Going Green

Newly constructed hospitals, schools, shopping malls and homes in California will be some of the greenest in the world, after a state commission voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the most stringent, environmentally friendly building code standards of any state in the nation.

The new code, dubbed Calgreen, will take effect next January and requires builders to install plumbing that cuts indoor water use, divert 50 percent of construction waste from landfills to recycling, use low-pollutant paints, carpets and floorings and, in nonresidential buildings, install separate water meters for different uses. It 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. And it will allow local jurisdictions, such as San Francisco, to retain their stricter existing green building standards, or adopt more stringent versions of the state code if they choose.

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

The code was supported by a wide range of building industry and realty associations, as well as the state Chamber of Commerce. Industry officials said that it would increase construction costs only slightly.

The U.S. Green Building Council, whose LEED certification system for sustainable green building and development practices is one of the best known in the world, generally supports the new code but has some reservations.

Elizabeth Echols of the U.S. Green Building Council's Northern California chapter said her group is concerned that parts of the new code lack the rigor of existing local regulations, possibly making it difficult for cities and counties to adopt more stringent standards.

She rejected the notion, suggested by several speakers at the meeting, that her group was trying to protect its market share by discouraging a competing verification system.

State officials said the regulations create a single comprehensive code, clearing up confusion over varying regulations, and it allows builders to receive green certification without paying a third party.

In July 2008, the same commission approved similar, voluntary building standards, and it has worked with the construction industry since to develop the mandatory code. As buildings account for about one-quarter of the state's total greenhouse gas emissions, the new requirements will be an important step in helping California meet its goal to fight global warming by reducing the state's greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020.

The commission took action after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation in 2007 that would have instituted a green building code for the state. The governor, who praised the standards approved Tuesday, said at the time that the commission, not the Legislature, should draw up the regulation.

Matthew Hargrove, a vice president with the California Business Properties Association, said the regulations will be especially useful for smaller jurisdictions that have been unable to develop their own green construction guidelines

"There will still be jurisdictions that want to go with LEED – San Francisco will not ditch it," said Hargrove. "But 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."

His members, he said, have been clamoring for a state certification program.

"At the end of the day 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," he said.

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Paperboard is a thicker form of paper used in consumer packaging. Examples include cereal containers, tissue boxes, drink boxes, detergent packaging, and shoe boxes. Paperboard is recyclable–often at curbside–if the plastic liner has been removed and it has not been stained with cooking oil or water. While paperboard often is coated with kaolin clay to improve its printing surface, it’s still recyclable.

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• The  in the next couple of months that, if approved, may reimburse homeowners for up to half the cost of making their homes more efficient.  Through the program, homeowners will receive the largest return from simple upgrades like caulking windows, adding insulation, and changing incandescent light bulbs to those that are more energy-efficient.
• To determine which energy-efficiency upgrades are best for their house, homeowners should obtain a home energy audit.   Homeowners are advised to hire a contractor licensed by the Building Performance Institute or the Residential Energy Services Network.  These contractors have been trained to first test a home to determine the amount of energy it is losing, then make suggestions on renovations.

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Green Tip of the Week:  Clean your fridge’s coils
Cleaning the back of your fridge–the coils and electric circuitry–increases energy efficiency.  A refrigerator with dirty coils works harder, and uses 25 percent more energy compared with a fridge with clean coils.   To clean the coils: Disconnect the power; pull the unit away from the wall; remove the grill covering the coils; and use a vacuum cleaner or a bottle brush to clean.

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Want an alternative to using disposable batteries, which leak toxic wastes into landfills and ground water? Switch to USB rechargeable AA batteries that do not require adapters or cables, but instead can be inserted into your laptop’s USB port—or other USB port—and be recharged hundreds of times. Visit http://www.usbcell.com/ for more info.

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Any plastic that does not fit into the other six well-defined categories of material earns a number 7. Ironically, this category also includes the new bio-based plastics that use corn, potato, or sugar derivatives. However, the most infamous type of number 7 plastic is polycarbonate, a building block in bisphenol-A (BPA), which gained headlines as an endocrine disrupter and raised health concerns. Because this category of plastics is composed of several types of materials, few municipal or commercial programs accept number 7 plastic.

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How much will double-pane windows save in heating and cooling costs over one year, five years, 10 years? What about upgrading that vintage freezer to an ENERGY STAR model? Those are the types of questions that the Home Energy Saver calculator can answer.

Green Tip of the Week: Stop junk mail

You can put a stop to receiving your predecessor’s mail and save a lot of trees in one stroke. The service is free, so ask your broker to sign up. Visit http://www.ecologicalmail.org/ or call (800) 620-3975.

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