There have been a number of changes with the Green Star Rating tools over recent years. THE Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has developed 4 new Green Star RATING TOOLS, COMMUNITIES, DESIGN & AS BUILT, INTERIORS and PERFORMANCE.
Currently there are a number of Green Star rating tools in use. There are the ‘Legacy Green Star Rating Tools’ (i.e. old Green Star Rating tools) and the NEW Green Star Rating tools (COMMUNITIES, DESIGN & AS BUILT, INTERIORS and PERFORMANCE).
The Legacy rating tools include Office Design, Office As Built, Office, Office Interiors, Education, Healthcare, Industrial, Public Building and Retail Centre.
Registration for Green Star projects to use the Legacy tools closed in December 2015, though these projects have until DEC 2017 to complete their submission. So that means that product manufacturers may still get asked for information relating to the ‘old’ Legacy tools.
In the LEGACY tools product manufacturers had TWO OPTIONS for getting products specified in the GREEN STAR Materials CALCULATORS.
Option 1 – Obtain 100% Product score by having an ‘Environmentally Innovative’ product (i.e. a product that is certified by a GBCA recognised product certification scheme - AFRDI GreenTick, GECA and or Global GreenTag).
OR
Option 2 – Achieve a percentage product score, based on how many criteria your product meets in the applicable calculator. Points are based on:
Resource Utilisation – Eco Preferred content and product durability
Management – EMS ISO14001, Waste minimisation, Energy, Emissions, Material Minimisation and Product Stewardship
Reusability – Design for Disassembly
Example of the Calculator completed using option 2.
In the (old) Legacy tools ALL levels of Product certification equal 100% in the Material Calculators, that means Level A, B and C in the Legacy tools are all equal.
So how do these new tools affect product manufacturers?
The Green Star Rating tools most relevant to product manufacturers are the Design & As Built and the INTERIORS Green Star Rating tools, though there will be some opportunities for specification in the PERFROMANC Rating Tool.
In the new Green Star rating tools- Level A will give a ‘Sustainability factor’ of 1, Level B = .75 and Level C.50, in the SUSTAINABILITY PRODUCTS CALCULATOR. This means that in the NEW Green Star Rating tools, Level A will merit its TRUE value.
The only other options for achieving any credits or ‘value’ in the NEW Sustainability Products calculator is with a Stewardship Program (Product take back) which gives a sustainability factor of .50, an Environmental Product Declaration OR by having a % of recycled content in your product.
If you need further assistance understanding and implementing these changes. Please contact me.
