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Green Building Incentive Policy

About

The Arlington County Board updated Arlington’s Green Building Incentive Policy on Dec.12, 2020. This voluntary policy offers site plan developers bonus density in exchange for LEED Gold certification, additional energy requirements, and other environmental components. The voluntary policy was updated to keep up with changes to the building code, LEED rating system, technology, and market trends.

Any project accepted by the County Manager after June 30, 2023 shall meet the following revised criteria:

Energy Optimization
For the 0.25 and 0.35 FAR bonus levels, meet the criteria that would earn the project points as part of the green building certification as follows:

At least 14% performance improvement for LEED version 4.1 EA credit Optimize Energy Performance -or-
At least 24% performance improvement for LEED version 4 EA credit Optimize Energy Performance/Annual Energy Use -or-
HERS index of 60 or lower if pursuing LEED version 4.1 Multifamily EA credit Optimize Energy Performance Option 3 HERS index rating -or-
HERS index of 60 or lower if pursuing Earthcraft Multifamily certification

For the 0.45 and higher FAR bonus levels, meet the criteria that would earn the project the following:

At least 18% performance improvement for LEED version 4.1 EA credit Optimize Energy Performance -or-
At least 28% performance improvement for LEED version 4 EA credit Optimize Energy Performance/Annual Energy Use -or-
HERS index of 55 or lower if pursuing LEED version 4.1 Multifamily EA credit Optimize Energy Performance Option 3 HERS index rating -or-
HERS index of 55 or lower if pursuing Earthcraft Multifamily certification

Please note: Site plan projects accepted after March 30, 2021 were required to use the updated Policy and associated criteria. New development project teams may request additional bonus density and/or height in exchange for green building certification as outlined below. Regardless of the FAR being pursued, the County's Green Building Incentive Program requires the following:

LEED Gold v4 or v4.1
Energy Optimization Performance
Baseline Prerequisites

The following requirements depend on the FAR being pursued:

0.25 FAR	0.35 FAR	0.45 FAR	0.55 FAR	0.70 FAR
ENERGY STAR Score 75 - or - LEED site EUI verification	ENERGY STAR Score 80 - or - LEED site EUI verification	ENERGY STAR Score 85 - or - LEED site EUI verification - or - PHIUS certification	ENERGY STAR Score 90 - or- LEED site EUI verification - or - PHIUS certification	ILFI Zero Energy - or - Zero Carbon certification

Minimum Program Requirements include ENERGY STAR certification for commercial office, 10 years of energy reporting, and ENERGY STAR lighting and appliances for multifamily. Please see 2020 Board Report(PDF, 585KB) for more information.
0.35 - 0.55 FAR includes 3-6 Extra List Items. See 2020 Board Report for more information below.
0.45 and 0.55 FAR include a second option. See 2020 Board Report for more information below.

Process

Clarification: Residential projects that earn bonus density in exchange for ENERGY STAR certification with a score of 75 do so using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. The ENERGY STAR score is based on post-occupancy energy utility data. This is not certification through the ENERGY STAR Multifamily High Rise Program (New Construction).

Update for Multifamily Developments Requesting Green Building Bonus Density

Multifamily developments may now use either the LEED for Homes Multifamily or Earthcraft Virginia green building rating systems. See the full interpretation here.

Green Building Update to 4.1 Site Plan Projects (Sept. 21, 2019)

An update to the Green Building Density Incentive program adds Zero Carbon and PHIUS certifications as options for building developers to earn bonus density. See links below and if you have additional questions or comments, please email Victoria Kiechel and energy@arlingtonva.us.

Guidance Documents for Approved Projects

Resources & Reports

Quick Links

Contact Us

For more information, please contact Paul Roman at proman@arlingtonva.us.

Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy