[Greenbuilding] Boston Ready to Go Green

[Tim Vireo Keating]

This is an interesting article and happening.

http://www.multifamilyexecutive.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=565&articleID=411689

I'd love folks' feedback, if anyone out there is familiar with 
Boston's standards. I'm interested in getting them to pass some sort 
of standard swearing off rainforest wood, if it isn't already part of 
the standards.

tim keating


Boston Ready to Go Green

Source: The Boston Globe
Publication date: December 20, 2006
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., The Boston Globe
Dec. 20--Boston is expected to become the first major city in the 
nation to require private developers to adhere to a strict set of 
so-called green-building standards, officials said yesterday.
The standards will be required before permits are issued for all 
projects of 50,000 square feet or more. The goal is to make new 
buildings more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, by 
promoting, for example, use of efficient heating and cooling systems, 
recycled building materials, and careful separation and disposal of 
waste.
City officials said they will ask the Boston Redevelopment Authority 
tomorrow to incorporate the green building standards into municipal 
zoning laws, following the recommendations of a task force appointed 
by Mayor Thomas M. Menino in 2003. The standards are expected to be 
formally adopted by the Boston Zoning Commission in January after a 
public comment period.
"There's a big national story here," James W. Hunt III, chief of 
environmental and energy services for the city, said yesterday. 
"We'll be the first city to implement green building requirements."
Many other large cities around the US have set green building 
standards for public buildings or publicly funded projects. Boston 
would be the first to impose those conditions on privately developed 
properties, too, Hunt said.
The recommended standards would mandate new buildings meet 
requirements in at least 26 of about 70 areas of design and 
construction, such as how they dispose of waste materials and how 
energy efficient walls and glass are. Developers will have to certify 
they have met the requirements , and city officials will confirm the 
builders' measures, Hunt said.
The Boston standards pointedly do not require the buildings be 
certified under the green building rating system known as Leadership 
in Energy and Environmental Design -- commonly called LEED -- of the 
US Green Building Council, an industry group.
"The LEED process can be lengthy, onerous in documentation, and 
costly," said Hunt. "Also, we don't want to rely on a third party to 
do the certification process."
Boston's certification process will be simpler, though the 
environmental standards will be almost the same as the LEED list. 
Boston's list includes additional ways developers can choose to help 
qualify buildings for certification, including using cleaner diesel 
construction vehicles, recharging area groundwater, and establishing 
transportation plans for future building users.
Members of the local development community differed on the new rules' effect.
David I. Begelfer, chief executive of the National Association of 
Industrial and Office Properties' Massachusetts chapter, said the 
business community will embrace the standards despite the expected 
increased building costs they will bring.
"The threshold they established is fairly reasonable and should not 
be that difficult to meet," he said.
But developer Dean F. Stratouly said it would be difficult and 
expensive to bring a downtown office tower into compliance.
"While no one is against this in principle, it doesn't help the 
underlying economics of bringing new product to the market," 
Stratouly said.
-----
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-- 


"The Earth and myself are of one mind. The measure of the land and the
measure of our bodies are the same..."
     	                               - Hinmaton Yalatkit, Nez Perce chief
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