Sustainability

Green Communities Criteria

Green Communities is a five-year, $555 million commitment by Enterprise Community Partners to build more than 8,500 healthy, efficient homes. The program has the dual purpose of providing housing for low-income people and making environmentally sustainable development the mainstream in the affordable housing industry. Green Communities homes are built according to the Green Communities Criteria, the first national framework for healthy, efficient, environmentally smart affordable homes.

Planning and Sustainability Priorities for the City of Santa Fe

Several planning documents, policies, and regulations address Santa Fe’s priorities for encouraging compact, community-oriented development and the efficient use of resources, particularly water and energy. In particular, the City has two planning goals related to sustainability: 1) to reduce greenhouse emissions in response to the 2030 Challenge and the US Conference of Mayors Agreement on Climate Change and 2) to implement a green-building code for all new residential development.  In response to these priorities, the City established the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission to write the Draft Sustainable Santa Fe Plan, currently under review and available for public comment. The City also formed a Green Building Code Working Group to propose ways to revise the City’s existing code to encourage more sustainable building practices. The code is notable in that it is performance-based, rather than prescriptive, to ensure that the requirements actually result in more energy efficient homes. The HERS rating system provides a basis for this evaluation. Once adopted, Santa Fe's Draft Green Building Code will be expanded to include residential remodels and non-residential construction.