Political Story

New House Bill aims to reduce climate pollution

Homes, commercial buildings and public institutions consume 70 percent of the electricity in the state of Washington and take credit for more than 30 percent of the state’s carbon dioxide emissions, according to a new House bill.

House Bill 1747 –“Reducing climate pollution in the built environment,” passed on March 9, 2009, and puts pressure on cities in the state of Washington to drastically reduce energy use that comes from heating and air conditioning systems in those buildings. In the city of Pullman, new building construction, renovations and future building plans may soon feel the effects this new bill.

According to section four of the bill, it will “require new buildings to meet a certain level of energy efficiency, but allow flexibility in building design, construction and heating equipment efficiencies within that framework.”

As plans to renovate and preserve areas of College Hill move forward, Public Works Administrative Assistant Bethany Johnson said she has not heard of any city-led programs to convert the historic buildings into being more “green.” However, Pullman Planning Director Pete Dickinson said the renovations to College Hill will have some environmentally friendly aspects.

“There are two basic ways in which the draft plan promotes environmental sustainability,” Dickinson said. “First, it encourages high density housing in the area to continue to bring a large concentration of the city’s population adjacent to its major destination point (WSU) so as to facilitate pedestrian travel over motor vehicle use.”

Dickinson said the draft plan also included that the city plans on implementing a “complete streets” program to make public streets friendlier and to encourage walking, bicycling and other forms of non-vehicle transportation. He also said that these improvements will be paid for by city revenues, so students will not experience any increase in tuition for this project. He said there are no current plans for any new buildings to be added to the College Hill area.

As construction on the new Wal-Mart Supercenter draws near – and other building permits are awaiting approval – the new bill appears more relevant to the city of Pullman. The bill requires that the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development release a strategic energy-use plan to the State Building Code Council by Dec. 31, 2010, and provide an update every three years.

The plan submitted by the department will include that by 2013, new homes and buildings must be designed and constructed to achieve a 40 percent reduction in energy use. After 2013, the expected energy reduction will increase by five percent every three years until 2031. By 2031, building energy use is expected to be reduced by 70 percent. The bill also states that “improving buildings energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2030 could create an estimated 800,000 net jobs nationwide.”

Although the project on College Hill calls mostly for historic preservation of existing buildings, these buildings will still be affected by the bill. Along with putting together a plan for building energy usage, the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development will also be responsible for putting together a team of experts to inspect buildings in the future. This team is required to have a historic preservation representative who is recommended by the state of Washington Historic Preservation Commission, along with other building and energy experts.

This bill was sponsored by 19 representatives in the state of Washington, with Rep. Christine Rolfes as the primary sponsor. Rep. Deborah Eddy, who is a co-sponsor of the bill, said she helped Rolfes make amendments to the bill that helped it pass.

“My motivation for co-sponsoring the bill lies primarily in the fact that we know that heating and air conditioning buildings is one of the biggest consumers of carbon-based energy,” Eddy said. “If we can reduce the amount of energy needed to heat and cool buildings then we massively reduce our state’s greenhouse gas emissions.”


SOURCES CONTACT INFORMATION
Pete Dickinson- Phone: 509-3383279
E-mail: Pete.Dickinson@Pullman-wa.gov
Bethany Johnson- Phone: 509-338-3213
E-mail: Bethany.Johnson@Pullman-wa.gov
Rep. Deborah Eddy- E-mail: Eddy.Deborah@leg.wa.gov









OUTLINE

A. What the bill is about (basic information)

B. How this bill relates to building in Pullman


1. What projects are going on in Pullman?
2. Wal-Mart, College Hill
3. Information from Bethany and Pete

C. More information about the bill


1. How does this new information relate to Pullman?

D. Representatives who sponsored the bill


1. Deborah Eddy. Why did she co-sponsor bill?