Due to copious renovations over the past few years, the Transamerica building now meets all of the aggressive green building regulations for new construction and large-scale retrofits that the city has put in place. Thanks to San Francisco‘s stringent approach, LEED certified square footage in the city has increased five-fold in 2009 alone.

You might think that San Francisco and Mayor Newsom would simply pat themselves on the back for a job well done and take a breather, but in a press release sent to us yesterday, the mayor makes it clear that he has no intention of stopping here:

“However, new construction and major renovation projects represent less than1 percent of the city’s real estate each year. At the standard rate of 0.8 percent new buildings per year in San Francisco, it could take more than sixty years to green even half of the City. When you add to the fact that buildings make up 45 percent of our city’s greenhouse gas emissions, it is clear we need to address San Francisco’s existing buildings…

When business owners see how much they can improve their bottom line with energy efficiency—and the incentives and rebates available to minimize upfront costs—the decision is a simple one,” he writes.

We congratulate San Francisco, Mayor Newsom and the Transamerica building and can’t wait to see what green developments we’ll be seeing from them next.

+ San Francisco Mayor Newsom on Green