Boston is writing LEED certification into the building code for all new large projects! Though setting the bar rather low at LEED-Certified as the minimum rating, Boston has also innovated with four new criteria specific to historic preservation and beantown. the new code should be in effect after January 10th... NYT
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No kidding! I am shocked and quite pleased. Although I shouldn't be surprised that Boston stepped up to the plate to be the first to revise its building code to adhere with the Energy and Environmental Design standards…great progress.
this is why i think leed is a good thing. it's not so much a tool toward finding fresh and creative approaches to sustainable design as it is a rear-guard bottom-line marker of what we can achieve on a broader scale.
it also gives architects some backup in arguing for things that we think we should be doing but which clients often resist due to cost or simply just the trouble of it.
steven, it's the lowest marker there could possibly be, and it never accounts for context on regional, national, or global scale. its a band-aid for establishing a sustainable praxis in america. and futhermore, it basically sustains the foundations of the continued fetishizing of sustainability into a system which does little to nothing in the context of global impact. Like I said before we should really be researching and planning around what our european counterparts are doing and then setting up a system where we can achieve their high benchmarks here in the states.
yes, but...
in ky, my second paragraph above becomes very impt.
agreed, but we should as a community fight the good fight on this one, as it will only damage us and the profession later if we don't push this to its complete realization. fetishizing sustainability will only function in no real progress...
I'd definitely like to see massive changes but sadly enough I don't see it happening [in America] for the short term. At least this gives us some ammunition to do the right thing and at least make some attempt to move forward. So many resist change, so isn't this at least a step in the right direction…
John, could you elaborate on "fetishizing sustainability will only function in no real progress..."
i will...
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