Boulder Green Points

City of Boulder looks to update Green Points Program

The city of Boulder was one of the first jurisdictions in the nation to impose a residential “green” building code. Now it’s looking to raise the green bar even higher.

The city’s Green Points Building Program for residential construction, which encourages homeowners to include cost-effective and sustainable remodeling and building methods that protect the environment, hasn’t been updated since 2001. The program applies to all new residential construction and additions and remodels larger than 500 square feet.

Elizabeth Vasatka, environmental coordinator for City of Boulder’s Office of Environmental Affairs, said staff is proposing the city:

· Adopt the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code and require new homes be 50 percent more efficient than the code’s standard.

· Require homeowners remodeling or adding to their house get a home-energy audit before they get a building permit. The audit, remodeling or adding to their house to get a home-energy audit before they get a building permit. The audit, which can be subsidized through the city-sponsored Residential Energy Audit Program, will educate homeowners about energy-saving opportunities they can incorporate into their project. City staff is proposing to make some of those opportunities mandatory.
· Require remodeling or addition projects to meet standard building codes and earn Green Points to receive a building permit.
· Require contractors donate, reuse or recycle a minimum of 65 percent of an existing structure and 50 percent of construction waste by weight on a new job site.

“We’re somewhat helping folks future-proof themselves for the next 20 to 30 years,” Vasatka said.

Staff is recommending the city help market homes that have met or exceeded the requirements of the program by assisting homeowners in obtaining the federal tax credit; providing a certificate indicating Green Points required and achieved; and serving as a liaison to the Boulder County MLS real estate listing agency to implement Green Points or green building features into the database to assist in marketing properties, Vasatka said.

The city council will vote on the changes in mid-November. If passed, the new requirements will likely become effective in January.

For Mary Lou Robles, an architect and sustainability consultant with Studio Points in Boulder, it’s about time the city upgrades the Green Points Program.

“It’s not a choice anymore,” she said. “There have been enough shifts in the environmental climate that it’s up to us to rethink what and how we build. It’s only logical that the jurisdictions rethink their role and the requirements they place on building.

“There (are) benefits to be had by doing the right thing. (The requirements are) all completely doable and they’re all within economical reach.”
But Kim Calomino, director of Built Green Colorado, Boulder city officials do not know what the 2006 energy code can accomplish, so they shouldn’t try to raise the bar and instead should wait for more green-friendly standards now being worked into the national building code.

The market – not government regulations – should drive green building, Calomino said.

“There’s a fine balance between setting requirements that are cost effective, keeping homes affordable at point of purchase and over the long haul, and requiring homes to be built in such a way that it knocks them out of reach for a lot of folks,” she said.

By RE/MAX of Boulder, Inc.