Hilton Head Island always has been considered an environmentally friendly place, with laws that protect trees and marshland and restrict the size of buildings. Now the town is trying to take that ethos a step further and create its first official "green" building guidelines that could encourage energy-efficient buildings and the use of greener materials.
The town's effort is in its infant stages and consists mostly of research and data collection at this point. But Hilton Head is hardly alone in the effort: Beaufort County, the Board of Education and the town of Bluffton all have been looking at adding more green building guidelines to their codes to encourage sustainable development.
The local home builders association even has set up a task force to look at green building initiatives, a move the group said will help it stay ahead of the curve as local governments start talking about the issues.
"We're working with local governments; we're also working with state government, to try to put together incentive programs for builders and consumers to go green," said Ashley Feaster, executive director of the Hilton Head Area Home Builders Association.
At Town Hall, the research is headed up by Bob Klein, the new head of the Building and Fire Codes Department. Klein, who has experience working with green building codes from his time in Boulder, Colo., is looking at different publications from the International Code Council, the U.S. Department of Energy and other organizations.
Read the complete story at beaufortgazette.com
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