By Brent Begin
Examiner Staff Writer 3/20/09
The mayor blogged Thursday that he has convened an Existing Buildings Efficiency Task Force to turn the energy-wasting buildings of San Francisco into the green dreams of tomorrow — a move he said will help the environment and create green jobs in The City.
New construction annually accounts for only about 1 percent of The City's buildings, according to the Mayor's Office, which hinted that new legislation to existing green buildings is on the horizon.
The task force's "recommendations will inform new legislation to improve the performance of the built environment in San Francisco," the Mayor's Office said.
Legislation passed in 2008 requires all new commercial buildings of more than 5,000 square feet, residential buildings more than 75-feet tall and renovations on buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to be certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, standards created by the U.S. Green Building Council.
More than half the commercial buildings in San Francisco were constructed before 1978, when the state adopted energy-efficiency standards. Those require far more energy than ones built afterward, Newsom blogged Thursday on the liberal Huffington Post Web site.
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