Paper 3b: Institutional Efforts for Green Building: Institutional Efforts for Green Building in Canada and the United States Alex Wilson, Jennifer Atlee and Douglas Webber Background Paper 3b—Institutional Efforts for Green Building: Institutional Efforts for Green Building in Canada and the United States 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................5 Performance Mandates ....................................................................................................................5 National Plans..............................................................................................................................6 Building Codes ............................................................................................................................6 Sidebar: Measures of Performance............................................................................................13 Urban Planning and Zoning Laws .............................................................................................14 Discussion and Recommendations ............................................................................................16 Sidebar: Product Performance Laws and Standards..................................................................18 Voluntary Programs.......................................................................................................................21 Single-issue Energy-efficient Building Labeling Systems........................................................22 Comprehensive Green Building Assessment Programs ............................................................26 Sidebar: The Elephant Is the Room—Tackling House Size......................................................32 Discussion and Recommendations ............................................................................................33 Financial Mechanisms ...................................................................................................................34 Direct Government Incentives for Green Building ...................................................................34 Sidebar: Performance-based vs. Cost-based Tax Credits..........................................................36 In-kind Incentives, Grants, and Special Funding ......................................................................36 Sidebar: Pulling It All Together—King County, WA, United States .......................................38 Tax Shifting and the Fiscal Steering Wheel ..............................................................................38 Emissions Trading and Green Building.....................................................................................40 Other Market-based Approaches ...............................................................................................41 Sidebar: Labeling and Consumer Information ..........................................................................41 Sidebar: Getting Better Feedback..............................................................................................42 Discussion and Recommendations ............................................................................................42 Government Purchasing ................................................................................................................44 Federal Approaches ...................................................................................................................45 Provincial and Municipal Approaches in Canada .....................................................................49 Discussion and Recommendations ............................................................................................49 Technology Development..............................................................................................................50 Education Programs.......................................................................................................................55 Making the Case for Green Building.........................................................................................55 Raising the Knowledge Base of Building Professionals ...........................................................57 Motivating Occupants to Change Behavior...............................................................................60 International Agreements and Initiatives.......................................................................................60 Discussion and Recommendations ............................................................................................62 Analysis and Recommendations....................................................................................................63 Principal Implementation Challenges and Solutions.................................................................64 2030 Vision for Integrated Green Building Policy....................................................................71 Final Considerations ..................................................................................................................71 Background Paper 3b—Institutional Efforts for Green Building: Institutional Efforts for Green Building in Canada and the United States 2 Executive Summary In the United States and Canada, green building is taking off. The continuing growth of an environmentally friendly market, proliferation of municipalities adopting green codes and requirements, and increased recognition of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) program and other voluntary green certification programs will go a long way toward transforming the building industry. It is significant that green building already makes good business sense, even without the support of an economic structure that takes much account of environmental factors. However, it is important to recognize that the extent to which green building is being implemented now, or is likely to be implemented through the continued expansion of existing programs, is still far below the desired level. In championing the goals of The 2030 Challenge, we must recall that 2030 is only 23 years away. The green building movement has advanced considerably since 1984, 23 years in the past, but as it currently holds only roughly five percent of the market, with just a tiny percentage of buildings meeting the 2030 carbon-neutral goals, there is still much to be done. Green building needs to be rapidly implemented at an ambitious performance level and on a huge market scale. To speed up the pace of change, we need an integrated strategy to move the related trades through the learning curve as quickly as possible. It is in rapidly scaling up these efforts that institutional approaches can have the greatest benefit. In addition, a special effort must be made to improve existing buildings, address occupant behavior, and institutionalize effective feedback and continuous improvement. This report outlines the wide variety of institutional approaches available to advance green building in North America. Ideally, and in practice, these modes are used together to form well- rounded green building policies. An integrated approach—in policy, as in building design—can solve multiple problems at once, while lack of integration can create multiple problems at once. Within the body of this report are recommendations at all levels—from simple improvements of existing systems to more far-reaching, economy-wide shifts. The final chapter provides an overarching view of major barriers to rapid market transformation to building green, and key strategies to address those barriers (summarized in the table below). Given different priority issues, cultural and political norms, and existing levels of adoption of green building practices, the implementation strategies for these broader and more detailed recommendations may differ dramatically among the three countries. Green building has garnered much attention for its potential contribution to solving the climate problem. While it is critical to implement strategies along these lines, it is also critical to recognize climate as just one example of the kinds of problems that increasingly confront us. We need not just to take a strong stand to address climate change but also to learn our lessons from the climate problem and recognize the importance of addressing issues early. Background Paper 3b—Institutional Efforts for Green Building: Institutional Efforts for Green Building in Canada and the United States 3 Principal Implementation Challenges and Solutions Barriers Solutions 1.INERTIA: Significant Invest in strong, up-front measures to speed change time and effort are required - Build capacity to implement change - Lower the cost of change - Implement government purchasing programs 2. LACK OF CREDIBLE Measure performance and require labeling DATA: Consumers and - Measure actual and real-time performance decision makers lack the - Facilitate benchmarking data to make good - Require labeling of product and building performance decisions - Develop national indicators 3. MARKET Establish market signals that drive responsible decisions DISFUNCTIONS: There - Tax carbon through politically palatable tax shifting is a lack of full-cost - Implement cap-and-trade programs for