Green building opportunities are important to a growing number of people throughout the Bay Area. As interest in sustainable alternatives to traditional building materials and management increases, it’s interesting to note which green building trends are most prominent in San Jose.
Although many people associate the US Green Building Council’s LEED rating system with new construction, for the past three or four years the fastest-growing LEED segment in the San Jose area has been Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance, aimed at retrofitting existing structures to make them more eco-friendly. Artificial turf can also help with LEED certification.
States such as California and municipalities in some parts of the country are requiring Green Building Performance Disclosure, in which building owners must tell prospective buyers and tenants about green building performance.
Saving energy and water.
ENERGY STAR appliances and building materials are becoming the norm, for replacing everything from furnaces and appliances to windows and doors. Aside from environmental benefits, these green building options improve comfort and save money. Also, homeowners and commercial building managers now have more options for cloud-based and wireless energy management solutions that greatly increase efficiency.
Our extreme drought – not alleviated in any meaningful way by recent rains – is driving greater interest in water-saving fixtures indoors and broader use of outdoor features such as rainwater capture and reuse. Download your water saving tips now!
Roofs are becoming a green building focal point.
Even as California’s substantial solar incentives are winding down, use of solar power is projected to continue increasing. As of January 2014, all new commercial and residential buildings in the state must be built with solar-ready roofs. Solar options include photovoltaic panels or modules, solar shingles and tile solar roofing.
Younger home buyers are looking for “earthy” roofing that offers greater visual appeal as well as eco-friendly qualities. One example is laminate asphalt shingles that are very durable yet offer more options in terms of dimensional styling and coloring. Another newer alternative either composite and asphalt shingles manufactured with cooling granules that increase energy efficiency.
Along that same line, reflective roof coatings are being introduced to reduce indoor temperatures in hot weather by deflecting heat from the roof’s surface. There are now more products available to coat existing roofs, including latex, silicone, acrylic and polyurethane. This alternative is particularly popular because it’s very affordable and provides a faster return on investment, both through energy savings and because coated roofs are easier to maintain and last longer.
Roofing colors are going lighter, too, in part as a stylistic trend and in part because of their heat-reducing ability, although sustainable cedar shakes and shingles remain popular.
The City of San Jose is a leader in promoting green building.
As part of its Green Vision initiative, the City of San Jose has instituted policies that require certain sustainable building practices for both municipal and private sector projects. On the municipal side, all new building projects or additions of more than 10,000 square feet of occupied space must meet at least LEED Silver certification for design and construction. This requirement extends to non-municipal projects that receive City funds.
The San Jose City Hall, completed in 2009, was the first municipal structure in the country to receive LEED-EB (Existing Building) Platinum certification.
For private construction projects, the City strongly encourages architects, developers, contractors and building owners to adopt “meaningful sustainable building goals” from the beginning of their design process.
In San Jose, from green roofs and cool roofs to more efficient energy management tools, the biggest trend in green building is that going green is going mainstream.
