Back in April 2009, I took a vow of silence. I promised to stop writing about the "performance bond" requirement in the D.C. Green Building Act. I had faith the D.C. Council would address the issue. Thankfully, it appears our long nightmare may be coming to an end. Today, I am going to reset the … Continue Reading
A coalition of forest product companies (“the Coalition”) has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding, in part, the United States Green Building Council’s preference for Federal Stewardship Council-certified (FSC) wood products. The Coalition has asked the FTC Bureau of Competition to provide guidance to the USGBC and other rating systems regarding the … Continue Reading
We may be settling into 2010, but one unresolved legal development in 2009 could have a broad impact on the future of the green building industry. On October 20, 2009, the Coalition for Fair Forest Certification ("the Coalition") filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (pdf), alleging anti-competitive behavior by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) … Continue Reading
Well, that did not last long. Two weeks ago, we wrote about Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to require retrofits of existing buildings. After vehement opposition, Mayor Bloomberg has backed off of his plans to require retrofits: "The plan, which the owners said was too costly, called for all buildings of 50,000 square feet or more … Continue Reading
The future of green building regulations usually starts in big cities. Cities like San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and New York City were some of the first to incorporate green building certification into regulations and building codes. The next frontier in green building regulations will be energy performance and New York City seems to be at … Continue Reading
The Energy Star program, responsible for certifying energy efficient products, is about to undergo some major changes. Recently, the program, run by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE), has come under fire from a number of groups: "Various stakeholder groups, such as manufacturers, utilities and even Consumer Reports , the … Continue Reading
When I have previously speculated as to green building lawsuits, I never imagined that an industrial hygienist would play a significant role. Industrial hygienists are scientists and engineers who study health and safety of people in the workplace and the community. Linda Kincaid is an industrial hygienist in California. She is also a citizen-reporter for … Continue Reading
Reminder: Don’t forget to register for Green Building Law Update’s Birthday Happy Hour Sometimes, my fair city of Washington, D.C. can drive me crazy. There is no doubt we have our issues. But one thing Washington, D.C. has going for it is its push to become more green. D.C. is at the forefront of the … Continue Reading
If you are a contractor lucky enough to have won a stimulus project, one of the pesky requirements attached to the project is reporting the number of new jobs created by the project. Many builders and contractors have been wondering how exactly to do that. Finally, at long last, the White House has provided clarity: … Continue Reading
A few weeks ago, Toronto announced a mandatory green roof requirement, which my fellow bloggers dutifully covered. When I read about the green roof mandate, I thought of another Canadian city with a similar program. You remember the Vancouver Catch-22, right? Many British Columbia jurisdictions, including Vancouver, began mandating green roofs. Simultaneously, the Homeowner Protection … Continue Reading
Dear Feebate, I’m sorry to be writing this. First, I have to say, it’s not you, it’s me. You have done nothing wrong. I remember when we met back at Greenbuild ’08. The Portland officials were very eager to show you off and I fell for you hard. You were everything I dreamed of in … Continue Reading
Back on February 20, 2009, I said the following about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: While Republicans, Democrats and the President argued over the stimulus package for weeks, the real battle may arise when state agencies and officials attempt to divide up the stimulus funding and choose the projects that receive funding. The real … Continue Reading
In previous posts I have talked about Dillon’s Rule and the impact this rule has on green building regulations in Virginia. Dillon’s Rule provides that the state retains all powers except those specifically carved out for municipalities and counties. You can think of this as the reverse of the federal system, where all powers not … Continue Reading
In addition to clarifying the LEED 25% guideline, Rob Watson also had some interesting points regarding regulations that required LEED certification.* First, Watson made a great point about governments requiring municipal projects to achieve LEED certification: "As far as municipalities requiring their own buildings to go LEED, that’s an owner decision and no problem. Municipally-funded … Continue Reading
As readers may know, I am a die hard Kansas Jayhawk basketball fan. Our main rival is the Missouri Tigers. So if I discuss something that originates from Missouri, you better believe that the Missourians have come up with something extraordinary. U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver has established a plan for an innovative "Green Impact Zone" … Continue Reading
Back in March, I gave a presentation about green building funding available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("ARRA"). I had planned to convert the presentation to a guide of sorts, but more pressing matters arose. I have now discovered what I hope the guide would have looked like if I had a month … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, we discussed the LEED 25 percent rule: the LEED rating system was only intended to apply to the top 25 percent of buildings. It is important to remember this premise when considering what is happening in the green building industry today. Many cities are mandating LEED certification for public and private buildings. For … Continue Reading
The Washington D.C. government has recently began incorporating Social Media 2.0 into its public outreach. Agencies have Facebook pages, some are on Twitter and officials have even taken to participating in online chats with the public. I was very excited to learn that Councilmember Mary Cheh was conducting one of these online chats last Friday. … Continue Reading
When you heard that the Department of Energy would be providing $3.2 billion for Energy-Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants to states, what kind of programs did you have in mind? I imagined weatherization of the leaky, old buildings in Washington, D.C. I imagined an incentive program to build green in D.C. I am imagined solar … Continue Reading
This week, I want to tell you about new green building developments in the D.C. metropolitan area. I like incentive programs related to green building. D.C. recently came out with a solar rebate program that will most definitely increase the installation of renewable energy systems: Beginning February 23, 2009, the program will provide rebates to … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, we looked at the best case scenario that can result from the D.C. Green Building Act "performance bond" requirement. We assumed that the green building "performance bond" was created. The scenario was not pretty and involved extensive LEEDigation™ . Today we look at the worst case scenario. Imagine no new construction projects … Continue Reading
Today I am speaking once again on the D.C. Green Building Act "performance bond" issues (see slides in this post). I have a new message for this presentation because, frankly, I am not certain we are getting anywhere. If you need some background, here are all of the Green Building Law Update posts regarding this … Continue Reading
[Sometimes, it’s better not to reinvent the wheel. As I was preparing this week’s posts, I came across Lane Burt’s analysis of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) stimulus funding. Lane, an NRDC Policy Analyst, agreed to let me use his post today. Check out Lane’s blog – it’s a great resource for energy policy analysis.] … Continue Reading
If you have been paying attention to Green Building Law Update, you know D.C. has a bit of an issue regarding a green building "performance bond" currently required by law. In short, green building "performance bonds" do not exist. A few weeks ago, George Hawkins, Director of the District Department of the Environment, testified in … Continue Reading
