The Pixel building, recently constructed in Melbourne by Australian development and construction firm Grocon is not only the country's first low carbon office building, it is also the greenest. Completed this month, Pixel attained a green building score of 100, which exceeded the 75-point threshold for a 6 Star Green Star rating, the highest available under the Green Building Council of Australia's assessment system. The building also is seeking certification at the high levels from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED system and the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodd, better known as BREEAM, based in the United Kingdom.

The innovative building, Grocon CEO Daniel Grollo and project designers were praised by the Australian government and green building leaders at an opening ceremony last week that included Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Innovation Gavin Jennings and Australian Green Building Council Chief Executive Romilly Madew.

"This building will redefine the way buildings are built in the future. We congratulate Grocon for this outstanding achievement," Madew said.

Some of the green features contributing to the building's energy and resource efficiency include: Roof mounted wind turbines and sun tracking photovoltaic solar panels to generate electricity - the aim is to produce more electricity than the building uses, making it 'zero-carbon' and in time, enough to offset the carbon emitted during the manufacture and construction of Pixel and its components.

A boldly colored and distinctively shaped sun-shade system on the building's exterior that allows the maximum amount of daylight into occupied space, but prevents excessive glare and heat from penetrating the building envelope.

Electronically controlled 'smart' windows that open automatically in the evening to enable "night purging," which saves wasting energy on air conditioning - the heat in the building is allowed to escape while fresh cool night air circulates to cool it.

A vacuum toilet system and other water-saving features and systems that can make the building water-neutral in addition to carbon neutral.

Rainwater harvesting, stormwater runoff prevention and use of captured water that includes irrigation of the building's reed bed system and vegetative roof.

Vegetated roof - for greater insulation, improvement of local air quality, reduction of flash flooding, and increased biodiversity.

An anaerobic digestion system to deal with waste and generate energy

Use of a specially developed concrete, called Pixelcrete, which halves the embodied carbon in the mix.