Green building incentives

Built Green values its relationships with local governments and utilities and we work alongside them to advance green building in their respective jurisdictions. Green building incentives, which come in many forms, can be effective ways to do this. In 2017, four new incentives that include Built Green certification were launched by SnoPUD, Bonneville Power Administration, and the cities of Shoreline and Bellevue. These incentives range from rebates to code departure possibilities to reduced fees. These incentives are in addition to many other incentives on offer—if you’re building green, make sure you take advantage of these opportunities!

Certifications

Built Green certified a total of 836 projects in 2017, including one Emerald Star—the second in Seattle! Though certifications were down compared to 2016, the star-level profile remained nearly the same.

Seattle still dominated the Built Green market, with 77 percent of 2017 certifications occurring within the city. The geographical spread was stronger than in 2016, however, with 12 other cities playing host to projects.

Who built these projects? 199 Built Green builder members! Isola Homes certified the most projects—88—while 30 builders certified one project a piece.

Built Green’s market share remains incredibly strong in Seattle, representing over a third of all residential development and an incredible 65 percent of all new single-family homes and townhomes! This is calculated by comparing the number of permits pulled to Built Green certifications; if we were to calculate this by the number of enrollments,* the share would be significantly higher.

Enrollments

Though certifications were a bit lower than in 2016, the number of enrollments was much higher, portending well for future years! In 2017, 1,403 projects, accounting for 4,256 units, enrolled in Built Green—a 27 percent increase in project enrollments and a doubling of enrolled units! This increase was accounted for by both single-family and multi-family projects.

Built Green had a great 2017, and if these achievements and numbers indicate anything, it’s that there’s a lot to come in 2018!

*Neither certification nor enrollment necessarily occurs at the same time as permitting, though there is a chance enrolling does. However, we use certifications as a measure despite the time lag, because we want to ensure a project did indeed meet Built Green requirements before we count it.

Photos courtesy Alabastro Photography