Building Green in San Francisco
According to the Environment News Service, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom expects San Francisco’s buildings to be LEED certified by 2012. Newsom commissioned a 10-member Green Building Task Force in March to determine a process, and the commission came up with a phased approach where buildings would achieve LEED certification first, and hopefully LEED Gold certification by 2012.
“The Task Force acknowledged that green building can result in added design and construction costs. Current industry estimates range from 0-2 percent cost increase for LEED Certified buildings, two to three percent for LEED Silver buildings and three to five percent for LEED Gold buildings.”
For a city that has already discussed a community wireless network and universal health care, while successfully implementing gay marriage (all under Newsom’s authority), this news seems rather run-of-the-mill. Thankfully, the City By the Bay came into some extra revenue recently to help pay for these concepts.
