U.S. Green Building Council aligns programs with CALGreen

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) said it has availability of a new path for California project developers seeking LEED certification.

Starting July 1, non-residential projects in California subject to the mandatory 2013 California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen) requirements will be able to use an alternative documentation path for LEED. CALGreen is the nation’s first statewide mandatory green building code, covering nearly all residential and nonresidential construction in California.

This new path will make beyond-code green building leadership even more accessible as the state continues to set more aggressive targets for energy and water efficiency, USGBC says.

The alternative documentation path outlines a set of documents that projects may provide in lieu of standard LEED documentation in order to demonstrate LEED compliance.

The alternative documentation path will be available for use on factors related to indoor water use reduction, refrigerant management, the storage and collection of recyclables, construction waste management, and the use of low-emitting paints and adhesives.

“These new streamlined documentation options offer cost savings to project teams while maintaining the quality and rigor of LEED,” says Jeremy Sigmon, director of Technical Policy, USGBC. “In turn, projects already designing and building to the CALGreen code will find LEED and its many benefits more readily within reach.”

A guide focusing on the critical role of grid interactivity in building decarbonization was recently published by ASHRAE. The Grid-Interactive Buildings for Decarbonization: Design and Operation Resource Guide provides information on maximizing carbon reduction through buildings’ interaction with the electric power grid.

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Yale University breaks ground on the nation's largest Living Building student housing complex

University Buildings | Dec 8, 2023

Yale University breaks ground on nation's largest Living Building student housing complex

A groundbreaking on Oct. 11 kicked off a project aiming to construct the largest Living Building Challenge-certified residence on a university campus. The Living Village, a 45,000 sf home for Yale University Divinity School graduate students, “will make an ecological statement about the need to build in harmony with the natural world while training students to become ‘apostles of the environment’,” according to Bruner/Cott, which is leading the design team that includes Höweler + Yoon Architecture and Andropogon Associates.