San Francisco greens its building regs

Another snippet from the New Scientist (29 March 08, p6): San Francisco’s Building Inspection Commission has agreed “what are probably the toughest environmental standards in the country” in which construction permits could be denied if builders - both domestic and commercial - fail to include energy- and water-saving measures.

As the NS says, construction is an area where it’s fairly easy to decrease environmental impact, for example, using solar water heating can reduce a building’s greenhouse gas emissions by almost a third. But little is done to regulate the industry and improve its carbon footprint.

The new regulations in San Francisco will rate new homes and offices on planned measures such as the quality of their insulation, or the amount of recycled materials used in construction. Each project will need to earn a minimum number of points in order to be given the go-ahead. The rules were passed in March, and should come into force next year.