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What's Your Carbon Footprint, Big Boy?

By
Commercial Real Estate Agent with McSweeney Properties

Up until last week, the size of their carbon footprint has probably been the last question on the minds of most real estate developers in Massachusetts. Not for long. On Monday, the environmentally conscious administration of newly minted Democratic governor Deval Patrick quietly announced sweeping new regulations requiring real estate developers to view their proposed projects from an new perspective - through the prism of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG's) .

While it has only just begun readying the new rules, the commonwealth's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) has already announced that it will focus onthe six GHG's identified by the Kyoto Protocol which has been largely shrugged off to date by the Bush White House. The EOEEA promises to hold developers responsible for both direct and indirect emissions attributable to a project. Examples of indirect emissions cited by EOEEA include "emissions from vehicles driven by employees and generating plants supplying electricity to the proposed operation."

You can almost hear the groan from the development community. Commercial real estate development project budgets have long included direct, on-site environmental costs such as remediating contamination and recharging groundwater. Over the past decade even small projects have routinely been required to fund off-site improvements for roads, traffic signals, landscaping and even playgrounds. In encompassing indirect emissions, Massachusetts is telling its real estate developers that they are accountable for auto exhaust from employees and customers cars as well as the belching smokestack of that coal-fired power plant 100 miles distant. Oh, by the way, the new rules (or lack thereof) are effective immediately.

Greener building materials and methods are a laudable - and attainable - public policy. Directly or indirectly, buildings represent the bulk of America's well-documented appetite for fossil fuels. As EOEEA promulgates specific rules to quantify, reduce and mitigate GHG's this summer it can prove to be a thoughtful agent of change, a drag on the economy or a combination of both. One thing is certain: environmental engineering consultants in Massachusetts will be scouring colleges for additioanl recruits this year.

A consistent national policy would be preferable to a patchwork of state rules. After all, Massachusetts doesn't need to make it any easier for North Carolina to woo its corporate citizens to the sunny south. But Washington is unlikely to act in the near term. Stay tuned all you developers. And get ready to dig deeper.

 

Show All Comments Sort:
Roger Stensland
Keller Williams Realty Puget Sound - Maple Valley, WA
Let's Move!
As most of you know, I don't subscribe to the myth about our carbon footprint.  I do subscribe to the fact that as we develop areas, we definitely have an environmental foot print, the destruction of habitat for the flora and fauna.  After moving into the living rooms of bear, coyotes and the like, we complain that it isn't safe with all of the wild animals around.  They need to be moved.  We need to consider what impact we have with our large developments going where they don't belong.
Apr 29, 2007 10:36 AM
ASHEVILLE REALTY REFERRAL RESOURCE 828-776-0779
REAL ESTATE REFERRAL NETWORK - Asheville, NC
CONTACT janeAnne365@gmail.com

Gerry~

 Having read what you wrote and Roger's comment, I'd like to add that possibly North Carolina, where I live and work could take a breath before wooing any more developers than we already have. I am a person who knows first hand the result of ill-considered development. Here's who was at my door this morning and who trails behind the other starving cubs since the 30 acres on the other side of our ridge ( home to these critters for the past hundreds of years) was clear cut.

 

 

 

 

 

Greener building materials and methods are a laudable - as you say..and so is the implementation of a "Smart Growth" Plan.

Apr 29, 2007 11:19 AM
Rob Beland
Apex Properties - Leominster, MA
Leominster MA Multifamily Investment Specialist

Whatever we can do to reduce our carbon footprint should be looked at. Whether it be a small doctor putting up a new office and including a solar water heater and energy efficient windows or a large-scale developer of single family housing committing to using recycled materials in all of his houses, incorporating geothermal heating, and committing to build every house according to the standars set forth by the EPA with respect to the Energy Star rating.

I hope to see more information on this topic as it's something I see as a major issue going forward... 

 

May 21, 2007 09:19 AM