California Institutes Green Building Code

The State of California recently announced its latest inititative in the fight against climate change: a state-wide green building code.

This isn’t actually a first in California. All state-owned buildings are already required to meet green standards. The initial requirements in the new initiative back up those standards already in place, which include delayed implementation dates for residential structures and voluntary compliance for hospitals (Am I the only one who thinks that hospitals should be tops on the list to build green?). A more comprehensive set of mandandatory provisions is to be implemented in 2010.

Individual cities, such as Los Angeles and Santa Monica, already have green building codes of their own. Santa Monica, a leader in sustainability issues, announced their own green building ordinance in May. The ordinance spells out requirements for all new construction in the city, including single family residences.

The green building code comes on the heels of lawsuits filed by the State of California against the EPA, charging that the federal agency has failed to live up to its duties to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars, and more recently, from ships, aircraft, and industrial equipment.

“Cars and buildings are two of the leading users of energy – we’re already addressing cars, and these new building standards will ensure that California remains at the forefront of reducing our carbon footprint and conserving valuable natural resources while also protecting our economy,” said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Unfortunately, those lawsuits have had setbacks of late. As an observer of this process, it’s frustrating to watch. Fortunately, the state is tackling climate change on many fronts, as this latest push towards green building shows.

Photo credit: tanakawho from Flickr under a Creative Commons license