Are you ready for CalGreen?

Confused about what CalGreen means for you?  The good news is that you're not alone!  With CalGreen going into effect in January 2011, we created this guide to help you prepare for it.

It's always a good idea to read the actual codes but since each community is implementing it in a different way, you should check with your local building department.  A great resource, if you're in the SF Bay Area, is the Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC).  Here's a great map made by the BACC of how bay area communities are implementing CalGreen.

You'll see that many of the communities are requiring new construction to be rated through Build it Green's GreenPoint system so you may want to check out their web site for more information.  If you're wondering how the GreenPoint system cross-references with the LEED ratings we reference, the BACC has provided a great analysis of that here.

Regardless of the specifics, you can still find great ideas on our web site.  Here are some directly relevant areas for CalGreen (be sure to check with your local codes to see if you need other areas we cover in this web site.

Landscape Controls: CalGreen requires weather based landscape control systems.  We review the leading Internet and sensor based systems.

Paints and Finishes: CalGreen has very specific requirements for VOC levels in paints and finishes.  All our paints meet or exceed these requirements.  If you can't find anything on our web site, the folks at the Collaborative for High Performance Schools have a product directory with paints that are low/no VOC with links to their MSDS information.  Finally, if you want to do your own legwork, the Pharos Project has in depth analysis of products and is the place to go if there are specific chemicals you're trying to avoid.