White House Forms $1.8B Coalition on Sustainable Building Performance
By Keith Loria February 1, 2022 4:11 pm
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Last week, President Joe Biden launched a Building Performance Standards Coalition, a first-of-its kind partnership between 33 city, county and state governments.
As part of the coalition, $1.8 billion will be made available to state and local governments through the U.S. Department of Energy to expand building retrofits and policy implementation throughout the nation.
Participating cities include Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., which together encompass more than 20 percent of the nation’s population and approximately 20 percent of the country’s building footprint, according to the official White House fact sheet.
In addition D.C., Annapolis, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland are also participating.
The coalition is committed to “cleaner, healthier and more affordable buildings,” per a release, and will look to provide a shared framework for sustainable building performance.
“Energy efficiency improvements and electrification in multifamily buildings improve indoor air quality, eliminate drafts and protect residents from extreme heat — delivering health benefits and lower health care costs,” the White House stated. “For businesses, high-performing buildings are not only good for the world, they are good for the bottom line — attracting higher occupancy rates and generating more revenue.”
Ultimately, the goal is to advance legislation and regulations in each of the government bodies involved by April 2024.
“Montgomery County is honored to join this impressive group of local and state leaders working toward smart, achievable goals to reduce greenhouse gases by implementing innovative and equitable building performance standards,” Marc Elrich, Montgomery County’s county executive, said in a prepared statement.
He added that the county has already improved requirements for new buildings, and last year adopted “the ambitious” Montgomery County Climate Action Plan, a strategic roadmap to decrease area greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2027 and 100 percent by 2035 using a racial equity and social justice lens.
Requests for further comment from the Maryland counties involved were not immediately returned.
Keith Loria can be reached at Kloria@commercialobserver.com.
