California's New Green Building Code – CALGREEN

BOMA San Francisco Members:

As you may know, California became the first state in the nation to adopt a statewide mandatory green building code, on a unanimous vote by the state’s California Building Standards Commission.  BOMA California played a significant role in shaping and gaining approval of this statewide green building directive from the Commission.  Indeed, Matthew Hargrove, BOMA California's advocate in Sacramento, recently received some ink in the San Francisco Chronicle on this recently--click here to read the article!

In 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger directed the California Building Standards Commission to work with specified state agencies on the adoption of green building standards for residential, commercial and public building construction for the 2010 code adoption process.

CALGREEN will require that every new building constructed in California reduce water consumption by 20 percent, divert 50 percent of construction waste from landfills and install low pollutant-emitting materials. It also requires separate water meters for nonresidential buildings’ indoor and outdoor water use, with a requirement for moisture-sensing irrigation systems for larger landscape projects and mandatory inspections of energy systems (e.g., heat furnace, air conditioner and mechanical equipment) for nonresidential buildings over 10,000 square feet to ensure that all are working at their maximum capacity and according to their design efficiencies. The California Air Resources Board estimates that the mandatory provisions will reduce greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 equivalent) by 3 million metric tons equivalent in 2020.

Upon passing state building inspection, California’s property owners will have the ability to label their facilities as CALGREEN compliant without using additional costly third-party certification programs.

Click here to learn more about CALGREEN.