Summary: On July 17, the California Building Standards Commission announced the unanimous adoption of the nation’s first statewide “green” building code. The new code—covering single-family homes, health-care facilities, and commercial buildings—contains optional standards that will become mandatory in the 2010 edition of the code. After 2010, the code will be updated annually.

The AIA California Council commended the ground-breaking work that the commission has done toward creating a building code that protects California's environment and conserves energy. "It should come as no surprise that as the state with the most up to date building codes in the nation, California is also the first state in the nation to adopt a Green Building Standards Code,” said Kurt Cooknick, director of regulation and practice for AIACC. “The AIACC applauds the hard work of the many individuals and entities that collaborated toward this effort to protect California's environment and promote energy efficiency in the built environment."

The new California Green Building Standards Code calls for a 15 percent reduction in building energy use over the current standards, a 50-percent landscape water use reduction, and significant improvement in efficiencies for commercial and residential plumbing fixtures. The code also encourages the use of recycled materials and identifies various site improvements including parking for hybrid vehicles and more stringent management of storm water.

The U.S. Green Building Council on July 17 applauded the California’s new code. In addition to the code, the state’s Green Building Initiative, signed into law by Governor Schwartzenegger in late 2004, directs state agencies to reduce energy use at state-owned buildings 20 percent by 2015 and that new state construction and major renovation projects should meet at a minimum the USGBC LEED® Silver certification. To date, 13 state buildings have achieved LEED certification.