Investments by individuals and institutions driven by environmental, social and governance matters continue to remain front and center in the minds of boards of directors, government regulators and the media. Of course, there is no single or even widely accepted definition of ESG and some have suggested that any analysis of environmental, social and governance … Continue Reading
There is a lot of green building going on at BREEAM USA from a pilot program for BREEAM In-Use with multifamily properties to the certification of the first BREEAM USA In-Use office tower, but what is no doubt most impactful is the BRE Ethical Labour Sourcing Standard enabling businesses to commit to eliminating any possibility of … Continue Reading
On July 11 the Green Building Initiative launched the Green Globes Multifamily for New Construction and Green Globes Multifamily for Existing Buildings. While certainly there is a market in developers of newly constructed multifamily buildings, spending on multifamily construction was more than $61 Billion in 2017, being 18% of all new residential construction spending, up … Continue Reading
Building owners that utilize ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager will see a dramatic change in the 1 to 100 ENERGY STAR scores after August 26, 2018. Every score model we reviewed saw a drop in ENERGY STAR score except hotels. You have 75 days to act. The change is significant for buildings pursuing LEED or Green … Continue Reading
With the upcoming May 25, 2018 effective date for the new European General Data Protection Regulation, the European Union law drafted to provide greater protections for the personal data of individuals, it is a good time to review and consider the large quantity of data generated by green buildings. The EU GDPR has long arms … Continue Reading
Maybe not since Plato wrote about the value of reusing waste in the fourth century BC has recycling undergone the wide fluctuation, good and bad, that we are seeing right now. Today, the world has been forced to rethink its approach to waste. China is driving the change in recycling. Most recently, China imposed a … Continue Reading
LEED version 4.1 is now a reality with the release for use today, March 26, of LEED v4.1 O+M – Building Operations and Maintenance. “We are excited to introduce LEED v4.1 in beta, the latest update to the LEED rating system,” said Melissa Baker, senior vice president for Technical Core with USGBC, when we spoke … Continue Reading
There are more than a Million houses in the U.S. with solar panels installed on the roof and that number is increasing. It can be difficult if not dangerous to fail to properly address rooftop solar panels at the time of sale of a house. Among the most often made inquiries to this law firm … Continue Reading
This past week and there have been many other times this law firm was consulted about a marketing claim by a building owner with rooftop solar panels that advertises they “use” renewable energy, but the owner sells Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) for the renewable energy it generates, so the Federal Trade Commission says it shouldn’t … Continue Reading
While many people focused on the tariffs of 30% imposed by the United States on imported solar photovoltaic cells and modules last week, most missed the larger renewable energy news story that after an 11 day trial, last Wednesday a federal jury in Wisconsin convicted Chinese firm Sinovel of stealing wind technology, including the theft … Continue Reading
When the Saint Paul City Council votes this Wednesday on Ordinance 17-60 it should amend the legislation to not delete, from the existing law, Green Globes as one of the approved green building standards. The work product of an advisory committee of experts, Ord 17-60 Sustainable Building Regulation Ordinance, alters and amends the 2009 Resolution … Continue Reading
Last week Green Building Initiative announced that it had completed the bold and innovative acquisition of Green Globes from JLL and I had an opportunity to speak with Vicki Worden, President and CEO of GBI and Bob Best, Executive Vice President of JLL. In 2008, JLL, a Fortune 500 company with more than $50 billion … Continue Reading
2018 will be a watershed year in the course of green building standards, codes and rating systems. There has been no other single calendar year that has seen the breadth of substantive change that is before us. In 2018 there will be new versions of LEED, ASHARE 189.1, IgCC, ICC 700, Green Globes and .. … Continue Reading
A week after this blog post, the Office of the Solicitor issued a memorandum the subject line of which was, “The Migratory Bird Treaty Act Does Not Prohibit Incidental Take.” The very first page of the Memorandum ends with the sentence, “Interpreting the MBTA to apply to incidental or accidental actions hangs the sword of … Continue Reading
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
Next week will be a year since the launch of Arc. Already approaching a Billion square of projects not only in the United States but also from India to Sweden and Israel to Bhutan, if you are not familiar with the Arc platform, that helps a building owner measure performance and benchmark against others, you … Continue Reading
The announcement of the upcoming release of the new LEED version 4.1 by the U.S. Green Building Council was no doubt the biggest story at Greenbuild 2017 in Boston last week. And that is saying a lot because Greenbuild is the world’s largest conference and expo dedicated to green building and there was much to … Continue Reading
It is surprising to many in the environmental industrial complex that there has been relatively little litigation arising out of green building. There have been only a very modest number of cases commenced in courts across the country involving construction of green buildings. The reason for the dearth of court cases is not that there … Continue Reading
The best way to mitigate risk in your green building project are properly drafted contract documents prepared by this law firm or by another attorney with green building experience. That may sound self serving, but it is true. As I posted in this blog less than a year ago, Less than 20% of Green Building … Continue Reading
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
The Denver Elections Commission has announced that the Denver Green Roof Initiative, a mandatory green roof ballot initiative will appear on the November 7 ballot. A ballot initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can bring about a public vote on a proposed statute or … Continue Reading
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
The U.S. International Trade Commission held a nearly 10 hour initial public hearing this past Tuesday on a petition seeking tariffs and price minimums on low cost imported solar panels. The petition seeks duties of 40 cents per watt on imported solar cells and also a floor price of 78 cents per watt on solar … Continue Reading
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