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 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
Energy Model Reference DABv1.1 May 2024 15 - Greenhouse Gas Emissions Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Approved Ruling:

There is an inconsistency in the GHG Calculation Guide v1.1.

A Reference Project is defined as: “A hypothetical building of the same size, shape, floor area and glazing areas as the Proposed Project, but whose building fabric and building services characteristics are based predominantly on the Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions as defined in this document.” Table 1 defines the Reference buildings as “… Glazing window to wall ratio (WWR) shall equal 50% of the above grade perimeter external wall area of conditioned spaces…” The glazing areas may differ between the Reference and Proposed projects as per Table 1 Section 7 of the General Modelling Criteria.