Green Star Homes is a voluntary Australian residential certification pathway developed by the Green Building Council of Australia. It is structured for eligible volume home builders delivering repeatable new-home designs or product ranges and organises its requirements around Positive, Healthy and Resilient outcomes.

Passive House is a separate international building-performance standard. It uses the Passive House Planning Package, known as PHPP, together with detailed envelope design, airtightness, high-performance windows, thermal-bridge control, controlled ventilation and project verification.

This comparison explains where the two pathways differ, where they overlap and when each may be relevant. For complete framework guidance, visit the Green Star Homes Knowledge Hub and the Passive House in Australia guide.

A stormwater treatment assessment considers how runoff from roofs, driveways, paving and other impervious areas is managed by the treatment measures connected to them. The presence of a tank, raingarden or permeable surface does not by itself establish that the required treatment outcome will be achieved.

Performance depends on the relationship between catchment area, treatment capacity, rainwater reuse, physical connections and any impervious surfaces that remain untreated. A measure that is appropriately sized and connected can contribute strongly to the assessment. The same measure may contribute much less where it receives only a small catchment or cannot operate as represented in the model.

This guide focuses specifically on how common WSUD measures can support quantitative stormwater treatment performance. For the wider difference between site strategy and modelling, see STORM vs WSUD.

Green Star Homes is a voluntary residential certification pathway developed by the Green Building Council of Australia. It is currently structured for eligible volume home builders delivering repeatable new-home designs or product ranges.

The phrase commercial Green Star is different. It is not the formal name of one rating tool. It is commonly used as shorthand for Green Star pathways applying to new buildings, major refurbishments, existing operational assets, fitouts and masterplanned communities.

This guide explains how the pathways divide the territory and why the correct tool depends on the project’s assessment boundary rather than whether the development is described informally as residential or commercial. For full framework guidance, visit the Green Star Homes Knowledge Hub and the Commercial Green Star Knowledge Hub.

BASIX is a New South Wales residential sustainability assessment used within the planning and development approval pathway. Where it applies, the project must complete the relevant assessment and carry the resulting certificate commitments into the design and construction documentation.

Green Star Homes is a separate voluntary certification framework administered by the Green Building Council of Australia. It is structured for eligible volume home builders delivering repeatable home designs or residential product ranges.

A NSW home may therefore require BASIX regardless of whether Green Star Homes certification is being pursued. The two pathways can be coordinated, but neither replaces the other. For full pathway guidance, visit the Green Star Homes Knowledge Hub and the BASIX assessment page.