Tax Benefits of Permeable Paving
Across North America and globally, governments have begun to acknowledge the importance of permeable surfaces.
Most towns and cities now actively incentivize the use of permeable surfaces in new public and private projects, and some have even begun to mandate the use of permeable paving products.
Landscape architects and Parks Department designers have long recognized the need for permeability, but lacked access to affordable and effective permeable paving products.
This has now changed with a wide range of permeable surfaces available, including permeable concrete, permeable asphalt and stabilizing aggregate binders, such as Organic-Lock?.
There is no better example of the push for permeable surfaces than China’s ‘Sponge City’ initiative.
In response to repeated problems of flooding, the Chinese government launched a program to increase the permeability of its urban developments to make their cities act like a ‘sponge’ and reduce the risk of flooding [1].
Currently in the pilot phase, this program will eventually be rolled out to over 600 Chinese cities and is a cornerstone of the countries efforts to curb flooding [2].
Other governments, such as Adelaide in Australia have taken notice of this innovative program and begun their own Sponge City programs [3]. US states and municipalities have also introduced a range of subsidies and tax breaks for projects using permeable paving products [4].
With the right approach to the planning of your next major project, you can decrease its overall environmental impact and save money by choosing the right permeable materials.
Before looking at the finer details of the available incentives, lets quickly review the damage that non permeable surfaces cause and how permeable surfaces can help.