Green buildings: issues for New Zealand

If the mission of ‘green’ rating tools is to accelerate the transformation of the global built environment towardssustainability then a high priority must be placed on the energy consumed by buildings since energy supplies fromvarious sources are depleting. This paper examines the apparent anomaly that almost all designs of ‘green’ officedevelopments in New Zealand have high proportions of unshaded glazing. They are sealed, lightweight, airconditionedbuildings that are dependent on an uninterrupted supply of electricity in order to remain habitable. Froman architectural science point of view, these characteristics are not normally associated with sustainability. The paperwill investigate the drivers behind the highly glazed buildings recently realized in New Zealand, including thosecomponents of ‘green’ rating tools that favour this building type.