1371694 Green Building Editions Update of LEED® and Green Communities

District Department of the Environment

NOTICE OF final RULEMAKING

Green Building Editions Update of LEED^® and Green Communities

The Director of the District Department of the Environment (DDOE), pursuant to the authority set forth in section 12(b) of the Green Building Act of 2006, effective March 8, 2007 (D.C. Law 16-234; D.C. Official Code § 6-1451.11(b)(2008 Repl.)) (GBA); section 107(4) of the District Department of the Environment Establishment Act of 2005, effective February 15, 2006 (D.C. Law 16-51; D.C Official Code § 8-151.07(4)((2008 Repl.)); and Mayor’s Order 2007-206, dated September 21, 2007, hereby gives notice of the intent to amend title 20 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR), to establish the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED^®) standard and Enterprise Community Partners’ Green Communities standard to be LEED^® 2009 and Green Communities 2008 respectively.

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the D.C. Register on May 15, 2009 (56 DCR 3966). The thirty (30) day comment period ended on June 14, 2009, and no comments were received. As required by section 12(b) of the GBA, prior to the issuance of a Notice of Final Rulemaking, this rulemaking was submitted to the Council of the District of Columbia (Council) for a review period of up to forty-five (45) days. The Notice of Final Rulemaking was introduced in the Council on July 10, 2009, and was deemed approved without Council action on October 31, 2009. The Green Building Technical Corrections, Clarification, and Revision Emergency Amendment Act of 2010 (D.C. Law 18-349; D.C. Official Code §§ 6-1451.01, et seq.), which repealed LEED^® and Green Communities editions specified in the GBA, became effective on March 31, 2011.

The updates of LEED^® 2009 and Green Communities 2008 further advance the goals of the GBA to establish high-performance building standards. These standards require the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of building projects that help to mitigate negative environmental, economic, and social impacts associated with built structures in the District. The proposed language would update the regulations to specify that LEED^® 2009 and Green Communities 2008, respectively, will henceforth apply.

The USGBC’s most recent revision of LEED^® maintains the existing foundations of several of its commercial and institutional rating systems, and incorporates them into a single rating system, LEED^® 2009. The prior LEED^® rating systems relevant to this proposed regulation include: LEED^® for New Construction, LEED^® for Commercial Interiors, LEED^® for Core and Shell, and LEED^® for Schools. In LEED^® 2009, credits and prerequisites have been consolidated, aligned and updated to reflect their “most effective common denominator,” which provides a consistent set of prerequisites and credits across the spectrum of commercial and institutional project types.

The USGBC has also made a significant change in the allocation of points compared with previous LEED^® rating systems. The changes increase the relative emphasis on the reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with building systems, transportation, the embodied energy of water, the embodied energy of materials, and where applicable, solid waste. LEED^® 2009 also assigns greater point value to credits that reduce water-use within and around buildings.

Green Communities 2008 (GC 2008) reflects technical modifications resulting from improvements in other nationally recognized standards, such as EPA’s Energy Star and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards. GC 2008 includes expanded technical resources, allowing developers to benefit from additional guidance and greater clarity on resources, materials, and methods to satisfy its criteria. These clarifications improve and retain the effectiveness and rigor of the guidelines, and provide clearer guidance to developers and their project teams. Moreover, the updated GC 2008 explicitly references mandatory and optional criteria that would also qualify for credits under the LEED^® for Homes standard.

DDOE took final rulemaking action on May 26, 2011, and will become effective upon publication of this Notice in the D.C. Register:

TITLE 20 DCMR (Environment) is amended as follows:

Chapter 35 is amended as follows:

The title of section 3501 is amended to read as follows:

3501                Current Editions of Green Building Standards

Subsections 3501.1 and 3501.2 are repealed and replaced with:

3501.1             The current edition of the LEED^® standard is LEED^® 2009.

3501.2             The current edition of the Green Communities standard is Green Communities 2008.