Yes, it’s true–the city known for its wretched excess is aiming to become more energy efficient. From a story I missed in yesterday’s LA Times:
Los Angeles embarked on one of its most ambitious projects to combat global warming on Monday, becoming the biggest city in the nation to impose “green” building rules that would potentially cut millions of tons of pollution over the next decade.
In a unanimous vote, the City Council passed an ordinance requiring builders of large commercial and residential developments to adopt such measures as planting drought-resistant landscaping and using recycled materials and energy-efficient heating, cooling and lighting. [...]
The law requires new commercial buildings and high-rise residential structures with more than 50,000 square feet of floor space to meet a nationally recognized “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” standard, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, a Washington-based nonprofit. It also would cover major renovations and low-rise developments of 50 units or more.
City officials said about 150 new and renovated buildings, or about 7.5 million square feet, would be covered by the ordinance each year.
The rules would amount to preventing about 85,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next five years, the equivalent of removing 15,000 cars from the roads.
Of course, the new law isn’t only about being green–it’s also about saving green:
Experts say that costs for building to the basic Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard are no higher than regular building costs. James Atkins, developer of the Luma, said that it cost his company, the South Group, about 1% more to build to an even higher “gold” standard, but that such costs are recouped through lower operating expenses.
As energy costs continue to rise, the owners of these new, efficient buildings will be glad the investment was made up front to cut their electricity costs.
Tags: efficiency
