Dallas, Texas… Who would have thought Dallas would be on its way to becoming one of the greenest cities in the United States?
Surprisingly, green buildings aren’t new to Dallas. The city is home to over 140 LEED-certified buildings, including 23 LEED-certified municipal government facilities. Dallas also has 59 million square feet of Energy Star-certified buildings, and Texas placed second with over 36 million square feet of LEED-certified buildings in the US Green Building Council’s 2012 state rankings.
On October 1st, Dallas implemented mandatory minimum green building in an aggressive effort to cut citywide power and water consumption en route to the goal of carbon neutrality by 2030.
As part of the endeavor, Dallas just accepted the first building permit applications under its green building ordinance. Dallas is one of the first major cities in the nation to implement comprehensive mandatory green building standards for both all new residential and commercial construction.
The construction process in Dallas is getting much more environmentally friendly – with requirements to divert a 50% minimum percentage of waste material from landfills, as well as to source 45% of building components from recycled, recyclable, bio-based, or local materials. Developers even have to attend mandatory training classes and pass a certification exam to receive green builder certification.
All newly proposed construction projects must now meet minimum certification requirements from one of three established standards: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the International Green Construction Code (IgCC), or Green Built Texas.
The successful implementation of green building standards in Dallas has been widely heralded across the environmental industrial complex, including on the US Green Building Council website.
