Green Building, CO₂ Reduction, Sustainability and other Environmental Programs and Policies

Jurisdictions across the country and world have adopted policies and implemented programs to lessen the environmental – and financial – impacts from private and public building projects. This list is just a snapshot in time of the best examples we know about.

Local Programs

In addition to our San Mateo Countywide Green Building Guidelines, an educational effort within the county, several cities and towns are stepping up with their own ways of encouraging or requiring green building.

San Mateo County has a Sustainable Building Policy, which requires that County buildings over 5000 square feet attain the highest practicable LEED rating. On February 12th, 2008 the Board of Supervisors passed a new Green Building Ordinance that applies to San Mateo County unincorporated areas. The new ordinance addresses: New residential construction and remodels that are 50% or greater; these projects are required to reach a minimum of 50 GreenPoints or LEED for Homes certification Projects that reach 75 GreenPoints or higher receive expedited permit processing Commercial buildings over 3,000 square feet are required to be LEED certified. Projects that reach LEED Silver certification will receive additional incentives Contact our County Planning Department if you have questions regarding your project.

Fly Ash - a new Public Works Policy: The County of San Mateo Public Works Department has a policy to encourage Fly Ash and Mixed Aggregates use. Get more info on fly ash. You can download the policy and engineering documents here: Department of Public Works Fly Ash and Recycled Aggregate Policy (PDF) Comparison with Various Codes with Cement Types that use Fly Ash in Concrete (Excel file) Fly Ash Memo (PDF) Recycled Aggregates Memo (PDF)

• The City of San Mateo passed a policy in the Rail Corridor Plan (Policy 6.35) that encourages sustainable development and for future projects within the TOD areas to submit the County's Sustainable Green Building Checklist with their applications. One such project is the new LEED Silver rated, City of San Mateo Public Library.
  Sustainable Development Policy
  San Mateo Info on Library
  RW Info on Library
  
  
• Portola Valley has been a leader in the county in utilizing the Countywide Green Building materials and in working towards green design in their town center project. Portola Valley Info
  
  
• February 2005 report on Green Building Policies and Programs in San Mateo County. Download PDF
  
  
• Most of the cities and towns in San Mateo County have C&D ordinances.

Other Policies in San Mateo County

• Wood burning ordinances help both outdoor and indoor air quality. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has a model ordinance used by many cities in the county.
  
  
• CO₂ Emissions Reduction:
  On November 16, San Mateo County made a commitment to work with Sustainable Silicon Valley to reduce CO₂ emissions. The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution setting goals for County facilities.

Programs in the Bay Area

Several cities and counties have some kind of green building program. Marin County has the most forward thinking policies.

• Marin offers some energy policies that require large homes to meet energy standards of smaller homes, thus reducing the amount of energy consumed by our growing tendency to build bigger and bigger homes. Marin Info
  
  
• Alameda, San Jose and San Francisco have also been leaders in the area.
  Alameda Info
  San Jose Info
  San Francisco Info
  
  
• Other Energy and Renewable Policies.

Other Great Programs

Aspen, CO has been innovative and proactive in promoting renewable energy, efficiency and green building. The first program was REMP, the Renewable Energy Mitigation Program and now they have CORE, Community Office for Resource Efficiency. Aspen Info

Other leaders:

• Austin, TX
• Chicago, IL
• Portland, OR
• Seattle, WA
• Santa Monica, CA
• Scottsdale, AZ