Gavin Newsome, mayor of San Francisco, has proposed a broad new ordinance that will require all future city development over a certain size to configure either to LEED certification from the USGBC, and if under that size, to be GreenPointRated from BuildItGreen. This edict is based on a recommendation from a panel of 10 active members of San Francisco's business community, including building owners, developers, and financial institutions.
While this idea may seem like a great idea for the future of green building development, it unfortunately carries potential long-term negative consequences. For example, there's always a dampening effect on development any time governmental regulations are applied to the private marketplace, including higher than anticipated costs, which are always passed onto the end user.
In reality, landlords and developers are already at the beginning stages of heading into the green era on their own, and it's not due to simply wanting to do the right thing for the environment. Basic market economics are driving this movement. Many public and even private companies are requiring that any new lease commitments they make include LEED certified buildings for their new locales. This is in line with these companies' corporate responsibility mandates, and so, with that in mind, building green may be one place where the market will take care of itself without too much governmental interference.
Comments, Pingbacks:
No Comments/Pingbacks for this post yet...
