ABSTRACT
This chapter examines international rating tools for sustainable buildings and recent global trends. A rapid increase has been observed in the number of sustainable buildings entering the real estate market. Many of these buildings differ considerably with respect to their sustainable features, either from a design or from a performance basis, although a wide range of sustainable building assessment tools are now promoted and readily available throughout the world. Moreover, many of these tools differ considerably with regard to what they actually assess, how they operate, and whether they can be compared directly with assessment tools from different countries.
A net-zero-energy building (NZEB) is a term, subject to some ambiguity, that could be used to describe a building with characteristics such as equal energy generation to usage, significantly reduced energy demands, energy costs equalling zero, or net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Despite lacking an authoritative definition of NZEBs, this relatively new emerging concept in Australia provides significant opportunities to reduce GHG emissions, energy usage, and operational energy costs for buildings owners. This chapter describes the existing NZEB models that can assist the new Green Star Building targets.
