Communities Require Green Building

Green building is no longer the passion of a few; it is the new standard for all buildings, including government-owned facilities. LEED standards are not the only options, but they remain the centerpiece for many municipalities' green ordinances, which elevate green building to a requirement rather than a voluntary certification.

American City & County's March issue features an article on how communities are requiring developers to use LEED-style standards for constructing residential and commercial buildings. The article explains that there is a difference between sustainable design and green building, however. LEED evaluates environmental performance from a "whole building" perspective over a building's lifecycle based on accepted energy and environmental principles.

The article highlights Los Angeles' efforts toward sustainability: In addition to making LEED a centerpiece of his city's sustainability efforts, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled the "Green L.A. Plan" in 2007. Its goal is to reduce the carbon footprint of Los Angeles by 35 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, and the mayor has come up with a whole list of requirements for buildings, which are listed in the feature.

Other cities have set sustainable goals and are following through with ordinances to meet them, such as Alburquerque, and of course, many California cities. "No longer is government asking for environmental awareness. Rather, it is telling owners what to do in specific complex ways that have resulted in state-of-the-art, environmentally sensitive projects," the author writes.