Green in the Desert
By Justin Dunning
As energy prices continue to rise and concerns about global climate change continue to mount, the builders, utilities, and public officials of Riverside and San Bernardino counties are coming together to develop sensible green building programs that balance saving resources and concerns about housing affordability. During 2007, the Imperial Irrigation District, the County of San Bernardino, the cities of Riverside and Corona, and more all launched green building programs making the Inland Empire a model for collaboration between local government and the building industry.
While many people have heard of green building, there is often confusion about what exactly being "green" means. Over the past few years, three green building programs have come to the forefront in California: California Green Builder, Green Point Rated, and LEED for Homes. The programs share many common elements and all provide builders a framework to work within while building green. Of the three programs, California Green Builder has had its largest success with single family production homes, while the Green Point Rated system has enrolled more multifamily and custom home projects. The LEED for Homes program came out of its pilot phase in late 2007, and has positioned itself as the most aggressive and involved of the programs.
While building green often adds to the cost of building a home, there is some help available. All of the above programs require homes to be built 15% above current Title 24 energy efficiency standards. This is the same level of energy efficiency required to qualify for a $500 per home incentive through Southern California Edison's California New Homes Program (CANHP.) For builders in the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) there is an even larger incentive possible. In 2007, IID partnered with California Green Builder to provide an incentive for builders going green. Builders who are certified by California Green Builder can receive up to $1700 per home from the utility. The Hoffman Company's Martana at Polo Estates project, located in Indio, is the first project to qualify for this program. The BIA of the Desert played a key role in bringing California Green Builder and IID together, and their actions signal a growing commitment of builders in the area towards building green.
Beyond the utilities, there are several jurisdictions in the inland empire that are offering non-monetary incentives for builders who go green. On June 11, the city of Riverside passed a historic ordinance providing incentives for builders participating in California Green Builder program. On August 27, the County of San Bernardino launched a similar program. The City of Corona has also adopted a voluntary program and several other cities have passed resolutions in support of green building and are considering adopting green programs as well. Much like the situation with IID, these programs are the result of the building industry being pro-active and engaging the local jurisdictions. The BIA of Riverside and the Baldy View BIA were integral to the passage of the City of Riverside and County of San Bernardino ordinances, respectively.
What, then, is a non-monetary incentive? In the case of the Riverside program, the city offers the following: early release of electric meters, priority field inspections, guaranteed plan check timelines, priority overtime inspections, and fast tracked electric and design, and a fast tracked water timeline. Many of these incentives are ways to move the "green" builder to the front of the line. They incentives do not add any financial burden to the city, but at the same time can save the builder valuable days during the construction process. The county of San Bernardino and City of Corona programs are very similar.
The overall awareness of green has grown tremendously over the past two years. Incentive programs like the ones mentioned above are key to allow builders to deliver resource saving houses that the average buyer can still afford. Whether they are interested in saving the environment or just saving on the utility bill, the number of homebuyers interested in green is growing. The builders, jurisdictions, and utilities of the Inland Empire are working together to ensure that the demand for green is met.
April 2008 Issue