By Fay Harvey
EVANSTON, Ill. — The city of Evanston, Ill., located just north of Chicago, is the first community in the state and the second in the Midwest to enact the Healthy Building Ordinance (HBO): a building-performance standard requiring buildings exceeding 20,000 square feet in size to eliminate onsite emissions and use renewable energy.
Passed by the city council earlier this month, the ordinance aligns with Evanston’s 2018 climate action and resilience plan that aimed to help the community achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Currently, an estimated 50% of the area’s greenhouse gas emissions are produced by the city’s approximately 500 large buildings. The ordinance will build on Evanston’s current benchmark ordinance, which requires large buildings in the region to track and report annual water and energy usage.
“This was a collaborative effort among City Council members, staff and numerous community partners to find common ground on achieving our sustainability goals,” said Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss in a statement. “We are taking a monumental step toward a more sustainable Evanston—and I’m incredibly grateful to all those who participated in this good faith negotiation.”
Two new public bodies—comprised of housing experts, building science experts, social workers and other stakeholders—will be established to provide technical and financial support for the ordinance. The Healthy Buildings Accountability Board will spearhead equity efforts by ensuring that building owners that are impacted by the ordinance receive support or alternatives to bring their facilities into alignment with the new requirements. Building owners will be able to submit an Alternative Compliance Pathway Plan if targets are not able to be met or if dates need to be moved. The Healthy Buildings Technical Committee will manage building operations and provide insights on building performance, energy systems, electrification and sustainability.
According to a statement issued by the city, municipal and educational facilities in Evanston also need to make repairs and replacements to aging equipment within the next 25 years. The ordinance further aims to encourage home and business owners to complete low- and zero-emission upgrades for HVAC appliances. In addition, the ordinance grants home and business owners a slow approach to the ordinance, allowing 25 years to transition to greener heating systems through environmentally conscious upgrades. City planners hope the ordinance sparks an increased demand for clean technology and strengthens the clean-energy workforce.
The HBO puts the city one step closer to achieving the 2018 climate plan goals, which include using 100% renewable energy to supply all Evanston accounts by 2030 and reducing communitywide building energy consumption by 50% from its 2005 baseline.