SACRAMENTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The City of Riverside on Tuesday became the first community in California to provide incentives to builders who utilize the voluntary California Green Builder program as a way to meet the city’s “Clean and Green” requirements, the California Building Industry Association announced today.
Beginning Jan. 1, most new building projects in the city of Santa Cruz will be subject to green building regulations. The rules have been in place on a voluntary basis for the past year.
“This is a pretty progressive community, but we were lacking in having a functional green building program other cities have,” said Richard Stubendorff, the city’s chief building inspector.
In order to get a building permit, new homes and commercial buildings will have to include a certain amount of green-friendly components, which the program’s authors say could entail extra upfront costs but can pay off through long-term efficiencies.
Boston is expected to become the first major US city to require developers to adhere to a strict set of so-called green-building standards, officials said today, for all projects of 50,000 square feet or more.
The Boston standards would not require that the buildings be certified under LEED. “The LEED process can be lengthy, onerous in documentation, and costly,” said James W. Hunt III, chief of environmental and energy services for the city. “Also, we don’t want to rely on a third party to do the certification process.”
Boston’s certification process will be simpler, though the environmental standards will be almost the same as with LEED. Boston’s list includes additional ways developers can choose to help qualify buildings for certification, including using cleaner diesel construction vehicles, recharging groundwater, and establishing transportation plans for future building users.
Boston plans to amend its building code to require that all large-scale private construction be “green.”
Under the new regulations, all private construction of at least 50,000 square feet must meet the minimum criteria of the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards for new projects.
While other governments have adopted the association’s standards for private construction, Boston is believed to be the first city to revise its building code to adhere to them, said Taryn Holowka, an association spokeswoman.
The Albany City Council gave preliminary approval this week to three ordinances that comprise its proposed green building program. The ordinances are scheduled to go before the City Council for final approval Dec. 4.
The ordinances introduce the following changes:
WASHINGTON — The D.C. Council is considering legislation that would set new energy-saving standards for most large buildings beginning in 2012.