Green Building Law Update

Environmental Law and Sustainability for Business

Archives: LEED

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Maryland Expanding Green Building Thru Government Leases

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, LEED, State
The Maryland Green Building Council recommended a broad and deep expansion of green building leasing by state government and the Maryland Department of General Services is expected to enlarge what is a “high performance building” for the purposes of state government leasing. The anticipated regulatory change is being widely heralded as a dramatic step forward … Continue Reading

Green Building Data Risk as an Opportunity

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, LEED
Green buildings generate large quantities of data. In an age when many have opinions about Edward Snowden’s disclosures, foreign state sponsored hacking, and Uber’s massive customer data hack, most people have not considered matters of data protection from their real estate, green building or otherwise. The topic is too broad to comprehensively address in a … Continue Reading

Rhode Island goes for LEED for Neighborhood Development and SITES

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, LEED
The State of Rhode Island is expanding its longstanding Green Buildings Act adding built landscapes to the list of public projects that must be built to recognized green building standards. Rhode Island has since 2008 mandated the public construction projects larger than 5,000 gross square feet “shall be designed and constructed to at least the … Continue Reading

50 Shades of Green in Montgomery County

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, IgCC, LEED
Green building will remain mandatory for new construction in Montgomery County, Maryland and effective December 1, 2017, the International Green Construction Code 2012 will be a permitted alternative. Montgomery County was among the first local jurisdictions in the country, in 2008, to adopt a mandatory green building law for private building, requiring most new construction … Continue Reading

LEED Commercial Interiors can Save the Planet

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Climate Change, Green Building, LEED
By Katie Stanford and Stuart Kaplow LEED Commercial Interiors projects present the best single opportunity for greening buildings. The proof is in the numbers. There are more than 5.6 million existing commercial buildings in the United States today. And despite the wildly successful U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (the ubiquitous acronym for Leadership in Energy … Continue Reading

Green Globes to be Approved in Maryland

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Green Building, Green Globes, LEED, State
Last week the Maryland Green Building Council voted unanimously to recommend that Green Globes, at the two Green Globes level, be approved by the Maryland Secretaries of Budget and Management and General Services as a “high performance building” as defined in Maryland law. The vote is being widely heralded as a significant step forward in … Continue Reading

Eat, Pray, Greenbuild?

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, LEED
I am often asked, “how can I expand my green building business?” My answer is simple and the same response I have offered for years, attend the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. This year Greenbuild is in Boston from November 8 – 10. I do not claim any particular business marketing prowess. Nor can I … Continue Reading

You Need a Green Building Consultant (Who Speaks for the Trees)

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, LEED, Sustainability
The Lorax Partnerships Team
We are often asked “what is the best way to assure success in a green building project?” Whether that query is from a Fortune 1000 businesses or an architect, the answer is the same, have the owner engage an experienced green building consultant as early as possible in the project. Which often leads to a … Continue Reading

Retailers Pay Millions for Hazardous Waste Violations

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, LEED
Retailers across the nation are buttressing their trash disposal practices after Dollar General Stores and Big Lots Stores paid Millions of dollars to settle civil suits for environmental violations for the unlawful disposal of hazardous waste, including customer returned merchandise and batteries. Most businesses should have a solid waste management plan to provide staff with … Continue Reading

Is the 2018 IgCC Doomed to Fail?

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Green Building, Green Globes, IgCC, LEED
Last week the ICC and ASHRAE issued joint news releases on the status of the “unified green building code that could become the foundation for LEED certification” that will be published as the 2018 version of the International Green Construction Code. This blog regularly advances the postulate that green building is the ideal means of … Continue Reading

Apply to be a Member of the ASHRAE Committee for Standard 189.1

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Green Building, IgCC, LEED
ASHRAE is looking for new members to serve on the ASHRAE Project Committee for SSPC 189.1 Standard for the Design of High Performance Green Buildings Except Low Rise Residential Buildings. The deadline to make application for Project Committee membership is March 15, 2017. Standards produced by ASHRAE are consensus documents developed and published to define … Continue Reading

Green Building Transactional Due Diligence

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, Green Globes, IgCC, LEED, Local Government
As ever larger numbers of green buildings are bought and sold, due diligence related to the green features of commercial buildings takes on an increasing importance. But apparently most real estate due diligence checklists are stuck in the 1980s and while they address matters ranging from title and zoning to tenants and leases, as well … Continue Reading

Suing But Not Because it was Not a Green Building

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Construction, Green Building, Insurance, LEED, Surety
With the maturation of the green building industrial complex it has become clear there is no more or additional liability associated with constructing a green building versus a similar non green structure. But, the claims that have resulted in much of the recent litigation involving green building projects are different from those in other construction … Continue Reading

False Advertising Claims over Net Zero and LEED Certified Homes

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Energy, Green Building, LEED, Sustainability
Homebuyers are making claims of false advertising over “Net Zero LEED certified” houses in midtown Sacramento – that may be neither. The website for the architect on the project, today still says, “2500 R Street located on a two acre site along the R Street light rail corridor in Midtown Sacramento, this new single-family home … Continue Reading

Trump Election Can Make Green Building Great Again

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Energy, Environmental, Federal, Green Building, IgCC, LEED
Election day 2016 in which Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States and Republicans control both houses of Congress portends huge business opportunities for green building. As the Executive and Legislative Branches look to arrest existing environmental and energy policies while driving up growth and lowering taxes, enabling voluntary green building … Continue Reading
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