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This can translate into tangible benefits for commercial, school, municipal and home builders. While environmentally sustainable construction may add up to 2% to the cost, the return on that investment is significant and ongoing. The savings on energy costs begin immediately and will likely only increase over time as fuel costs continue to rise. In addition to lower operating costs, building owners and home owners will likely experience higher resale value.

In 1895 he was elected mayor of Boston and in 1897 re-elected, his progressive policy in regard to the extension of municipal functions attracting wide attention. .He established the department of municipal statistics, a municipal printing-office and electrical construction department, greatly increased the number of public baths and provided public lectures and concerts and organized eight unpaid commissions to have charge of the city's charitable institutions, public baths and other improvements.

For various purposes, such as charter amendments, increase of indebtedness, change in form of local government, change of boundaries, the referendum is used in hundreds of American cities. The advisory referendum—voicing sentiment locally for action by a municipal council or a state legislature—is allowed in many places which have no power to employ it with finality. Instances may be found in the cities of Virginia (the Richmond charter of 1948) ; the will of the local electorate for purely local purposes is enacted by the state general assembly in granting charters, although there is no formal municipal home rule. A description of the procedure for the referendum follows closely that for the initiative.