria that are uniquely relevant to the Australian landscape and environment.

In our next issue, we shall talk about available technologies associated with Return on investment (ROI) and notable Emerson LEED certified buildings.