SB5732 – Requiring new buildings over 50,000 sq. ft. to include green, agrivoltaic, or bio-solar roofs, or to make a cash-in-lieu payment for local climate resiliency programs.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Wellman (D; 41st District; Mercer Island) (Co-Sponsors Sheldon, Randall, and Claire Wilson – Ds)
Current status – Had a hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology January 26th. Still in committee at cutoff.
Next step would be – Dead bill.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.
Comments –
The bill’s findings declare that green roofs provide greater weatherization and insulation for a building, can prolong the service life of HVAC systems through decreased use, can triple the life of the roof, can reduce stormwater runoff, can help clean the air and reduce urban heat island effects, can generate employment, can provide recreational spaces, and can be effectively combined with solar panels. (The Living Roofs website has some photos of these.)
It doesn’t take the differences in their potential performance in the different climates in the Eastern and Western half of the state into consideration in any way.
Summary –
After January 1, 2025, the bill would require the design of any new building where the sum of multifamily residential, commercial, and industrial area was over 50,000 square feet, excluding the parking garage area, to have at least 70% of the roof be a green roof. Half of that area could be solar and half could be an intensive green roof with at least six inches of soil; all of it could be an extensive green roof with between three and six inches of soil if half the area also had solar panels; a quarter of the dedicated area could have solar and three-quarters of it could have an extensive green roof; or a quarter of it could have solar panels, half of it could be an extensive green roof, and a quarter of it could be an intensive green roof producing food.
They would have to be designed and constructed by qualified teams of contractors including engineers, landscape architects, architects, and at least one green roof professional. They’d have to have a five-year maintenance plan with a minimum of two visits a year, and be designed to facilitate inspection by local authorities to ensure ongoing energy and environmental performance.They’d have to “be part of performance rating systems” including the LEED program, Sustainable Sites, and the Living Architecture Performance Tool. The Building Code Council would have to adopt rules for the requirements by December 31, 2024.
Building owners could apply for full or partial exemptions from the requirements during permitting and make a cash-in-lieu payment of $50/sq. ft. instead. (The bill estimates that as the average cost of constructing a green roof.) [As I read the bill, these exemptions have to be granted if they’re requested; jurisdictions have to spend any payments they receive on local climate resiliency programs.]
The bill would have the Washington State Institute for Public Policy do a report to the Legislature on the cost of constructing a green roof by January 1, 2025; and recommend any changes to the cost estimates in the Act to ensure that the costs of the various alternative assemblies for complying are roughly equivalent and the cash-in-lieu payments are based on the actual average cost of constructing a green roof.
If funds were appropriated for it, the Institute would also do a cost-benefit analysis of the use of these systems on buildings between 10,000 to 50,000 square feet, in consultation with Ecology, Commerce, and an organization that has experience conducting them. The analysis would include agrivoltaic installation and maintenance costs; and the effects of these various systems on stormwater runoff and water treatment facilities in communities over 50,000; on public health and air quality; on energy efficiency and reductions in fossil fuel use for buildings with agrivoltaic systems; and on Job creation.