Green Building Council of Australia to feature at AusBuildLCA
AusBuildLCA will present the latest information on the integration of Life Cycle Assessment within Green Star rating tools.
The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA)’s Technical Manager Karl Desai will provide information on recent developments that have opened up LCA to the well-established market of Green Star projects throughout Australia.
“Where the new generation of Green Star rating tools provides users with a best practice framework for holistically assessing sustainability impacts in the built environment, the principles of LCA add a deeper layer of understanding these impacts’” said Karl.
“The implementation of LCA into Green Star involved extensive industry engagement, refinement of technical requirements and ongoing assistance to project teams who might be undertaking LCA for the first time. This has resulted in valuable insights into the successes and improvements required in encouraging LCA.”
GBCA’s Chief Executive, Romilly Madew believes it is essential to assess the environmental impacts of our buildings – and the materials within them – throughout their entire life cycles.
“Leading manufacturers in our industry are beginning to think beyond the ‘take, make and dispose’ linear model and are embracing ‘cradle-to-cradle’ approaches,” she explains. “According to McKinsey, the world is wasting the equivalent of US$3 to US$4 billion in materials every day. Life cycle assessment is not a fad, and will increasingly be understood as a smart business decision within a sustainable business model.
LCA has recently been integrated into Green Star rating tools with the introduction of the ‘Materials Life Cycle Impact’ Innovation Challenge and two LCA-based draft credits.
“As the circular economy expands, our industry will need to understand how to work with LCA, and the Green Building Council of Australia is committed to providing the skills training and support needed to drive the next evolution of sustainability.”
