GreenSuite

San Jose adopts mandatory green building standards

Only two months after the city of San Francisco passed a Green Building Ordinance, San Jose follows suit. It appears from the article that San Jose's standards apply to new construction where as San Francisco's also encompass renovations.  -JW

 

Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - 4:01 PM PDT

San Jose adopts mandatory green building standards

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal

A year after launching a Green Vision for San Jose, the City Council Tuesday adopted mandatory green building standards for all new construction.

The standards, intended to reduce water and energy usage, will apply to all housing developments with 10 or more units. On the commercial side, buildings under 25,000 square feet will be required to meet basic standards outlined by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, known as LEED. Buildings larger than 25,000 square feet must meet the LEED standards set forth in the silver designation. LEED has four rating levels: basic, silver, gold and the highest, platinum.

The vote Tuesday was unanimous with Council members Forrest Williams and Nora Campos absent.

In October 2007, Mayor Chuck Reed introduced his Green Vision for the city that called for creating 25,000 clean tech jobs, building or retrofitting 50 million square feet of green buildings, installing 100,000 solar roofs, reducing electricity usage by half, recycling 100 percent of the city’s water and waste, and obtaining all its energy from renewable sources.

SF LEED Based Building Requirements Signed By Newsom

Monday, August 4, 2008 - 11:55 AM PDT

S.F. Mayor Newsom signs green building legislation

San Francisco Business TimesMayor Gavin Newsom today signed what's being touted as the "nation's most aggressive green building legislation" requiring all new and renovated office buildings to meet minimum green standards by 2009 and the highest green standards by 2010.

The Mayor signed the legislation following a tour of the newly renovated Matarozzi/Pelsinger Builders headquarters at 355 Eleventh St. in the city's South of Market neighborhood. That building is the first to receive priority permitting for green building. Under that program, projects seeking the highest rank of Leadership in Environmental Design -- or LEED Gold -- certification get "front of line" privileges during the building permit application review.

Matarozzi/Pelsinger renovated the building for its headquarters and will occupy the second floor and half of the first floor. A restaurant is planned for the remainder of the first floor. Gast Architects will occupy additional space in the building.

The building required significant structural upgrades to make it earthquake-safe. And the roof of the building will include 30-kw solar panel system and a "living roof" or garden. The building was designed to make use of natural air ventilation including operable windows. Other green accoutrements include bamboo flooring, radiant heating floors, bicycle parking, and dedicated parking spots for alternative-fuel vehicles.

California is First in Nation to Adopt "Green" Building Code

The most recent version of the code is available here:

http://www.bsc.ca.gov/default.htm

UPDATED!  State agency combined green building standards adopted  by the California Building Standards Commission on July 17, 2008 as amended for publication in the 2007 California Green Building Standards Code, CCR, Title 24, Part 11. 

This combined document is for informational purposes only. For official state agency rulemaking documents (Notices of Public Action, Express Terms, and Initial Statements of Reason), refer to the 45-Day and 15-Day Comment/Challenge Periods for 2007 and Commission Review for 2007, and Approved Standards.

The California Building Standards Commission has taken the opportunity, along with other state agencies, to develop green building standards that will establish California as a leader in the efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from structures. The code as adopted includes mandatory features with a delayed effective date for housing, and voluntary standards for hospitals and other non-residential occupancies. The commission will continue to work with state agencies and the many stakeholders as we develop a comprehensive set of mandatory provisions in the 2010 edition of the California .

Below is the press release from July 17, 2008 on the new California Green Building Code:

Gov. Schwarzenegger Issues Statement on

Nation-Leading Green Building Code

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement on the California

Building Standards Commission vote to adopt the nation’s first statewide green building

code:

“By adopting this first-in-the-nation statewide green building code, California is again

leading the way to fight climate change and protect the environment. This is literally a

groundbreaking move to ensure that when we break ground on all new buildings in the

Golden State we are promoting green building and energy efficient new technologies.

Cars and buildings are two of the leading users of energy – we’re already addressing cars,

and these new building standards will ensure that California remains at the forefront of

reducing our carbon footprint and conserving valuable natural resources while also

protecting our economy. We have already committed to making our state-owned

buildings more green and energy efficient and this statewide code will reduce greenhouse

gas emissions, improve energy efficiency and conserve water in all new buildings.

“With today’s action, California continues to lead the nation and I commend the hard

work of the Building Standards Commission to adopt the first-in-the-nation statewide

green building standards.”