Green Star Lighting Requirements: What You Need for Certification

Green Star certification is increasingly required for commercial developments in Australia. Major tenants want it. Government agencies often mandate it. Investors see it as risk mitigation.

Lighting contributes to several Green Star credits. Here’s what you need to know.

What Is Green Star?

Green Star is the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA) rating system for sustainable buildings. It assesses buildings across multiple categories: energy, water, materials, indoor environment, and others.

Ratings range from 4 Star (Best Practice) to 6 Star (World Leadership). Most commercial projects target 5 Star or above.

For lighting, the relevant categories are primarily:

  • Energy: Lighting power density and controls
  • Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ): Visual comfort and glare control

Lighting Power Density (LPD)

The Energy category includes credits for lighting energy performance. A key metric is Lighting Power Density—how much power your lighting uses per square metre.

How it works: Compare your design’s LPD to a reference building. Better performance earns more points.

Current requirements: Vary by rating tool version and building type, but typical benchmarks for offices are:

  • Reference case: around 10-12 W/m²
  • Good performance: 6-8 W/m²
  • Excellent performance: <5 W/m²

With modern LED technology, achieving good LPD performance isn’t difficult. The challenge is balancing low power with adequate light levels and quality.

Strategies that help:

  • Efficient LED fittings (high lumens per watt)
  • Task lighting supplementing lower ambient levels
  • Daylight harvesting controls
  • Occupancy-based switching and dimming

Lighting Controls

Simply installing efficient fittings isn’t enough. Green Star rewards intelligent control.

Typical control requirements for maximum points:

  • Occupancy sensing in appropriate areas
  • Daylight-linked dimming near windows
  • Zoned switching (not whole-floor circuits)
  • User control at workstation level in some schemes
  • After-hours switching or scheduling

The specifics depend on which Green Star rating tool you’re using and the building type. But the principle is clear: active management of lighting energy.

Indoor Environment Quality

Lighting quality matters too, not just quantity. The IEQ category addresses:

Illumination Levels

Designs must provide appropriate lux levels for the tasks performed. This aligns with AS/NZS 1680.1. Under-lighting a space to save energy won’t earn points—you need to meet the lux requirements while being efficient.

Glare Control

This is a big one. Poor glare control causes eye strain and complaints. Green Star credits reward:

  • Low UGR fittings (typically UGR<19 for offices)
  • Appropriate positioning relative to workstations
  • Glare-free views of windows

Selecting LED fittings with good UGR ratings is essential. Not all LEDs perform equally here.

Daylight

Green Star rewards bringing natural daylight into occupied spaces. This isn’t about artificial lighting per se, but your lighting design needs to work with the daylight strategy:

  • Daylight sensors that dim artificial lighting when natural light is adequate
  • Zoning that separates perimeter (daylight-rich) areas from core areas
  • Controls that prevent energy waste from competing light sources

The Commissioning Requirement

Green Star requires commissioning—verification that systems work as designed. For lighting, this typically includes:

  • Testing that controls function correctly
  • Verification of actual lux levels against design
  • Tuning of sensors and settings
  • Documentation of as-built performance

Don’t treat commissioning as an afterthought. Build time and budget into the project plan.

Documentation and Compliance

Green Star assessments require extensive documentation. For lighting, you’ll need:

  • Lighting design calculations (Dialux or equivalent)
  • LPD calculations spreadsheet
  • Product data sheets for all fittings
  • Control system specifications and schematics
  • Commissioning reports

Keep everything organised from project start. Retrospectively gathering documentation is painful and sometimes impossible.

What This Means for Retrofits

Most Green Star discussion focuses on new buildings, but retrofit projects can pursue certification through Green Star Performance (for existing buildings) or Interiors (for tenancy fitouts).

For lighting retrofits in existing buildings:

  • LED upgrades typically improve LPD performance significantly
  • Adding controls can earn additional points
  • The challenge is often working within existing ceiling and electrical infrastructure

If you’re retrofitting for a tenant pursuing Green Star Interiors, understand their requirements early. The lighting specification affects multiple credits.

Real-World Considerations

Don’t Chase Points at the Expense of Function

I’ve seen designs that hit LPD targets by under-lighting spaces. Occupants complain, supplementary lighting gets added, and energy use ends up higher than a sensible initial design.

Design for people first, then optimise for efficiency.

UGR Requirements Are Real

Some LED products on the market have poor glare ratings. If you need UGR<19 for certification (common in offices), verify the products you’re specifying actually achieve this.

Ask for UGR data. Install samples in representative positions. Don’t assume.

Controls Complexity

More sophisticated controls earn more points but require more commissioning effort and ongoing management capability.

For a building with dedicated facilities management, DALI-controlled lighting with daylight and occupancy sensing makes sense. For a smaller tenancy with no FM team, simpler controls that actually get used might be better overall.

The Cost-Benefit

Is the additional cost of hitting Green Star lighting targets worth it?

Often, yes. The energy savings from efficient lighting and controls are real. The lighting quality improvements benefit occupants. And for many tenants, Green Star certification is a non-negotiable requirement.

But model the costs and benefits for your specific project. A 5 Star rating requires different investment than a 6 Star rating.

Getting Started

If you’re working on a Green Star project:

  1. Engage early: Include lighting in early design discussions, not as an afterthought
  2. Understand the targets: Know which rating tool applies and what the credit requirements are
  3. Budget for controls: They’re not optional for good Green Star outcomes
  4. Plan commissioning: Build time and cost into the program
  5. Document everything: You’ll need it for assessment

Green Star has driven significant improvement in Australian building quality. For lighting, it pushes the market toward better efficiency and better quality.

That’s worth pursuing regardless of the certification itself.