Hardware Industry News

Green Building Council All Set to Launch SA’s (GBCSA) Green Star Rating Tools, in Cape Town

There is something constantly cooking up in the building industry. This time it is the official launch of Green Building Council of SA’s (GBCSA) Green Star Rating Tools in Cape Town. It seems the building hardware is planning to turn green as it sets standards and benchmarks of green building and will also enable an objective sorting as to how ‘green’ a building is. The council is planning to set green measures which will help them in measuring the amount of green a building is. After appropriate weighting, a total score is arrived at which determines the rating and as per the ratings leadership excellence will be awarded.

The newly elected chairman of GBCSA put forward the view of the council stating that green is not about indoor planting or landscaping, but rather about measures that make a building environmentally friendly. These include its use of energy, demand on transport (less is better), emissions and materials (reduce, re-use, recycle). He also pointed out that around 40% of all energy resources are consumed by buildings world wide. An effective incorporation of green buildings can reduce energy consumption by from 30% up to 70%.