Rafael Reyes on Wednesday, 20 October 2010 23:38

Green Building: Cupertino & Burlingame set standards

Cupertino and Burlingame are each adopting new green building standards.

In Cupertino, this step is part of a county-wide process.  The San Jose Mercury writes:

Over the past year, Cupertino city staff has been working with the community to craft the ordinance using a set of policy recommendations by the Santa Clara County Cities Association's Green Building Collaborative as a starting point....

The proposed ordinance is slightly more stringent than the Cities Association recommendations, which suggest green building standards for different size and types of building.

The Cupertino standards utilize require 75 points Green Points Rated (Build It Green) for new residential construction, LEED Certified for new commercial over 10,000 square feet and LEED Silver (USGBC) for new commercial over 50,000.  Additional elements are specified for various other thresholds.

Burlingame's standards require 15% energy efficiency above Title 24 for new residential and LEED Silver for non-residential above 10,000 square feet.

Both of course incorporate CalGreen, the state-wide standard.