The California Building Standards Commission has been working on a green building code since 2007, culminating with a primarily voluntary set of standards for nonresidential occupancies adopted in July of 2008.
The
California Building Standards Commission has been working on a green building
code since 2007, culminating with a primarily voluntary set of standards for
nonresidential occupancies adopted in July of 2008. On January 12, 2010,
California adopted this new green building code, referred to as “CAL Green,”
and one year from now will cease to be a voluntary standard and become a
mandatory requirement for all buildings in the state of California. From the
Governor’s press release:
“Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the California Building
Standards Commission unanimously adopted the first-in-the-nation mandatory
Green Building Standards Code (CALGREEN) requiring all new buildings in the
state to be more energy efficient and environmentally responsible. Taking
effect on January 1, 2011, these comprehensive regulations will achieve major
reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and water use to
create a greener California.
A letter campaign opposing the adoption of CAL Green was launched by some heavy
hitting environmental groups, including the U.S. Green Building Council, the
Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, and Berkeley, Calif.-based
Build It Green. These groups opposed the adoption of the code for several
reasons, including the fear that it will “cause confusion in the marketplace
and the potential for builders to label their buildings green without
substantiating their claims.” The groups sent a letter December 22 to Governor
Schwarzenegger urging him to veto the bill stating:
“The marketplace does not need a new government quasi rating system,
particularly one that lacks adequate verification. The existing private sector
rating systems are working successfully and have been adopted by many local
jurisdictions across the state. Their rigorous benchmarks and verification
mechanism are driving innovation in California
by leading industry to develop new products, services, and green jobs. If the
state introduces a new quasi rating system, it will cause disruption and
confusion in the marketplace, hindering the tremendous progress California is making on
green building.”
Many people were surprised and puzzled that these groups came out in such
strong opposition to CAL Green. It was widely reported that Dan Pellissier, a California deputy
cabinet official, alleged that the Green Building Council is leading opposition
to CAL Green because it does not want competition to its own private sector
LEED brand. This is consistent with the USGBC’s constant bad-mouthing and
virulent opposition to Green Globes (a competing rating system) and makes its
whining tempting to dismiss, but what about the other groups that signed the
letter? Is there any legitimacy to their concerns?
CAL GREEN-AN IN-DEPTH LOOK
As soon as I learned of the announcement that California had adopted CAL Green,
I high tailed it to the California Building Standards Commission’s web site to
have a look. What I found was the mainly voluntary version with limited
application to an even further limited number of buildings. It wasn’t until a
couple weeks later, upon revisiting the web site, that I found a newly created
draft of the version that is scheduled to take effect January 2011. You can
download this version at the California BSC Web site.
The code is broken down into for basic parts:
Residential Mandatory Measures
Residential Voluntary Measures
Nonresidential Mandatory Measures
Nonresidential Voluntary Measures
The stated purpose of the code is “to improve public health, safety and general
welfare by enhancing the design and construction of buildings through the use
of building concepts having a reduced negative impact, or positive
environmental impact and encouraging sustainable construction practices” and
addresses the five following categories:
Planning and design
Energy efficiency
Water efficiency and conservation
Material conservation and resource efficiency
Environmental quality
CAL GREEN VS. LEED:
HOW DO THEY STACK UP?
Below is a side-by-side comparison of CAL Green Mandatory Measures for
Nonresidential Buildings with LEED for New Construction V3 credit equivalents
and available points.
Conclusion
Building to CAL Green requirements for nonresidential buildings, a total of a
mere 13 LEED for New Constriction points would be achieved. Many of the CAL
Green requirements are equivalent to LEED Prerequisites, which are not
negotiable when pursing a LEED certification, and do not provide points. There
are some CAL Green requirements that are simply not addressed in the LEED
rating system. These requirements could result in LEED Innovation in Design
points but this is not a slam-dunk. If we were to assume that all four
available LEED ID points were awarded for these requirements, the total number
of equivalent points in LEED would jump to 17.
The minimum number of points necessary for a LEED V3 green building
certification is 40. The total number of points that could be awarded using
only the CAL Green mandatory requirements is well short of the minimum required
for a LEED Certified building. There is no question that a building designed to
meet the minimum requirements in LEED will be greener than one designed to the
CAL Green minimum but it doesn’t matter. CAL Green includes many voluntary
measures that Owners may elect to pursue and does not limit going beyond the
minimum requirements or using a green building rating system such as LEED or
Green Globes.
The letter of opposition to the Governor neglects to point out that private
sector rating systems were conceived and designed to be applied to a small
percentage of all buildings: the greenest of the green. The truth is that the
“rigorous benchmarks and verification mechanisms” and expense of private sector
rating systems have served to keep the majority of buildings out play. CAL
Green is a game changer.
The challenge presented to the California Building Standards Commission was to
strike a balance between green building requirements that have meaningful and
measureable impact without dooming implementation from the start by requiring
more than the market can bear. The current CAL Green draft does that, I think,
and will be an enormous catalyst for the rapid development of greener buildings.
W&C
Straight Green: Say Hello to CAL Green California's New Green Building Code
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