According to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, the City of Evanston passed a new "green" ordinance, which requires all new commercial, multifamily and municipal construction projects over 10,000 square feet to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”) Silver certification through the U.S. Green Building Council. The ordinance does not require LEED certification for renovations and rehabilitations on existing buildings, and it exempts building projects that already have been approved by the city.
LEED is an "internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across" such metrics as water efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.
The ordinance is part of the city's effort to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The city signed the U.S. Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement, which pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 7% from the 1990 levels by 2012.
Stay tuned to the Illinois Environmental Law Blog for more news and developments.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment