Life Cycle Assessment

Credit 19A With 7 Points Available 

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Indoor Environment quality

By rewarding both energy efficiency and encouraging occupant well-being, the Green Star rating system promotes and rewards a holistic approach to sustainability that results in multiple benefits. Such benefits would include: Reductions to occupant stress, Improvements to air quality through appropriate ventilation, the provision of high levels of thermal, visual and acoustic comfort and also reduced exposure to pollutants.

Compliance

Up to seven (7) points are available in this credit. Ten (10) points are presented, however a maximum of seven (7) points may be awarded. Project teams should select those initiatives most relevant to the sustainability outcome of their project. Projects that choose to use the ‘Life Cycle Assessment’ credit may not use the ‘Life Cycle Impacts’ credit and vice-versa. The ‘Life Cycle Assessment’ credit is considered the performance approach to addressing environmental impacts of materials, whilst the ‘Life Cycle Impacts’ credit takes the prescriptive approach.

 

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17+ Years Experience In ESD

Our diverse team of Professionals include, Architects, Engineers and ESD Specialists. We have been around long enough to work on all possible project types. See our Past Projects. Deemed to satisfy as our team goes through 100's Section J reports every year.

Credit criteria

19A.1 Comparative Life Cycle Assessment - Up to 6 points are available where a whole-of-building, whole- of-life (cradle-to-grave) life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted for the project and a reference building.Points are awarded based on the extent of environmental impact reduction achieved for nominated environmental impact categories, when compared to a reference building. Points from operational energy reductions are capped at 3 out of the 6 points available for 19A.1. 19A.2 Additional Reporting - Up to 4 additional points are available where the LCA is used to inform the building’s design process or as built outcome. Any combination of the below four initiatives may be targeted: Additional life cycle impact reporting; Material selection improvement; Construction process improvement; or LCA Design Review.

 

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Up to 6 points are awarded where a whole building life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted for the project building and a reference building. Project teams shall demonstrate the reduction of environmental impacts when compared to the reference building. Points are awarded based on the extent of environmental impact reduction achieved against seven defined environmental impact categories.

The LCA shall use a whole-of-building, whole-of-life methodology in accordance with 19A.1.1, an appropriately defined reference building in accordance with 19A.1.2, and shall be peer reviewed in accordance with 19A.1.3. Both the LCA and the peer review shall be carried out by a competent LCA practitioner in accordance with 19A.1.4.

Points are awarded based on a cumulative percentage impact reduction calculation. This is defined as the sum of all impact category changes between the project and the reference building. One point may be claimed for the first 30% cumulative reduction and an additional point for every additional 20% cumulative reduction to a maximum of 6 points (i.e. a 130% cumulative reduction), in line with Table 19A.1. The final score is rounded to one decimal place. || The points calculation is performed in the Green Star – Design & As Built: LCA Calculator.

The points available due to operational energy reduction (EN 15978 Module B6) are capped at 3 out of the 6 points. This is in place to decrease the double-counting of operational energy benefits, as rewarded within the ‘Greenhouse Gas Emissions’ credit. The remaining 3 points available must be achieved under the other Modules. The points cap may not always be applied – a total of 6 points may be achieved solely under the other Modules, however no more than 3 points can be achieved under Module B6.

Project teams are required to input the results for the reference and proposed projects in the Green Star – Design & As Built: LCA Calculator which applies the above calculation methodology. || R2.19A.02

Impact category reductions are equally weighted. Increases in impact are calculated as a percentage of the cumulative sum, including Module B6. Where the whole-of-life impact in any category is increased by more than 10%, no points may be claimed for this entire credit.

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The LCA methodology shall comply with the following requirements:

  • Scope - Whole-of-Building as defined in EN 15978. In particular, refer to section 7.5 ‘The Building Model’.

  • System Boundary - Cradle to grave including all life cycle modules (modules A to D) and scenarios as detailed in EN 15978.

  • Functional Unit – Impacts are assessed and reported on a per square metre (m2) project Gross Floor Area (GFA) basis. In addition, project teams may report on other functional units as desired.

  • Service Life - The service life required by the client or through regulations. If no required service life is defined, a default service life of 60 years is to be applied.

Impact Categories

Project teams shall assess impacts under the following categories:

LCA Data

The selection of data shall be based on EN 15978. Data quality shall be reported and peer reviewed.

Use of locally-based data shall take precedence over imported data, where available, unless it is for imported products. Where imported data is used for locally-based impacts, this must be adapted for relevance to Australian conditions, and documented to show how the data was adapted.

When conducting the LCA for the project, the following Green Star based inputs shall be used:

  • Reference building operational energy benchmarks as used in the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculator for the project;

  • Standard Portland cement content in concrete as benchmarked in the Life Cycle Impacts – Concrete credit; and

  • Product specific and industry wide Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) submitted in response to the Sustainable Products credit.

Two options are available for comparison to the project’s life cycle assessment, using a standard practice reference building or using an actual reference building, defined as follows:

  1. Standard Practice Reference Building - A hypothetical building that represents standard contemporary construction and operation practices.
  2. Actual Reference Building - A building constructed in the last five years that is similar to the usage, construction and operation of the project building.

19A.1.2A Standard Practice Reference Building

The standard practice reference building shall be agreed through consultation with structural, mechanical, electrical and architectural professionals.

The standard practice reference building and the proposed project building must have the same:

  • Structural requirements

  • Scale

  • Function

  • Location

  • Tenant requirements

  • Aesthetics

  • Site conditions including underlying geology

  • Planning constraints

  • Orientation

  • Season of construction

Materials

The standard practice reference building is to be defined using conventional materials predominant for the building and deemed to satisfy current National Construction Codes (NCC), as detailed in the NCC Volume 1 Building Code of Australia. Building fabric must be compliant with NCC V1 Section J Deemed-to-Satisfy (DTS) requirements.

Energy

Modelled energy consumption of the standard practice reference building shall be based on NCC V1 Section J DTS compliance. Maximum permissible lighting levels in line with NCC shall be used. Heating and cooling appliances must comply with efficiencies which meet the latest Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) and where relevant Section J DTS requirements.


 

 

This reference building is only applicable where data for a suitable existing building is available to project teams. The existing building must have been constructed in the past 5 years.

The age of the reference building is measured from the project’s Green Star registration date and the date of occupancy certificate for the reference building.

The actual reference building and project shall have the same:

  • Structural requirements.

  • Scale.

  • Function.

  • Location.

  • Site conditions including underlying geology.

Where possible, the actual reference building and project should have similar:

  • Planning constraints.

  • Orientation.

  • Season of construction.

  • Tenant requirements.

  • Aesthetics.

Where there is no actual reference building that has the same scale as the project, it is acceptable to adjust data of an actual reference building to reflect the scale of the project building.

 

The LCA must be peer reviewed by an independent practitioner as stated in ISO 14044 Clauses 6.1 and 6.2. The review shall be performed to provide assurance of the credibility of the LCA and its results. In general, the peer review shall include investigation of whether:

  • || The LCA conforms to the requirements and intent of this credit, including (but not limited to) appropriateness of scope.

  • The Interpretation section of the LCA report explains the validity of any claims of LCA consideration in the design and construction of the building.

  • The methods used to carry out the LCA are consistent with ISO 14040 and 14044.

  • The methods used to carry out the LCA are scientifically and technically valid.

  • The data used are appropriate and reasonable in relation to the goal of the LCA.

  • The interpretations reflect the limitations identified and the goal of the LCA.

  • The LCA report is transparent and consistent.

The peer review statement must also confirm that the LCA report that has been reviewed is the same

LCA report (including any revisions) that has been provided for assessment.

The aim of the peer review is to provide a third party opinion on how the LCA was conducted and whether the results are acceptable to demonstrate credit compliance.

19A.1.4 Competent LCA Practitioner

The competencies of the LCA practitioner to undertake LCA and peer reviewer to review LCA must be demonstrated. For the purpose of this credit, a Competent LCA practitioner is either:

19A.1.4A Experienced Individual or Organisation

A. An individual or organisation who have produced, co-produced and/or independently peer reviewed at least five LCA studies in the past three years; or

19A.1.4B LCA Certified Practitioner

B. A person who is qualified as an “LCA Certified Practitioner” (LCACP) through ALCAS / LCANZ / ACLCA.

The LCA practitioner and peer reviewer cannot be the same individual or organisation.

Projects are required to submit competency statements or LCACP qualifications from the practitioners undertaking both the LCA and the peer review. A competency statement shall include reference to the five previous studies; any building, product or service LCA study is acceptable.


 

Up to 4 points can be awarded using any combination of the below initiatives.

 

Improving on Green Star Benchmarks – Comparative Life Cycle Assessment

One (1) Innovation point is awarded where the cumulative impact reduction as defined within the credit is increased by 20% to a total of 150%. An additional 20% improvement is rewarded with a second point.

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