Green Star Points Obtained by Australian Building Projects

The green building trend has increased rapidly worldwide in recent decades as a means of addressing growing concerns over climate change and global warming and to reduce the impact of the building industry on the environment. A significant contribution in Australia has been the use of a series of rating tools by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) for the certification of various types of buildings. This paper reviews the use of the Green Star system in Australian building construction and investigates the potential challenges involved in acquiring such certification for Australian buildings, by critically analyzing a database of the most recently certified GBCA projects. The results show that management-related credits and innovation-related credits are the easiest and most difficult, respectively, to obtain. Additionally, 6 Star green buildings achieve significantly higher points than do other certified buildings in the energy category. In contrast, 4 Star green buildings achieve more points in the material category than do 5 and 6 Star buildings. The study offers a useful reference for both property developers and project teams that can help them obtain a better understanding of the rating scheme and consequently aid in the effective preparation of certification documentation. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.