PROVIDENCE – New public buildings in Rhode Island must meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or equivalent standards under legislation passed by the General Assembly last week.
The legislation is awaiting action from the governor, who could sign it, veto it or let it become law without his signature. A spokeswoman said he was still reviewing the bill.
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The bill requires public buildings that have not entered the design phase or started construction by Jan. 1 to meet certain energy efficiency standards. The rules apply to any construction project with more than 5,000 gross square feet of occupied or conditioned space and renovation projects larger than 10,000 gross square feet of occupied or conditioned space.
Communities have their choice of meeting LEED standards or accepted equivalents, including green globes, Northeast collaborative high-performance schools protocol; or other corresponding high-performance green building standardS accepted by the R.I. Department of Administration.
Lawmakers exempted buildings for which there are no standards or where “there is no practical way to apply the LEED standard or other high-performance green building standard to a particular building.” In those cases, the Department of Administration will set standards particular to that project, the bill says.
The bill also calls for the Department of Administration to create regulations, monitor compliance and issue an annual report, which includes the projects exempted from the requirement and reasons why.
In addition, the bill establishes an advisory committee with representatives from the design, construction, lumber and building materials industries to help the department implement the regulations.
