GreenBuild Blog
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Local Incentives Push Green Building Development Ahead
Our new research study, “Green Building Incentives That Work: A Look at How Local Governments Are Incentivizing Green Development,” found that nearly a hundred local and state governments are offering green building incentives to private developers. This study brings together all of those incentives in one place and helps local governments who want to offer green building incentive programs to follow the example of leaders.
We are in momentous times when everyone wants to enact programs that will help their cities and states to reduce their ‘carbon footprint.’ Many studies have shown that green buildings offer the most cost-effective way to carry out these public policy goals. How should these programs be structured? Our study points the way to government actions that work effectively with the private sector to achieve mutually beneficial goals.
Prepared for the NAIOP Research Foundation, this study presents the scope of green building incentives offered across state and local governments in the U.S. as of August 2007 and assesses what optimal mix of financial and procedural incentives may further green building goals, by assisting developers who want to “build green.” The report also contains an extensive appendix of local government programs, policies and incentives, organized by state and city, as well as by type of program. “Green Building Incentives that Work: A Look at How Local Governments are Incentivizing Green Development,” is available by free download from the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties Research Foundation.
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Monday, December 17, 2007
New LEED Project Registrations Reach 3,600 in 2007, now top 8,500 total, grow 74% this year!
The green building revolution is accelerating. Contrast these 11-month numbers with 2006 year-over-year (vs. 2005) growth of only 50% in registered projects and 67% growth in certified projects. Registered project area grew by more than 265%, indicating that a lot of the growth is in much larger projects, represented by the LEED for Core and Shell and LEED for Existing Buildings rating systems. Any way you analyze it, green building is mainstreaming far more quickly than anyone imagined even two years ago.
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Sunday, December 16, 2007
San Francisco Goes Deep for Green Buildings! Just the Beginning, says Consultant.
Mayor Gavin Newsom’s legislation would require all new residential high-rises, all commercial buildings over 5,000 square feet and all renovations over 25,000 square feet to become LEED certified by 2012. If implemented, the City’s green building standards (short of LEED certification) would affect all buildings requiring permit approval beginning in 2008. Already, the city “fast tracks” building permits for developers who agree to acquire LEED certification for their projects. I predict this is just the beginning: I foresee every large city (and many small ones) enacting similar green building legislation by 2009, despite the strong preference of the development community for voluntary approaches. The recent climate change conference in Bali has made the growing problem of carbon dioxide emissions too important for cities to ignore. And green buildings offer the most immediate and cost-effective way to respond to the growing climate change prevention imperative.
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Saturday, December 15, 2007
Salvage Materials: An Excerpt from Jerry Yudelson’s “Green Building A to Z”
“A penny saved is a penny earned,” wrote Ben Franklin. We care about reusing building materials because of the energy and resources they represent. It takes energy to down-cycle them into recycled-content materials (think of old concrete from a building ground into three-quarter-inch aggregate for use in concrete or as the base material for a parking lot or roadway), so why not use them in their original form instead of throwing them away or using them in some devalued form?
LEED recognizes the value of salvaged or reclaimed materials, such as decorative brick, heavy timbers and other framing lumber, doors, millwork, furniture and partitions, by rewarding projects that use them for at least 5% of the total value of all building materials (not counting equipment). On a typical $10 million (construction cost) project, this would represent $225,000 worth of such materials, not an insignificant amount. One benefit of this practice is the development of local enterprises based on deconstructing buildings and salvaging such materials. If you consider how much useful material is saved from old cars by auto salvage yards in every town, you’ll see the benefit of this practice.
With the advent of Web-based auction sites such as eBay and retail/ wholesale reclaimed building materials stores in most large metropolitan areas, there is now a nationwide market in reclaimed building materials for building projects. So, there is no longer an excuse for not being able to find materials. The only issue is their quality and availability, along with transportation and storage costs.
Some creativity might be required to find and reclaim salvaged materials. The first LEED Platinum project, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation building in Annapolis, Maryland, used large wooden tanks from a former pickle manufacturing facility to harvest rainwater from the roof of their new building. The three tall pickle barrels create a strong visual and architectural element at the building entrance.
Click here to download the PDF version.
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