Thursday, June 19, 2008

14% of Major U.S. cities have green building programs


The American Institute of Architects released a report earlier this week which concluded that 14% of U.S. Cities with populations greater than 50,000 people have green building programs.


The report, titled Local Leaders in Sustainability – Green Incentives, is aimed at helping state and local governments which have encountered challenges in enacting green building programs.


After surveying many state and international programs, the report identified the most attractive incentive programs which cities are adopting in order to encourage green building:


  • Tax Incentives - temporarily reduced taxes for specific levels of green measures and certification

  • Density / floor area ratio bonuses - implement height bonuses, floor area/ration bonuses, reductions in landscaping requirements and inclusion of green roof space as landscaping/open space in return for achieving levels of green building ratings

  • Expedited permitting - streamline the permitting process for building, plan and site permits on projects that achieve a certain level of sustainability.

View the full report here


1 comment:

asixtiesgirl said...

What I'm waiting for is the day we don't need incentives for people to go green; we don't need to trade off our community character in the form of ginormous new buildings that happen to have led lighting, evapotranspiration cooling and palm frond themed outer shells to "blend in" with the surroundings.

Great Blog by the way!