Green Building Law Update

Environmental Law and Sustainability for Business

Archives: LEED

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New Green Building Tax Credit is a Progressive Effort

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Green Building, LEED
At a time when the building industry is principally concerned with the impact of COVID-19 and the luster is off green building, the Montgomery County Council last Tuesday unanimously approved legislation “to accelerate the construction of highly energy efficient buildings and green retrofitting of existing buildings.” Bill 10-20 dramatically upgrades the Maryland county’s existing green … Continue Reading

2018 IgCC Poised to be Adopted for the First Time

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, IgCC, LEED, Local Government
Montgomery County, Maryland is on the cusp of being the first to adopt the 2018 International Green Construction Code. The proposed Executive Regulation 12-20 appeared in the Montgomery County Register on August 1. A public hearing will be held on proposed regulation on September 3. And written comments may be submitted until October 5. Montgomery … Continue Reading

More Than Green Buildings, Green Roads

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, LEED
If green building is going to repair the planet it will have to include green roads. Over 65% of the impervious surfaces in the U.S. are related to transportation (e.g., roads, parking lots, sidewalks, and driveways), with the vast majority being roads. There are 4,180,817 miles of roads in the U.S. Roads are the largest … Continue Reading

New BREEAM In Use Version in a Changing World

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, LEED
Last week BRE Global announced that the “BREEAM USA In-Use Version 6 for Commercial and Residential” green building rating system has launched. In addition to improvements to the prior commercial building rating system BREEAM In-Use now includes residential for the first time (accepting that existing multi-family building is a very much underserved sector). An update … Continue Reading

LEED can Help Mitigate Legal Risks in ESG Disclosures

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental, LEED
Public companies in the U.S. find themselves at a dynamic time of emergent environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) disclosures. Vocal socially conscious investors, activist stockholder environmental proxy proposals, and the like are driving companies to make ESG statements. This blog post highlights the legal risk associated with ESG disclosures and proffers that with green building … Continue Reading

179D Tax Deduction Brought Back to Life thru 2020

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Federal, Green Building, LEED
This past Friday night while aboard Air Force One the President signed legislation reviving the 179D energy efficient commercial buildings tax deduction, providing an enormous and much needed boost to domestic green building. Almost as compelling as the fictional undead being created through reanimation of a corpse, except here there were no zombies involved; it … Continue Reading

Greenbuild was Proof Positive that LEED is Thriving

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, LEED
The just completed 2019 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Atlanta is absolute proof that the LEED green building rating system, with more than 100,000 projects registered and certified, is thriving. The theme of this year’s Greenbuild was “A New Living Standard,” that everyone, regardless of background or circumstance, deserves a safe and healthy place … Continue Reading

LEED Offers Companies a Response to Declining Bird Populations

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental, LEED
Condor in the Cordillera Huaywuash, Peru
In response to a much publicized new study on North American bird populations that appeared in the journal Science last month, we received a significant number of inquiries from businesses about what an appropriate response might be from a responsible company? The study found “cumulative loss of nearly three billion birds since 1970, across most … Continue Reading

Brownfield Laws can Save Green Building and the Planet

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Federal, Green Building, LEED
It is widely accepted that the greenest building is one already built. So, why then on the 20th anniversary of many state brownfield programs, is there so little correlation between green buildings and brownfields? Green building ratings systems, standards and codes expend a great deal of verbiage on aims reducing embodied carbon, including the currently … Continue Reading

Maryland Reverting to Certifiable In Lieu of Certified Green Building

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, Green Globes, IgCC, LEED
In response to an act of the Maryland legislature in 2018, the state is proposing a watershed revamp of its current mandatory green building requirements for new public school buildings. The public is being invited to comment on the proposal. Existing State Finance and Procurement Section 4-809(f) was amended adding new section (6), providing in … Continue Reading

GSA Reviews more than 100 Green Building Systems and Selects 5

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Federal, Green Globes, LEED
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

Maryland Appellate Court Upholds Local Government Pesticide Ban

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in LEED, Local Government
Last week the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, the state’s intermediate appellate court, overturned an earlier circuit court decision, reinstating a Montgomery County ordinance significantly restricting pesticide use throughout the County. In October 2015, the Montgomery County Council enacted Bill No. 52-14 becoming the first major jurisdiction in the country to enact such a ban. … Continue Reading

LEED Prerequisite Now Prohibits Smoking Cannabis

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in LEED
The U.S. Green Building Council issued a LEED Interpretation in 2018 ruling, “smoking of cannabis is considered a form of smoking for the purposes of both the interior and exterior smoking provisions of the LEED Prerequisite Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control.” The LEED prerequisite prohibits smoking outside the building except in designated smoking areas located at … Continue Reading

St. Petersburg is Bold in Mandating Envision

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, LEED, Local Government
The City of St. Petersburg, Florida passed a progressive ordinance last week mandating that City infrastructure projects and newly constructed and renovated City building be third party certified as green. The new Ordinance 359-H, passed by the St. Petersburg City Council on January 17, 2019 and awaiting the Mayor’s signature, supersedes the prior Executive Order … Continue Reading
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