Newark, NJ Building Safety: Green Building Code (2026)

' The section is explicit that certification is optional: 'LEED Certification for new projects is encouraged, but not required,' alongside a list of alternative programs including SITES, Passive House, Energy Star, BREEAM, Green Globes, the Living Building Challenge, the National Green Building Standard, Green Guard and the WELL Building Standard. The roof-design subsection, § 41:16-13-2, gets specific: a 'high-reflectance roof (cool roof)' should carry 'an initial Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) of at least 82 and an aged SRI of at least 64' for low-sloped roofs, or an initial SRI of 39 and aged SRI of 32 for roofs pitched steeper than 2:12, with a vegetative green roof offered as an alternative.

Water conservation standards in § 41:16-13-3 call for WaterSense-rated toilets, urinals and showerheads, EnergyStar-rated clothes washers, dishwashers and ice machines, and drought-tolerant native landscaping for outdoor irrigation, plus makeup water meters and conductivity controllers on cooling towers and evaporative condensers. Because the chapter frames every item as something a project 'should' do rather than 'shall' do, none of these measures function as a hard permit condition on their own.