Los Angeles Apartments Become Greener

July 29th, 2009 by Matt DiChiara| Posted in Green Apartment Living | 1 Comment »

Last week, the city of Los Angeles passed new regulation designed to reduce the amount of water buildings use each day. Now, new buildings, which include Los Angeles apartments, will be required to install low-flow faucets, toilets and shower heads and some ancillary plumbing equipment that will help reduce water usage.

This new law joins other conservation measures already on the books such as a citywide recycling program for apartments, and last year’s requirement that all projects above 49,999 square feet or apartments over 49 units must comply with a general LEED-certified standard. To get a somewhat clearer idea of what it means to be LEED certified by the USGBC you can download their 2009 Project Checklist for New Construction and Major Renovation here.

The USGBC website does not give many specifics, but once a developer submits a building to be registered, they can sign in and access guidelines, model materials, best practices and criteria that LEED uses to make decisions. Any new building in LA, therefore, must register with the USBGC and then would be advised to hire architects, contractors, mechanical engineers and landscape architects that are all themselves LEED certified.

This is definitely a sign of things to come; the recent Cap and Trade bill contained within it provisions for a national building code with stringent environmental requirements, and many localities are beginning to require rather than incentivize sustainability measures.

Just last week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that six states and Puerto Rico would receive $162 million, (no not each) to put towards improving commercial and residential building’s in those states.

To find out more information on tax incentives and rebates visit the National Apartment Association’s Green Communities website.