Austin Energy outlines local green building rating, pilot programs and incentives

Heidi Casper, director for Green Building and Emerging Technologies at Austin Energy, gave an overview of the utility's Austin Energy Green Building program during the March 5, 2025, meeting of the Austin Environmental Commission.

Casper said the program was established in 1991 as the nation's first municipal green building rating system and has been regularly updated to reflect Austin-specific building goals. "The program has a very, very long history," she said, and described the program's three primary functions: ratings, education and outreach, and policies and codes.

The ratings, Casper said, cover single-family, multifamily and commercial projects and use a prerequisite-plus-points structure that can yield one- to five-star ratings. Projects that meet basic requirements receive a one-star rating; additional voluntary measures in categories such as energy, water, materials, health and equity earn extra points. Casper told commissioners the program's criteria are used within multiple city programs and policy tools including planned-unit-development (PUD) agreements, the downtown density-bonus program, the university…