Provide a financial or other incentive to private parties who build new buildings that utilize the SB 2030 energy standard and/or a green building framework.
Best Practice of this action
Rating Guideline
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Incentives include lower interest loans, lowered building or equipment permit fees; note what green building framework qualifies and if buildings have the capacity to charge electric vehicles. Private parties include builders, developers, homeowners, businesses, institutions. Report ADUs, co-housing, small houses / tiny houses and apartments under BPA 7.2; report incentives to reduce salt use in home water softeners under BPA 20.4. |
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Incentives include rebates, tax breaks (e.g., property tax abatement), expedited permit review, green building design assistance, and lower water-connection fees for buildings with water-conserving fixtures; incentives for air source heat pumps. |
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Incentives require meeting the SB 2030 energy standard, or require buildings to be rated/certified under a green building framework, or require conduit for EV chargers in new home/multi-family garages (making them EV-ready); incentives might include a density bonus. |
Resources
- List of green building frameworks, which include codes, standards (including the SB 2030 energy standard), rating systems with certification and guidelines with verification. See also AARP's Livable Communities: Housing page covering "visitable" standards for the disabled and aging, tiny houses, accessory dwelling units, design for extended families, and more. And for new housing projects, the Green Communities Criteria and technical assistance from Minnesota Housing is a great checklist and technical resource for all the many things to consider working into buildings: energy efficiency, renewables, site design, density, landscaping, stormwater, materials, etc.
- See also resources for BPA 3.3.
- The City of River Falls, WI and Habitat for Humanity created a net-zero community called Eco Village whose goal is to show that sustainable housing can and should be “beautiful and affordable for all.” The 18 homes are LEED Platinum and energy neutral. Another net-zero innovation is the St. Paul Port Authority's 2018 net zero warehouse prototype looking for interested cities, businesses, and contractors.
- A city may need to consider incentivizing, or regulating, reduced salt use in water softeners. This salt passes through waste water plants to rivers and lakes, where it has toxic effects on fish and other aquatic organisms, and where it permanently and irreversibly contaminates groundwater. Short of expensive reverse osmosis, there is no feasible way to remove salt from wastewater. Options are central softening of drinking water and encouraging residents to take steps to reduce water softener salt use.
- Going beyond incentives, cities may require all new residential homes and public parking facilities to accommodate electric vehicles (EV) by being EV-ready.
- Municipal Green Building Policies: Strategies for Transforming Building Practices in the Private Sector (Environmental Law Institute: 2008).
- Air source heat pumps are, as of 2020, a proven energy-saving technology in Minnesota, tested through years of practical application and multiple studies.
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