The Cupertino Courier
News
Cupertino is looking at getting more green in building
By Cody Kraatz
The Cupertino City Council is considering in developing a green building program that would guide future construction in the city.
The program, if it proceeds, could be structured based on existing programs such as the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Alameda County's Green Points program. Those standards call for very efficient building designs and materials.
The city has taken some steps toward sustainability--creating a community built on environmental protection, social equity and economic development. But its current policies don't go far enough in meeting those goals long-term, according to a report from Global Green USA, a firm hired to guide the city toward more sustainable practices.
The planning commission, after hearing the initial report on June 26, decided that developing a green building program requiring homeowners and developers to follow environmentally and socially friendly standards is a good place to start.
"It appears to be the logical first step in the creation of a holistic sustainability program for the city and it can be implemented in a relatively short period of time," said Piu Ghosh, a Cupertino assistant planner. A fully sustainable city program would take 12 to 18 months of public outreach and design, and there are no other cities with examples the city could follow.
The council, which was scheduled to discuss the topic July 17, has the option to create a task force that will draft a program to be presented to the planning commission.
De Anza College's Kirsch Center for Environmental Studies is LEED platinum-certified, the highest level. The college has classes focused on green building, a growing industry.
Global Green found through interviews that city staff are interested in sustainability but have many different interpretations of the word. It also heard that existing green policies could be turned into practice more effectively if there were additional staff to reach out to businesses and residents.
In Global Green's assessment, the city got high marks for planning that calls for density, connectivity, alternative transportation and the protection of hillsides and natural areas, as well as for its recycling and composting programs. But it could better promote local, recycled and renewable building materials, campaign to curb the presence of toxic fumes in new buildings and formally encourage green building design, the report said.
Commissioner David Kaneda, whose electrical engineering company specializes in green buildings, pointed out that there have been major advancements in the past five years with higher and higher LEED goals. But Walker Wells, green building program director for Global Green, said Cupertino's program would have to bring all developers and residents on the bandwagon, not just the high-achieving LEED enthusiasts.
"You're trying to lift up everybody because you're trying to capture all buildings, so there's some fundamental training, education, familiarization with the criteria that needs to happen," Wells told the commission.
To learn more about green building, visit www.globalgreen.org/greenbuilding or check out the environmental studies classes at De Anza at www.deanza.fhda.edu/es.
