Gilmore Richardson said she wants to look into a path toward decarbonization for not just city-owned buildings, but Philly’s entire building stock. If we can do a net-zero building in the future, if we can demonstrate that buildings can do something more ambitious, … then we can kind of go even further from there.” “Showing that we could do LEED Gold in some buildings now means we can make LEED Gold as the floor. “We … like to pilot things out and test them and see how they work before making it mandated,” Knapp said. She cited examples of city projects - such as Barry Playground in South Philadelphia and a policy training facility - that achieved LEED Gold certification before they were required to. Knapp said during last month’s committee meeting that there’s no reason the city can’t reach beyond LEED Gold with its future buildings. Only a handful of municipal buildings achieved LEED certification under the current standards set in 2009 - but Knapp said about a dozen active projects in different phases also meet the criteria. The city’s Office of Sustainability estimates just three to five projects could begin design in the 2024 fiscal year and be subject to the new requirements.
Ultimately, the legislation may not have a big impact on carbon emissions from the city as a whole. “Other cities have taken it further to electrification, and Philadelphia has made a choice not to do that,” said Mike Heaney, a member of the Sierra Club’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Group. They note cities like San Francisco and Seattle have already required new municipal buildings be all-electric or fossil fuel-free. For this reason, advocates with the local Sierra Club group criticize the bill as not doing enough to reach the city’s carbon-reduction goals. “That’s why there’s 110 total credits to choose from.”Ī building can use planet-warming natural gas for heating and still achieve LEED Gold certification, Pavelsky said. “Not every credit in the rating system is going to work for every project,” he said. Some improvements can pay for themselves over time. But they may start considering elements that are initially more expensive - like using materials with a low-carbon footprint, installing electric vehicle chargers, or giving people in a building more control over its temperature and lighting, Pavelsky said. To reach LEED Gold, rather than LEED Silver, designers of a project can still pick and choose from a menu of green and healthy building elements. The city has also committed to carbon neutrality by 2050. Under its Climate Action Playbook released early this year, the city plans to cut municipal carbon emissions 50% and source 100% clean energy for municipal operations by 2030. “We’re going to raise the certification level from LEED Silver to LEED Gold, and we are going to ensure that we align all of our work in city government and are prepared to meet all of the ambitious goals that we set,” said at-large Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson, the bill’s sponsor. That means municipal projects will need to earn at least 60 points for green or healthy building elements through the rating system, up from the current minimum of 50. Many new city buildings currently need to achieve a silver-level certification under the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) system, but the bill raises that bar to LEED Gold. The bill increases the requirements for new construction or major renovations of large city buildings, pushing them toward elements such as on-site renewable energy, optimized energy performance, and sustainable materials. But advocates say the change doesn’t go far enough to address the climate crisis. Many new municipal buildings in Philadelphia will need to meet a higher standard of sustainability, under a bill City Council passed Thursday.
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