• A switch to low-flow toilets and shower-heads;
• A switch to more energy-efficient fluorescent fixtures, exterior light fixtures, and exit signs;
• Recycling of fluorescent lamps;
• A requirement for the managers of buildings to produce and implement a building maintenance plan to ensure indoor air quality;
• Requirements for construction contractors to prevent moisture contamination of building materials;
• A requirement for elimination or encapsulation of fibrous insulation materials.
• Design requirements to ensure adequate, accessible, and convenient recycling areas; (Recycling storage needs depend on the activities of the users of a building. For non-industrial buildings, the San Francisco Solid Waste Management program uses the rule of thumb of requiring the same amount of space for recycling storage as for trash storage.) and
• Recycling of construction and demolition debris

General Goals

The legislation creates a pilot program, now being undertaken by the San Francisco Bureau of Architecture in conjunction with the Department of the Environment's green building program. That program seeks to maximize:

• Energy efficiency;
• Consideration of energy generation by passive solar or other renewable source;
• Improved water conservation;
• Healthy indoor air quality;
• Adequate storage and collection of recyclables;
• Environmentally sensitive landscaping, including planting of drought-resistant native plants and design for landscape maintenance using integrated pest management;
• Procurement of building materials with minimal impact on indoor air quality, maximized
  recycled product content, and future recycling potential;
• Building design features that discourage pest infestation, such as sloping ledges to discourage the roosting of pigeons, desiccants in wall cavities to deter cockroaches, and easy-to-clean floor surfaces to discourage dust mites and other insects;
• Storm water management;
• Water pollution prevention; and
• Wastewater recycling.

The legislation also requires that proper operation of the building's systems be ensured through building commissioning, a collaborative process in which systems' designers, builders, and eventual users test to ensure that the systems operate according to specification and intent.

Conclusion

Sustainable architecture practice has become mature enough that there are now formal systems of performance, guidelines, sample contract specifications, and guidelines for evaluating architect and engineer practitioners. Numerous case studies are available to demonstrate how the strategies fit together.

The generation of planners and developers working today have a critical responsibility at a time when the natural resource base teeters on the brink of irreparable harm and when social disengagement is at history's highest levels. A sea change of development practices around the country toward sustainable development will have an enormous positive impact on the quality-of-life legacy our generation leaves for the future.