Today's Washington Post has an article entitled, "Building 'Green,' A Dream at a Time." The story details how an Alexandria man, Terry Hill, is building "what he hopes will be Alexandria's first 'zero energy' house." Using a combination of energy efficiency techniques such as "Structurally Insulated Panels," combined with solar and geothermal power, Hill's house promises to be one of the first "zero-energy houses" in Virginia.
Speaking of Virginia, the Post article quotes Arlington's "Green Choice" green building manager, Stella Tarnay: "...despite the growing interest in green homes and green buildings, Virginia has been slow in supporting environmental innovation." The article continues, comparing Virginia unfavorably to other states in this area:
Although the federal government and a few states, including California and Florida, offer homeowners and businesses small tax incentives and credits when they install solar power, upgrade insulation or windows or take other measures to save energy, Virginia offers nothing."Maryland has a tax credit for the purchase of solar panels. Virginia doesn't," said Lee O'Neal, a home energy rater with NSpects in Chantilly, who conducts home energy audits and helps devise plans to make homes more efficient. "Last year, we had nine bills on energy efficiency and green building in the Virginia General Assembly, and all of them were tabled."
Actually, lawmakers did pass one bill last year to encourage solar, wind, natural gas and other alternative fuels, as well as encourage fuel and energy efficiency. But the measure was never funded, Hill said.
To turn this situation around, Del. Adam Ebbin and State Senator Mary Margaret Whipple have each introduced "Green Buildings Acts." The two bills (HB2555 and SB1273) each require that "all major facility projects of state agencies...be constructed to meet United States Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) certification standards, unless granted an exemption by the Director of the Department of General Services."
On January 24, Whipple's bill was reported out of the General Laws and Technology committee with admendments by a 13-1 vote. Ebbin's bill is still sitting in the House Committee on General Laws. It's time to pass both of these bills and to have Governor Kaine sign them into law. The rest of the country is moving forward on this - the US Department of Energy has set a goal of all new houses in the USA using 70% less energy by 2020 than existing houses do today - so what's Virginia waiting for? C'mon now, we're one of the most educated, technologically advanced states in the country; let's get moving on this!
Thanks for the post -- I will lobby for these bills ASAP!