Green Star Technical Clarification Rulings
Technical Clarifications for Green Star represent our answers to Technical Questions submitted by projects, and provide further guidance and reference to others. The list is regularly updated.
There are two types of Technical Clarifications listed in the table below:
General Clarifications
These are extensions to the guidance provided in the Submission Guidelines. They clarify and sometimes supersede the original Credit Criteria or
Compliance Requirements. General Clarifications set precedent for future project teams to follow. Should a project team wish to apply a general clarification to its project, there is no requirement for further Technical Questions to be submitted. NZGBC Assessors will also use them as precedents to assess submissions.
Project Specific Clarifications
These are published as references for other projects but, unlike General Clarifications, they do not set precedent. They often relate to special
situations where multiple prerequisites exist for a particular project and are less likely to reoccur to another project. Therefore, rulings set for Project Specific Clarifications are often conditional and will likely vary for other projects. Each project still needs to submit its own Technical Questions and provides evidence relating to its own building in order to have a similar ruling approved for that specific building.
Should you wish to apply any Technical Clarification for legacy rating tools to your projects, please submit a Technical Question to the NZGBC to
explain why and how it applies. You can access the online Technical Question form here
| Technical Question Title | Tool Version | Date Released | Credit Name | Sub-credit Name | TC Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prescriptive Definitions for energy and water metering | Green Star Buildings NZ | May 2025 | 3 - Verification and Handover | Link | |
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Approved Ruling: There are no prescriptive definitions for common uses, major uses and major sources for energy and water metering defined in Green Star Buildings. Project teams should justify their definition in the submission.
The following guidance, adapted from Green Star - Design and As Built is provided to help project teams identify these uses and sources.
Metering is to be provided to allow for monitoring of the relevant areas or functions of the project. In most cases floor-by-floor metering will suffice if the entire floor has a single use. If a floor has multiple uses, the different uses shall be metered e.g. in a floor be composed of office space and a seminar room, both spaces shall be separately sub-metered. If a floor has multiple tenants or owners, each tenancy or property shall also be separately sub-metered.
Where an energy load for a single item exceeds 5% of the total energy use for the building, or 100kW, it should be independently metered. Supplementary equipment can also be installed on the same measured circuit as the major use item. However, the total combined energy use of any systems connected to the major use item should not contribute more than 10kVA to the overall energy use.
Where a common water use consumes 10% of the project’s water use, these should be independently metered.
The following examples are provided as guidance:
Project teams may install metering above and beyond the examples given above.
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