The Building Standards Committee (BSC) is a Green Newton team that works with mostly large-scale projects, many of which are multi-family housing developments, to improve their building plans and to ensure sustainability in new construction.
According to Dan Ruben, the BSC Chair, “One of the key BSC principles is Passive House Development, which is a building certification that ensures extremely high energy efficiency and excellent indoor air quality. Another is low embodied carbon, which means the materials used in the building also have a smaller carbon footprint than those that are typically used. The BSC has also advocated for all-electric buildings that use electricity for heating, hot water, and clothes drying.”
The largest project the BSC influenced is the Northland Newton Development, which is an 800-unit, mixed-use project currently under construction. If it were completed today, it would be the biggest passive house development in the United States.
The BSC has also worked with the City to update the sustainability requirements for developers who need a special permit. For example, buildings with areas of 20,000 square feet or greater are now required by Newton to conduct an embodied carbon study and have EV charging stations for 10% of their parking spaces.
Much of what the BSC has advocated for has become law. The State of Massachusetts enabled municipalities to enact a Specialized Opt-In Stretch Energy Code, and Newton was one of the first communities to adopt it. Among other measures, it requires multi-family buildings of 12,000 square feet or greater to achieve Passive House certification.
The State also enabled 10 cities and towns to require that new construction be all-electric, and Newton became one of the 10 communities with such a law.
Along with other Newton organizations, the BSC advocated for the passage of BERDO (Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance), which requires all existing non-residential buildings in Newton to hit increasingly stringent energy-efficient standards and ultimately eliminate their use of fossil fuels by 2050. In other words, they will need to stop burning fossil fuel and convert to electric heating, hot water, and clothes drying by then.
To stabilize the climate and avert the most catastrophic outcome, humanity needs to stop burning fossil fuel in buildings, transportation, and other areas. Green Newton’s Building Standards Committee works to speed the transition away from fossil fuel in buildings by establishing Newton as a leader that other communities can emulate.
Maya Fendler is a sophomore at Newton North High School.
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