California OKs Nation's Greenest Building Code

New rules on plumbing, waste go into effect next year
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 13, 2010 5:53 PM CST
California OKs Nation's Greenest Building Code
Motorcyclists to take on the stretch of re-opened California Highway 2 near Wrightwood, Calif., in the Angeles National Forest Wednesday, May 20, 2009.   (AP Photo/Eric Reed)

A California commission has approved rules designed to make the state's new buildings some of the greenest in the country. The building code, known as Calgreen, requires among other things that builders use high-tech plumbing, recycle half their overall waste, and use low-pollutant paints and floorings. The rules go into effect next January and are expected to increase costs only slightly, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

"This is something no other state in the country has done—integrating green construction practices into the very fabric of the construction code," said the chair of the California Building Standards Commission.
(More California stories.)

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