Introduce myself My Team chose to research the green star building.

Our company names is Green Developments and our team name is Green Team There are four of us in the green team. Jacky who will be talking to you today about night cooling Ethan who will be informing you about solar water heating systems Joe who will be speaking to you about natural ventiliation & lighting And my self My individual research was ways in to saving & recycle water. Which will inturn save dramatic costs and promote sustainability. what is a green star building and what does it mean? A Green star is a voluntary environmental rating system developed for Australian purposes. It evaluates the environmental design and construction of the buildings. It was officially launched in 2003 by the green building council of Australia and was mainly developed for the property industry in order to: Establish a common language; Set a standard of measurement for green buildings; Promote integrated, whole-building design; Recognise environmental leadership; Identify building life-cycle impacts; and Raise awareness of green building benefits it covers nine categories: 1. Management 2. Indoor Environment Quality 3. Energy 4. Transport 5. Water 6. Materials 7. Land Use & Ecology 8. Emissions 9. Innovation Basically it assesses the environmental impact that is a direct consequence of a projects site selection, design, construction and maintenance. These catergories are divided into credits. Each of which states that you have improved environmental performance. A point system is awarded in each credit action. A typical example is 4 star means scored between 45-59 best practice award 5 star 60 -74 Australian excellence 6 star 75-100 world leadership With this system we can determine what rating a newly built dwelling would have therefore making room to improve it by using an environment friendly technique.

The topic I have choosen helps achieve this greenstar rating. 1 star alone is just for water. Water is a vital element in human life and any human activity relates to water. Unfortunately it is not a renewable source. Already 1.2 billion people are living in areas of physical water scarcity. According to the organisation for economic co operation and development by 2030 more than 47% of the worlds population will be living in areas where water is scarces. Something you probably didnt know is that Australia is the world second driest continent yet we remain one of the worlds biggest domestic water consumers. It is a known fact that Households are the biggest culprits which tend to use around 70 per cent of the water consumed in greater Sydney Most economist believe the that the next big war will be over water. Therefore it is extremely important to save our valuable drinking water and one great way of saving water is recycling it. Grey water is one way of recycling water. What is grey Water? Grey water means to reuse/recycle water that has already been used such as shower, washing machines, bath and basin water. Acording to Sydney water each household can save upto 50,000 litres of drinking water per year. By house holds saving water it not only benefits the environment it can help delay governments investing large amounts of tax payers money for development of new supply infrastructure. Sydney water study further states that in 2010, Sydneys use of recycled water was saving about 33 billion litres of water a year that might otherwise come from our drinking supplies. How does a grey water system work? Well there are two types of greywater systems, each allowing you to use greywater in different ways. A greywater diversion device simply captures the water for use with your toilet and gardening systems. The second system is a water recycling system: it involves not only a capture device but it also uses either a mechanical system like sand and oil filtration to filter the water back to a usable state. Or a biological system which will treat the water using chemicals or nature devices such as wetlands or treatment ponds. Grey water is just one of the ways in saving costs for the average joe blow out in Penrith. Another way of saving water is to collet rainwater. Storing rainwater is not a new technique it has been around since 3rd century bc. Civilizations have used all different methods in designing suitable tanks to store rain water for use on there live stock & farms etc. In Australia rainwater harvesting is typically used to supplement the reticulated mains supply.

According to the sustainable Sydney plan rainwater tanks can supply the 30% of household water. NSW government introduced a rainwater scheme in 2007 to offer all existing houses a rebate for installing a rainwater tank. A study preformed by Penrith city council determined that the roof of an average house in Penrith can collect up to 140,000 litres of rainwater a year. Can you imagine how much valuable water we would be saving if each and every house hold stored rainwater. Rain water tanks come in a verity of shapes and sizes to suit different dwellings. There are above ground and in ground rainwater tanks. Some of the typical capcaitys are: 2000-4000 litres common in most houses 4000-7000 litres more rural areas 7000ltrs and above for larger commercial properties Rainwater tanks can be constructed from materials such as plastic, concrete galvanised steel, fiberglass and stainless steel. Most tanks have an overflow outlet which allows the tank to discharge any excess amount of water. Houses that install rainwater tanks will achieve 1 of six greenstar rating. The key to successfully integrating this water in our households is to use it effectively. When possible we should use it on our gardens, plumb it into the house for use in the bathroom and laundry in turn this will ease the demand on Sydney s dwindling water supplies. Quick advantages of stormwater: Most councils dont require approval to install theses tanks on your property You get a rebate for installing them You save on your water bill Your helping to build a sustainable Sydney & world

Another idea which is easy to do is install water saving devices. There are many devices currently on the market which will help in reducing water. One brilliant device which was Australian based is the new Profile smart toilets from Caroma. They were one of the first companies to do something about water conservation. In 1980 they commercialised the dual flush technology dramatically saving half the water consumption used in toilets world wide and in early 2000 they came up with another brilliant design. Using an integrated basin on top of a toilet. So you can wash your hands and the run off water will be used to flush the toilet using the same water twice. Its a quick and easy way to use this run off water as grey water for the toilet. The result is a 10% saving in total bathroom water usage. Some other designs that have made a great impact in saving water is shower saver heads. Typical showers use 15 -20 litres per minute With a shower saver this reduces the litres with out comprising the luxury or the water being evenly dispressed over you. Test have shown you can reduce up to 50% simply by install a 3 star rated shower head which on use 9 litres of water. This equates to nearly 20,000 litres per person per year. Most shower heads you can purchase off the self are easy and quik to install.

In conclusion Water is our most valuable asset. Without it all living things will perish. There fore we need to secure our future on earth, every human can make a difference no matter how small.. combined it may achieve a better place to live. Yes humans are looking to expand throughout the galaxy to other moons and exoplanets which also might have water but if we destroy what we have here we might not have any future to do this. Thank you for your time Any questions?