Section 436(h) of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires the General Services Administration’s Office of Federal High-Performance Buildings to complete a review of high performance building certification systems every 5 years. After the review, GSA recommends to the Secretary of Energy the building certification systems most likely to encourage a comprehensive approach … Continue Reading
The General Services Administration is seeking public input on its analysis of LEED v4 and other questions related to the Federal Government's use of LEED v4.… Continue Reading
Last Friday, the GSA recommended both Green Globes 2010 and LEED 2009 as the third party certification systems that the federal government will use. This recommendation, if accepted, portends a green building world (which has always been dominated by LEED) turned upside down.… Continue Reading
"Winter is coming." This is the common refrain in the popular book, Game of Thrones, in which kings vie to take over lands. As I thought about the green building policy mess of 2012, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to Game of Thrones. This was supposed to be the year of the USGBC’s … Continue Reading
I have previously speculated that stimulus green building projects will be at risk of underbidding. Now we have real evidence. Remember the $5.5 billion that the General Services Administration received from the stimulus to fund green building construction and retrofits? "Bids came in far lower than we expected, but the upside is that because of … Continue Reading