Can State Budgets Support Green Building?
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As part of our review of the economic downturn's effect on green building, on Monday we looked at private projects that have cut LEED certification due to associated costs. Today, we move from private projects to public projects. Despite this shift, the theme is the same: the economic downturn will result in less public projects pursuing LEED certification. Want proof? In the same Gazette.Net article cited to on Monday, one Maryland public project has already abandoned LEED certification:
A Frederick County Public School project, the Earth and Space Science Lab at Lincoln Elementary in Frederick, also had registered for LEED certification. Directors withdrew from the process in the spring, realizing it could not meet the standards without incurring additional costs.
Gov. Martin O'Malley directed state agencies yesterday to look for budget cuts of up to 5 percent that could include layoffs or unpaid furloughs for state employees, as he seeks savings in this year's budget and prepares a spending plan for next year. An economic downturn has cut tax collections, so O'Malley must make cuts for the fiscal year that began in July to keep the $14 billion operating budget in balance, as required by law.
One area where state agencies may seek budget cuts is through green building programs. For example, the Maryland Green Buildings Tax Credit (you may remember this from the Shaw Development case) has yet to be renewed in 2008 and it seems unlikely to be renewed in the face of the state's huge deficit. Additionally, Governor Martin O'Malley signed Maryland's High Performance Buidings Act on April 24, 2008, which requires construction or major renovation of public projects to achieve green building certification through LEED, Green Globes or an equivalent green building system unless a waiver is obtained. If agencies are asked to cut 5 percent from their budgets, it's not a stretch to imagine agencies using waivers to eliminate green building certification and the associated costs.
Obviously, Maryland is not the only state with a major deficit that has now been hit by the economic downturn. It will be interesting to see Maryland and other states manage the green building certification process in face of state deficits.
Related Links:
- Developers Cede LEED Label for Savings (Gazette.Net)
- State Budget Troubles Worsen (Center on Budget)
- O'Malley Calls for 5% Cuts in State Agencies' Budgets (Baltimore Sun)
- Maryland Green Buildings Tax Credit (Maryland Govt.)
- Maryland's High Performance Buildings Act (Maryland Govt.)
This is a troubling development if it extends to building green in addition to the decision of whether or not to pursue a rating certification. As a culture, we can certainly afford to forgo certification processes but we cannot afford to forgo building green. There are far too many impacts on energy consumption, land use impacts, climate change, and human health for us to backslide to business-as-usual building practices.
If we must make budget cuts in the short term to get through bad times, I would propose it is better to not build at all rather than to build poorly. A building freeze strategy will actually save significant sums of money in comparison to simply editing out green strategies, which will result in relatively VERY small cost savings.
Maryland may be able to continue funding it green building and other efficiency efforts with proceeds from its greenhouse gas auction: http://cier.umd.edu/RGGI/CIER_RGGI_Energy_Efficiency_Spending_Study%5B1%5D.pdf.
Jason,
As always, thanks for the thoughtful comments.
The more I think about the use of green building certifications in state regulations, the more I am becoming convinced this is not the way to go. I am definitely going to be writing about this subject more. Incorporation of specific green building strategies into regulations and building codes seems much more feasible at this point.
Have a great weekend!
Chris
Melissa,
Thanks for the great idea. I will definitely be taking an in-depth look at the study. I would be interested to see if Maryland can or has set aside funds from this program to pay for other environmental programs. Can they do that?
For those of you who don't know, I credit Melissa as being the person that really turned me on to green building.
Thanks,
Chris
Great link, Melissa, thanks!
Chris -- I'm with you on being ambivalent on green building certfication regs. They certainly are succeeding in raising the bar on green building awareness throughout the private and public building sectors, but we may be inadvertantly setting ourselves up for some really nasty litigation through their use.
Chris, good post. I think this is part of a larger issue. The green movement has collided with the realities of the economic downturn. This has affected everything from renewable energy development, climate change, to green building mandates. Typically, the environment loses when it collides with economic realities.
Joe,
Thanks for the comment! It is going to be very interesting to see what is done to regarding the environment in light of the economic situation. I would generally agree with you regarding the economy winning out, but I don't think there has been as big a consensus regarding environmental initiatives in the past. 2009 will be very interesting.
Thanks
Chris
I living maryland, I have always wanted build a green farm. My question is: What books, articles, or websites should look at to find maryland construction laws, reusable materials that can be used for construction, and green product that is for every day use?