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San Rafael, CA, Leading Effort to Unify Green-Building Standards Countywide
Contra Costa Times
San Rafael is leading a countywide effort among all cities and the county to adopt similar green-building regulations for new construction and remodeling.Known as the Marin Green Building, Energy Retrofit and Solar Transformation Collaborative, or BERST, the effort among Marin's 11 cities and the county aims to unify green building standards for both new construction and remodeling, assist in energy-efficient retrofitting and promote solar programs.
The group also hopes to help foster hundreds of new green jobs and come up with ways to offer attractive financing to create incentives for building upgrades and renewable energy installations.
The group plans to unveil a model green-building ordinance by September and an energy-efficiency retrofit program by the end of the year.
"We're sort of the first out of the pack in terms of having our climate change action plan done. I can sort of condense a year's worth of public process and analysis in a couple of key findings," said Bob Brown, San Rafael community development director.
