On February 11, 2008, Virginia's Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved rules for green building requirements for all new and renovated county buildings.
Buildings in Fairfax County that are over 10,000 square feet will be required to reach Silver-level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. For residential properties, single family homes, town houses and low-rise multi-family buildings in Fairfax County must achieve certification under the Energy Star Homes rating system.
Fairfax officials project that the new policy may result in cost increases of an additional 2-4 percent per building. However, it is expected that such one-time costs are projected to be offset by annual savings in energy and water bills.
Green buildings are expected to slash energy costs by 15-25 percent, and water consumption by 20 percent, per year.
