Arlington County, Virginia Adopts Updated Green Building Incentive Program to Achieve Carbon Neutrality

Arlington County, Virginia has issued an update to its Green Building Incentive program to support its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The update reflects the county's commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, which account for approximately 58 percent of emissions in Arlington. The program was developed through a collaborative effort involving developers, architects, energy engineers, environmental groups, and other stakeholders.

Key Takeaways:

• The updated Green Building Incentive program requires buildings to achieve LEED Gold certification (or "Earthcraft Gold") for multi-family projects to receive bonus density in site plan projects, an increase from the previous LEED Silver baseline.
• The program includes prerequisites for participation, such as the use of renewable energy, meeting specific energy efficiency criteria, supplying electric vehicle charging stations, post-occupancy energy performance, and community sustainability criteria, including social equity and bird-protection features.
• The highest levels of participation in the program offer options to comply with exceptional energy performance standards, such as Passive House, Net-Zero or Zero-Carbon.
• Developers who file special exception site plans before March 12, 2021, will be able to follow the requirements of the 2014 Green Building Incentive policy.
• The program includes an automatic update that will take effect on June 30, 2023, increasing the minimum requirements for energy optimization, and a full review and update of the Policy within three years of adoption.
• Since Arlington's first LEED bonus density project was approved in 2001, 146 site plan buildings have been approved by the County Board, with 57 of those built and achieving LEED commitments.

Statistics:

• 58 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Arlington are generated by buildings.
• 146 site plan buildings have been approved by the County Board to date.
• 57 of the approved buildings have been built and achieved LEED commitments.
• Approximately 17 million square feet of development in Arlington have been certified green in the last 20 years.
• By 2050, Arlington aims to become carbon neutral.
• June 30, 2023, is the date for the automatic update of the program's requirements.

Sources:

• Arlington's Community Energy Plan (CEP), updated in 2019.
• Staff report on the Green Building Incentive program update, available on the Arlington County website.
• Arlington County Board agenda for the Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, Regular County Board Meeting, Item No. 35.