The City of Boston has announced its respected plans to revise its existing building code and make it a mandatory practice that all of the city’s private, large scale construction of at least 50,000 sq ft be “green”. All of these buildings are to adhere to the minimum LEED rating requirements, in addition to 4 standards created by the city. Approvals for the new plan are being conducted this week with the final approvals being conducted by the Zoning Commission on January 10th. Let the accolades begin.
I just saw briefly last night on the evening news a segment high lighting the several American states who are taking environmental matters into their own hands. The anchor implied that these intelligent cities are not going to wait for the federal government to take a stand for the state of the environment and energy conservation.
“ Boston is growing, and this amendment helps us grow our sustainable green buildings, which are good for public health and air quality. We’re doing what we should be doing, moving toward better environmental quality. We’re thinking about the future.”
Mayor Thomas M. Menino
Yay Beantown! This is the kind of step that needs to be taken. I remember a couple years ago they built a new high school in Westport, CT the town next to mine (where Bill McDonough, the famous green builder who has a solar house lives) and despite suggestions and resources in the community (which has a LOT of $$$) to build a ‘green’ school which would be healthier for the kids, as well as a great educational opportunity for them, the town chose to build this ugly monolithic school with little natural light (safer from all the terrorists that run around coastal Connecticut) and no energy-saving or solar features (which would have saved them serious cash over the long run). It was just so lame.
12/21/06 » 10:35 am »