Why Green Newton Established the Building Standards Committee (BSC)
In 2018, four multi-family housing developers asked Green Newton to endorse their projects because they included sustainable features. I felt uncomfortable recommending our endorsement without setting explicit standards for earning our endorsement.
So, Jim Purdy (a fellow board member) and I asked local building professionals to help us establish Green Newton’s sustainable building standards. A builder, two architects, a mechanical engineer, and two transportation professionals attended our first meeting, and others later joined us.
We established the BSC’s goal: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new multi-family and mixed-use buildings. We would try to influence developers to build more sustainably, and Newton officials to establish stronger standards.
Our Four Principles
We determined the principles that developers must meet to secure Green Newton’s endorsement:
- Passive House certification. These buildings are extremely energy efficient, have excellent indoor air quality, and are remarkably quiet.
- All-electric buildings. These buildings have sharply lower carbon emissions than those powered by on-site fossil fuels because they are much more energy-efficient and because much of the electricity in Massachusetts now comes from renewable sources. Without indoor combustion, the air is healthier too.
- Lower-embodied-carbon building materials. Embodied carbon is the emissions, mostly from fossil fuels, associated with production, transportation, installation, and eventual disposal of building materials. A building’s embodied carbon is comparable to 10 or more years of its operational emissions. Developers can cut it by using less concrete and steel, using wood for their buildings’ facades rather than vinyl, bricks, or cement, and buying from manufacturers that reduce their products’ carbon footprints.
- Enabling residents to use less gasoline. That means incorporating EV charging stations, car-sharing services, and locating developments near transit, jobs, and shopping.
Shooting for the Moon
We established meetings with developers of the largest projects in Newton at the time – Northland, which was planning the Pattern District (now under construction), and Mark Development for their project next to the Riverside T-stop. I didn’t expect them to accept our principles, because we were asking them to profoundly change how they plan and construct their buildings. The Passive House standard was uncommon in Massachusetts at the time, and these developers had no experience with it. Our other requirements posed significant challenges, too.
To my surprise and delight, both developers put real time and money into exploring our principles. Within a year, they agreed with much of what we proposed, so we endorsed both projects. Over the next several years, we met with about a dozen other companies planning major projects in Newton. Most agreed to adopt some or all of our principles. It helped that we could point to Northland and Mark Development.
Then, Much of What We Advocated Became Law
All-electric buildings – In 2022, Massachusetts passed a law that let 10 cities and towns require most new buildings to be all-electric. The BSC and others urged Newton to be one of these communities, and in 2024 it did. Many of the developers we worked with were already designing all-electric buildings.
Passive House – In late 2022, the state strengthened its building code and let cities and towns adopt the Specialized Opt-In Code, a very strong sustainability standard. We and others urged Newton to adopt it, and it did in March 2023. The Code requires Passive House for most multi-family construction.
EV Charging – We encouraged Newton to require some EV charging stations for large multi-family projects, and it did so.
Embodied Carbon: We asked the city to require large projects needing Special Permits to report their embodied carbon. City Council approved this in 2023.
What We’re Working on Now
The new laws require builders to do most of what we advocated in 2018, but there’s still plenty to do.
- Lowering embodied carbon. We advise developers on ways to reduce it and make recommendations to the city regarding its reporting requirement.
- Cutting construction and demolition waste, which makes up a significant share of Newton’s waste. We’re working with the city and other advocates on solutions.
- Updating energy performance requirements for projects that need a Special Permit. We’ve reviewed outdated permit requirements and recommended updates and improvements to the city. We continue to offer guidance.
- Advocating for other sustainable building policies. We have engaged in discussions about Newton Climate Action Plan 2.0, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), BERDO, and other initiatives.
Our success in reducing building emissions is made possible by our members, who are the backbone of Green Newton. As a Green Newton committee, the BSC has the credibility and influence to engage developers and city officials and help shape construction in Newton.