Washington state becomes first to enact green building law

greenbuilding_signed: "Gov. Christine Gregoire today signed the high performance green buildings bill into law, making Washington the first state to require that new public buildings meet 'green building' standards of energy efficiency, water conservation and other environmental standards.

'With this bill, Washington state is taking the lead to build schools and other state buildings that do a much better job of protecting Washington's air, land and water,' Gregoire said at a signing ceremony at Washington Middle School in Olympia. A planned remodeling and addition to the school will meet the U.S. Green Building Council standards for such things as using recycled materials, ensuring better ventilation in buildings and reducing water and energy use.

'One of my hopes is that by showing the way, we will encourage everybody from mall developers to homebuilders to use the same green building techniques that schools and other government buildings will be using,' Gregoire said.

Under the new law, all major public agency facilities exceeding 5,000 square feet, including school buildings receiving state funding, would be required to meet the green building council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards."