In Designing the Urban Landscape
"Codes are a minimum. You can't build it worse than the building code." *
Lorraine Ross, Intech Consulting
The fairly recent but traditional pattern of requiring single-use buildings in single-use zones in cities accessed by single-user vehicles, while brokering materials and products shipped from all over the world, has proved to be detrimental to communities, the environment and the global economy. Ordinances, codes, and green-building standards should not be considered the ceiling. They are one of the foundations from which a greener world will rise.
Green Ordinances
The State of California Attorney General's Office has produced a list of local government green-building ordinances that includes links to the actual ordinances themselves, and examples of cities’ minimum LEED, GreenPoint Rated, or other point requirements for private development, performance, incentives and enforcement.
Many cities and counties in the state mandate more stringent green-building practices for municipal buildings or publicly funded projects. For privately funded projects, a community's ordinance may require or recommend rating system thresholds, but may afford developers flexibility in choosing the categories to be applied to projects. Another community may prescribe energy and other resource measures or performance standards, based upon its resources availability or needs.
In most cities, buildings permits are contingent upon a completion of a green-building checklist or verification by a rater. A city may require the developer to post a bond or issue penalties for violation of a green-building ordinance, and/or provide rebates, reduced fees, expedited permit review and building inspections, or density variances as incentives.
Important Resources
The Department of Justice document can be found at:
http://ag.ca.gov/globalwarming/pdf/green_building.pdf
StopWaste.Org County of Alameda has model ordinances http://www.stopwaste.org
Developing Green Building Programs: A Step-by-Step Guide for Local Governments Global Green USA
http://www.globalgreen.org/docs/publication-71-1.pdf
Green Codes and Standards
Ed. Mazria, AIA, architect, author of The Passive Solar Energy Book, and founder of Architecture 2030, has issued the 2030 Challenge, calling for architects and developers to cut by half the need for fossil-fuel energy in their designs and technological applications for new and renovated buildings – and to design for further reductions every five years – reaching carbon neutral on all design by 2030. Mazria has published state-by-state baselines for current energy codes in commercial and residential building (June 2008). (See Important Resources below.)
California is the first state in the nation to adopt green-building standards. The new California Green Buildings Standards Code directs builders to choose materials based upon recycled content and cut energy use by current standards by 15 to 30 percent. Green-building codes will be mandatory with the 2010 revision. While much of the code is voluntary, most mandated actions are summarized below:
- exterior shade for south-facing windows during the peak cooling season
- vertical shading against direct solar gain and glare due to low-altitude sun angles for east-and west-facing windows
- onsite renewable energy sources – solar, wind, geothermal, low-impact hydro, biomass and bio-gas – for at least 1% of the electric power
- plumbing fixtures and fittings to reduce a building's potable water use by 20%
- water-efficient irrigation to reduce the landscape's potable water use by 50%
- building materials or products harvested or manufactured in California or within 500 miles of the project site
- building materials and products selected with at least 50% bio-based content (e.g., solid wood, engineered wood, bamboo, wool, cotton, cork, straw, natural fibers, soy-based, corn-based)
- at least 50% of framing, flooring or millwork certified by one of five listed sustainably harvested certification programs
- at least 2.5% of total materials value made from plants harvested within a 10-year cycle
- a minimum of 5% of the total value of materials salvaged, refurbished, refinished
- cement and concrete made with recycled products
- durability, minimal deterioration, minimal finishing
- materials that are recyclable
- materials assemblies based on life-cycle assessment of their embodied energy and/or greenhouse gas-emission potentials
- areas dedicated for the depositing, storage and collection of non-hazardous materials for recycling, including (at a minimum) paper, corrugated cardboard, glass, plastics and metals
- building oriented with the long sides facing north and south
- wastewater generation reduced by at least one of the following:
- installation of water-conserving fixtures (water closets, urinals), or
- non-potable water systems (captured rainwater, graywater, and municipally treated wastewater (recycled water)
- limit on VOC emission and regulate ventilation, CO2 emissions, tobacco smoke, lighting, outside views and noise transmission
The code also recommends, for example, pre-manufactured floor and roof systems to eliminate solid-sawn lumber whenever possible, building deconstruction instead of demolition, to allow reuse or recycling of building materials, and bicycle storage and designated parking spots for low-emissions vehicles.
Important Resources
Meeting the 2030 Challenge Through Building Codes http://www.architecture2030.org/pdfs/2030Challenge_Codes_WP.pdf
2008 California Green Building Standards Code www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/bsc/2009/part11_2008_calgreen_code.pdf
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