New Home Construction
Green Building Guidelines

2005 Edition

These Guidelines are designed for the residential building industry. They offer:

• Suggestions to minimize construction-related waste, create healthier and more durable homes, reduce operating costs for homeowners and support local manufacturers and suppliers of resource-efficient building materials.
• Methods to reduce the impacts of building in Alameda County communities; including solid waste management, water conservation, energy efficiency and resource conservation.

Alameda County residents may order a free copy online.

If you are a design and building industry professional working on projects in Alameda County, you may request a free print copy via email.

Or you may download the entire file (large file size 2.9Mb)

The Guidelines were first developed in 2000 through a partnership among local developers, architects, builders, contractors, green building experts and staff of the Alameda County Waste Management Authority and Recycling Board. The Guidelines were updated in 2005 to expand its applicability throughout California, address changes in Title 24 – the California energy code, and incorporate measures from other residential green building initiatives such as the California Green Builder program, National Association of Home Builders guidelines, and the pilot draft LEED for Homes checklist.

The accompanying single-family new construction GreenPoint Checklist is available as a self-assessment tool for evaluating how green a home is. (These pages are included in the Green Building Guidelines as Chapter 3.) It is also the basis for the third-party GreenPoint Rated program offered by Build It Green.

GreenPoint Rated is a voluntary California home rating system that allows homebuyers to compare newly built homes on a level playing field. It rewards professionals who create green homes by providing a trustworthy consumer label.

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