A Tool Kit for Affordable Home Developers to Go Solar
The New Solar Homes Partnership and Housing California have released a new tool kit including incentives, resources and case studies. The pdf version is included here, and can be downloaded from the New Solar Homes Partnership website, along with other helpful tool kits and reports.
Solar Tool Kit.
LEED Certification
"The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green-building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria."*
The US Green Building Council (USGBC) launched LEED in 2000. It offers four levels for award, based on points earned in multiple categories: certified, silver, gold, and platinum. The programs include:
- LEED-NC – new construction and major renovation
- LEED-CS – core and shell
- LEED-CI – commercial interiors (sustainable tenant improvements)
- LEED-EB – existing buildings (historic preservation)
- LEED-ND – neighborhood development
- LEED for Homes, LEED Retail, LEED for Schools and LEED for Healthcare
- LEED for multi-family pilot
The programs focus on requirements and additional credits in five main categories:
- Sustainable Sites – land stewardship, including appropriate site selection, urban redevelopment and brownfield development, alternative transportation, stormwater management, reduced heat-island effect and light pollution
- Water Efficiency – total reduction in potable water use and conservation strategies in the building
- Energy and Atmosphere – commissioning to optimize energy performance, generate renewable energy on-site, purchase green power from a utility company, with ongoing performance measurement and verification
- Materials and Resources – use of recycled materials, locally manufactured materials from renewable resources, certified wood products, repurposing and a construction-waste management plan
- Indoor Environmental Quality – optimal lighting, thermal comfort, healthy indoor air quality
*LEED Rating Systems http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=222
LEED Sample Letter Templates
www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1447
Stopwaste.Org Bay-Friendly Landscape Guidelines
Click here for the pdf
Sacramento County River Friendly Landscape Guidelines
http://www.msa.saccounty.net/sactostormwater/SSQP/riverfriendly/Documents/RiverFriendly_Guidelines.pdf
Green Globes
Affordable building assessment system originating from Canada, built around a series of steps for integration of sustainability into design and management and onsite rating of commercial buildings
http://www.greenglobes.com/
Third party certification from a Green Building Initiative-authorized verifier (GBI) www.thegbi.org
GreenPoint Rated
GreenPoint Rated is a third-party rating system for homes designed by Build It Green, a California non-profit membership organization whose mission it is to accelerate the adoption of green-building practices. The program has separate systems for new homes, existing homes and multi-family development. Each is based on a set of green-building measures used to evaluate a home's environmental performance that includes energy efficiency, resource conservation, indoor air quality, water conservation and community benefit. The website includes Green Building Guidelines for each program and also offers Certified Green Building Professional (CGBP) and Certified GreenPoint Rater Training for New and Existing Home certification. A Certified GreenPoint Rater evaluates a home's green features. GreenPoint Rated is a branding tool as a recognizable, trustworthy seal of approval. Build It Green’s Green Building Guidelines and/or GreenPoint Rated Program are used by 70 local government policies, and are endorsed by California Energy Commission, the Association of Bay Area Governments, and the Home Builders Association of Northern California.
Build It Green's GreenPoint Rated http://www.builditgreen.org/greenpoint-rated/guidelines
California Home Energy Rating System (HERS)
California Energy Commission oversees the California Home Energy Rating System (HERS) program. Commission-certified providers conduct field verification and diagnostic testing of:
- duct sealing
- thermostatic expansion valves (TXVs)
- refrigerant charge, airflow measurement
- building envelope sealing measures
A HERS rater inspection is required:
- where a Title 24 report mandates inspection of installation in the building
- where an energy-efficiency incentive program requires verification of appropriately installed energy-efficiency measures, whether or not the actual verification and/or diagnostic test is mandated by the Title 24 report
HERS raters must complete a training course and pass a certification exam, to be certified as independent, third-party inspectors. HERS raters can be located through:
- California Certified Energy Rating & Testing Services (CalCERTS: www.calcerts.com)
- California Building Performance Contractors Association (CBPCA: www.cbpca.org)
- California Home Energy Efficiency Rating System (CHEERS: www.cheers.org) .
The Residential and Nonresidential Field Verification and Diagnostic Testing Regulations Manuals, which cover testing and verification protocols, are on the website:
California Home Energy Rating System (HERS) http://www.energy.ca.gov/HERS/index.html
Building Commissioning
California Commissioning Collaborative (CCC) offers an online database and library, commissioning training and tools
www.cacx.org
Building Commissioning Association (BCA) offers national guidance on improving performance of operations maintenance without rigid commissioning process.
www.bcxa.org
Toolkit for In-House Commissioning of Small Projects [50,000 square feet or less]
www.green.ca.gov/CxToolkit
Green Building Action Plan - California Energy Commission
California Commissioning Guide: New Buildings
Click here for the pdf
California Commissioning Guide: Existing Buildings
Click here for the pdf
Additional Online Tools
Cool California
The California Air Resources Board has recently approved a toolkit to help local governments reduce costs while addressing the state's forward-thinking greenhouse gas reduction goals. The one stop shop approach will assist cities and counties with a menu of options for implementing programs and plans to cut climate change emissions, and provides links to financial resources and case studies. The site includes a toolkit for Small Businesses, as well. http://www.coolcalifornia.org/
State Energy Code On-Line Training
Video training on energy code and related residential and commercial building design and construction issues; including Residential Code, Energy Code, HVAC, Building Envelope and more. Each “Resource” module is comprised of training videos and resource links. http://www.energyvideos.com/index.php
Bay-Friendly Landscape Guidelines
Click here for the pdf
River-Friendly Landscape Guidelines
Click here for the guidelines |
