Construction Magazine June 2017 | Page 12

PROFILE
in sourcing suitable solutions to reduce emissions in other areas , such as transportation . “ Transportation emissions won ’ t be factored in , but on a district scale they will be ,” explains Wills . “ Many green building councils certify and instruct their communities and define the area of a community , and transportation definitely factors in .” The area is complex , as councils continually seek to figure out the source of transportation emissions - whether increased emissions are around individuals driving into the community , or whether it is individuals who are driving out .
Furthermore , some councils look at existing infrastructures which surround buildings , but there are ongoing
concerns as to where a line is drawn beyond the building , also linking with offsets . Whilst Australia currently states that offsets are permitted but they must be in Australia only and not another country , the Netherlands is defining its offsets between 10km of a building site . “ As that discussion develops , it will be interesting to see how transportations are factored in . Ideally , it would be , but sometimes the methodology with this is really challenging ,” concludes Wills .
Building competition With this independence , alongside guidance and support from the WGBC , the aim to achieve net zero buildings will consequently become a competitive sphere , which will prove advantageous .
With Arc , LEEDcertified buildings can benchmark against themselves and other similar buildings locally and globally 12 June 2017