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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
Exceeding Green Star Benchmarks DABv1 October 2019 19 - Life Cycle Assessment/Impacts Life Cycle Impacts
Approved Ruling:

In Regard to 19A - Life Cycle Impacts in Green Star - Design & As Built v1.0 NZGBC clarifies the following:


19A.1 – Comparative Life Cycle Assessment - Are exceeding benchmark points available for operational energy improvements beyond the three (3) capped points

NZGBC clarifies that exceeding benchmark points can only be achieved if the cumulative reduction from modules other than B6 exceeds 3 points. Please note that under this version of the rating tool no more than 2 points can be achieved for an 'Exceeding Green Star Benchmarks' claim. 


19A.2 – Material Selection Improvement - Should Module B6 be included in the reference case (initial scenario from which reduction % is calculated) when calculating “total cumulative impact reduction (excluding B6)”. 
NZGBC clarifies module B6 is excluded from the reference case. 


19A.2 – Construction Process Improvement - Does the “percentage cumulative impact reduction” refer only to a relative reduction for modules A4 and A5
i.e. the reference case (initial scenario from which reduction % is calculated) excludes all other modules.

It is confirmed that reference case excludes all other modules, and therefore the cumulative impact reduction is relative to the sum of impacts from module A4 and A5.