Healthy and Green Living

SAN FRANCISCO, JANUARY 15, 2008—Bay Area builders are vowing to curb the energy they use building homes in half by 2020.

The pledge halves energy consumption compared with 1990 levels, said Joseph Perkins, president of the Home Builders Association of Northern California.

It doesn’t stop there. The group also plans to cut emissions of carbon dioxide by 30 percent during the same time frame.

“We wanted to be a part of this emerging green economy. We didn’t want to wait,” Perkins told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We want to give the residents of this region what they want, and they want green homes.”

In addition to reducing energy and carbon emissions, the group says it will use more efficient building materials, power tools and possibly solar panels.

Further, the group called for an adoption of mandatory green building standards in Bay Area communities.

“HBANC believes that making sustainable green building standards mandatory is not only good for the environment and our planet, but it’s good for business, good for consumers, good for our growing clean tech economy and the right thing to do,” Perkins said.

HBANC is partnering with Build It Green, a Berkeley-based organization, that provides the standards, known as the Green Point Rated program. HBANC hopes the program will become mandatory in all Bay Area cities and counties.

“We are very excited to be partnering with HBANC in expanding the Green Point Rated program,” said Brian Gitt, executive director of Build It Green. “Together, we can help the Bay Area and California reach the broader goals of dramatically reducing our energy consumption, lowering our carbon emissions and growing our clean tech economy.”

HBANC decided to make the pledge after extensive research into growing consumer demand for green-building practices.

“Consumers want new homes that reduce energy costs, provide a healthy living environment and still feature the amenities they need at a price that is affordable,” Perkins said.