InsightNet zero glossary

 

ABCB

Australian Building Codes Board

 

ASBEC

Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council

 

ATO

Australian Taxation Office

 

BASIX

Building Sustainability Index

 

CO₂-e

Carbon Dioxide Equivalent

 

COAG

Council of Australian Governments

 

CRCLCL

Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living

 

EEIO

Economic Input-Output Analysis

 

EIO

Input-Output Analysis

 

Embodied carbon

The total of all direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions occurring during the production processes of the building construction materials. This includes all emissions associated with making the production process equipment, all other supporting business functions for bringing a product to the market, transport of materials to site, and the process of constructing the building.

 

EUI

Energy Use Intensity (kWh/m²/year)

 

GBCA

Green Building Council of Australia

 

GFA

Gross Floor Area: total floor area contained within a building, including the horizontal area of external walls

 

GHG

Greenhouse Gas

 

kWh

Kilowatt-hour

 

LCA

Lifecycle Assessment

 

LCI

Life Cycle Inventory

 

NABERS

National Australian Built Environment Rating System

 

NatHERS

Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme

 

NCC

National Construction Code

 

NZC

Net zero carbon

 

NLA

Net Lettable Area: area of a building or industrial park for which, under a lease, a tenant could be charged for occupancy. Generally, it is the floor space contained within a tenancy at each floor level measured from the internal finished surfaces of permanent external walls and permanent internal walls but excluding features such as balconies and verandas, common use areas, areas less than 1.5 m in height, service areas, and public spaces and thoroughfares.

 

NTE

Not-to-exceed

 

Net zero

(Whole Life) Carbon A status a building achieves when, and maintains it until, the amount of carbon emissions associated with both operational (scope 1 and 2) and embodied (scope 3) impacts over its entire life (including end-of-life impacts) are net zero or negative.

 

Operational Carbon

The total of all the direct (scope 1) and / or indirect (scope 2) greenhouse gas emission from all energy consumed (operational energy) during the use stage of the building life cycle (incl. regulated and unregulated / plug loads).

 

PCA

Property Council of Australia

 

RICS

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

 

Scope of carbon emissions

Scope 1: Direct emissions from buildings

• Fossil fuel consumption in buildings (boilers, cooking equipment, etc).
• Natural and synthetic refrigerants.

Scope 2: Indirect emissions from building energy consumption

• Electricity consumption by: (i) Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (ii) Refrigeration equipment (iii) Lighting and other building services (pumps, lifts, etc). (iv) Equipment and plug loads (computers, appliances, etc).
• Energy from heating and cooling services provided by utilities and district plants

Scope 2: Indirect emissions from other sources

• Embodied carbon from materials in the building
• Emissions from: (i) water use and sewage treatment (ii) waste sent to landfill

 

WGBC

World Green Building Council

 

Whole Life Carbon

Another term for lifecycle carbon and cradle-to-grave carbon emissions

 

Zero Carbon Ready

A status of a building that is highly energy efficient and directly uses onsite or offsite generated renewable energy, or alternatively uses an energy supply on track of being fully decarbonized by 2050. This way the building will become a zero carbon (operational) building by 2050 without any further changes to the building or its equipment.

 

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