Southern California Office Real Estate Blog

CALGREEN – > CALIFORNIA NOW HAS THE COUNTRY’S GREENEST BUILDING STANDARD

May 22, 2010 on 12:54 am | In Fascinating Office Real Estate Information, Finance, Lease Rates, Legal, Solutions, Statistics, Uncategorized, Winning Properties, World |

By Jodi Summers

Bravo to us! California has adopted the greenest building standards in the United States…and the world.

The new code, called Calgreen, goes into effect next January 2011. It requires all builders to:

v Install plumbing that cuts indoor water use.

Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, said the new building code would require developers to slash water use in their buildings by 20%, using more efficient toilets, shower heads and faucets.

v Divert 50 percent of construction waste from landfills to recycling.

v Use low-pollutant paints, carpets and floorings

v Buildings will be given certificates of occupancy occupied only after strict energy standards were verified.

In addition, for non residential buildings:

v Install separate water meters for different uses.

v Mandates the inspection of energy systems by local officials to ensure that heaters, air conditioners and other mechanical equipment in nonresidential buildings are working efficiently.

v It allows local jurisdictions, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, to retain their stricter existing green building standards, or adopt more stringent versions of the state code if they choose.

“California should be proud… These are simple, cost-effective green practices. …” notes Tom Sheehy, acting secretary of the state Consumer Services Agency and chair of the California Building Standards Commission, which approved the standards. “This is (something) no other state in the country has done - integrating green construction practices into the very fabric of the construction code.”

While California’s largest metropolitan areas have adopted their own green building standards, these new regulations will be particularly useful for smaller jurisdictions that have been unable to develop their own green construction guidelines.

This is a positive alternative to LEED construction standards. Sites Sandra Boyle, an executive vice president of Glenborough, a developer, “The cost for owners to go through this rating system is astronomical — in a very challenging commercial real estate market.”

“You will have a whole bunch of cities that never would have included this in their building doing it, and doing it in a way that won’t kill the economy,” observes Matthew Hargrove, a vice president with the California Business Properties Association. “Outside the coastal areas it will be helpful - like in West Sacramento, where they looked into creating a green building code but balked because it’s cumbersome to develop and they didn’t have the resources.”

Buildings currently account for about one-quarter of the state’s total greenhouse gas emissions. These new standards are applauded as an important step in helping California meet its goal in reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/01/13/MNDR1BH9SA.DTL#ixzz0dJ9grkaW

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/01/13/MNDR1BH9SA.DTL

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-green-building11-2010jan11,0,1841989.story

http://www.thedailygreen.com/cm/thedailygreen/images/WA/Kohler-DualFlush-BR08-lg.jpg

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The California Building Standards Commission is responsible for administering California’s building codes, including adopting, approving, publishing, and implementing codes and standards. This site provides information on:

* Draft 2010 California Green Building Standards (CALGreen) Code. [(PDF), or link to the CALGreen page]. Scheduled to become effective on January 1, 2011, this draft is provided for informational purposes only pending publication.
* 2009 Annual Code Adoption Cycle
Next BSC Meeting to be Webcast - August 16, 2010. Webcasting will begin 5 minutes prior to start of meeting. Please wait until meeting start time before visiting the following link: http://www.dca.ca.gov/stream/audiocast.asx
* Next California Commission on Disability Access (CCDA) Meeting to be Webcast - June 17, 2010. Webcasting will begin 5 minutes prior to start of meeting. Please wait until meeting start time before visiting the following link: http://www.dca.ca.gov/stream/audiocast.asx
* Furlough Information - Pursuant to the Governor’s Executive Order S-13-09, from August 2009 through June 2010, we will be closed on the first, second, and third Friday of each month.
* California Green Building Standards Code serves as key source for new International Code.
* [Swine Flu Information] For the latest news regarding the H1N1 Flu Virus. See The California Department of Public Health web site. “http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/discond/Pages/SwineInfluenza.aspx”
* For a description of the effective dates for annual supplements and emergency rulemaking to the 2007 California Building Standards Codes see Bulletins.
* NOW ON LINE! - The 2007 California Building Code, Part 2 and the California Fire Code, Part 9 of Title 24, are available for viewing on line via the following International Code Councils web site link: California Codes, Title 24, Part 1, 6, 8, 10, 11 & 12 are also available for viewing and download in PDF form on this web site. See ‘Title 24′ below for the location of these codes.
* NOW ON LINE! - The 2007 California Plumbing Code and the California Mechanical Code, are available for viewing on line via the following International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials web site link. The entirety of both documents are available for download and viewing in PDF form on these web sites.

http://www.iapmo.org/Pages/californiaplumbingcode.aspx
http://www.iapmo.org/Pages/californiamechanicalcode.aspx

Comment by California Building Standards Commission — May 23, 2010 #
A consensus committee was formed to develop this standard in compliance with the requirements of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The resulting ANSI approved ICC-700-2008 National Green Building Standard defines green building for single and multifamily homes, residential remodeling projects and site development projects while still allowing for the flexibility required for regionally-appropriate best green practices.

Comment by National Green Building Standard — May 23, 2010 #
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