{"id":21434,"date":"2012-04-26T15:53:28","date_gmt":"2012-04-26T22:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=21434"},"modified":"2012-04-26T15:53:28","modified_gmt":"2012-04-26T22:53:28","slug":"brown-says-states-buildings-must-go-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/04\/26\/brown-says-states-buildings-must-go-green\/","title":{"rendered":"Brown Says State’s Buildings Must Go Green"},"content":{"rendered":"

An executive order directs state agencies to cut carbon emissions, save water and energy
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California Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Sacramento. In 2003, the 25-story tower was given a \u201cPlatinum\u201d rating by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2003.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Governor Jerry Brown decreed yesterday that state-owned buildings across California must go green<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The executive order stipulates that state agencies must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 20% using 2010 as a baseline, and half of all new and renovated buildings must be Net Zero Energy<\/a> by 2020. The order, B-18-12, also continues a previous policy requiring state-owned buildings larger than 10,000 square feet to meet the guidelines of the U.S. Green Building Council\u2019s<\/a> \u201cSilver\u201d rating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis shows that the state is very focused on meeting very ambitious yet achievable goals,\u201d said Evan Westrup, a spokesperson for the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The move is a step toward compliance with AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act<\/a>, which requires that statewide greenhouse gas emissions brought down to 1990 levels by 2020.<\/p>\n

According to a release from the governor\u2019s office, the statewide initiative will also save one billion gallons of water and an estimated $45 million in tax dollars each year. Westrup did not have figures on projected job creation, but he pointed out that similar initiatives geared toward efficiency have created 1.5 million jobs across the state since 1978.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Electricity generation for buildings was the second-largest single source of greenhouse emissions in the state, putting an estimated 113 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere in 2009. The bulk of emissions do not originate at buildings themselves, but at fossil fuel burning power plants that supply electricity to them through the power grid. In California, the only source that generates more greenhouse emissions than buildings are the state\u2019s 31 million registered cars, trucks and buses.<\/p>\n

A similar initiative, signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004<\/a>, was rescinded with yesterday\u2019s order. That mandate required state-owned buildings to cut energy use in state buildings from 2003 levels by 20% by the year 2015. \u00a0Westrup said that the latest order does not negate but \u201cdramatically expands\u201d the provisions of the 2004 order, including directives to develop on-site energy generation capacity as well as for agencies to buy more \u201cenvironmentally friendly\u201d products and install charging stations for electric cars in employee parking facilities.<\/p>\n

According to the Department of General Services — the agency that oversees most of the state’s buildings — there are currently about 50 buildings across the state <\/a>that have gained certification or are in the process of being certified through the Green Building Council\u2019s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program.<\/p>\n

“All of these efforts are certainly important to the taxpayers as we green the state’s real estate portfolio,” said Eric Lamoureux, deputy director of the Department of General Services. “There are upfront costs, but those costs pay for themselves over the life of the building.”<\/p>\n

Several Bay Area communities have already introduced green building mandates. In 1998, Oakland implemented its \u201cSustainable Community Development Initiative\u201d<\/a> and, in 2008, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom introduced energy efficiency measures into the city\u2019s building code<\/a> for new and existing structures. The new rules are supposed to be fully implemented by this year and are projected to reduce carbon emissions by 60,000 tons and conserve a hundred million gallons of water annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An executive order directs state agencies to cut carbon emissions, save water and energy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6335,"featured_media":21474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,7],"tags":[258,260],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-21434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government-business","category-power","category-water","tag-governor-jerry-brown","tag-green-building"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nBrown Says State's Buildings Must Go Green | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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