Green Building Law Update

Environmental Law and Sustainability for Business

Tag Archives: Kaplow

Buying a LEED Certified Building Is Easy But ..

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in LEED
Despite that a frog told us all in a song lyric, “it’s not easy bein’ green,” it is easy to buy a green building, but .. And there are many good reasons for purchasing a green building that is LEED Certified. LEED gave us the technologies and methodologies revolutionizing the way we construct and occupy … Continue Reading

Green Building Codes Not Eligible for Copyright Protection

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Green Building
A decision earlier this month by the Eleventh Circuit United States Courts Of Appeals goes further than other modern courts in describing that building codes when adopted by local government cannot be copyrighted. Ruling that “the law,” whether by statute, ordinance, regulations, or code, and even when its source is a judicial opinion, is not … Continue Reading

With Over $3.6 Trillion in Value You Should Pay Attention to GRESB

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in GRESB, LEED
For the uninitiated GRESB assesses the sustainability performance of real estate and infrastructure portfolios worldwide. GRESB is the global environmental, social and governance (ESG) benchmark for real estate assets. GRESB’s stated “mission is to enhance and protect shareholder value by assessing and empowering sustainability practices in the real asset sector.” They do that by offering … Continue Reading

Green Globes New Multifamily Rating Systems Respond to the Market

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, Green Globes
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

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

Montgomery County to Abandon LEED Mandating IgCC for All Building

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Green Building, IgCC, LEED
Montgomery County, Maryland has proposed adopting the International Green Construction Code 2012. At first blush this might sound like a good thing, until one considers that Montgomery County has long had mandatory green building laws for public and private construction, and the County today also offers significant incentives for green building. Many hundreds of LEED … Continue Reading

Congress Creates Tenant Star But Does Little Else

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Federal
In a continued period of falling energy prices, for oil and natural gas as well as renewables, and in an era when energy use in the U.S. has not increased in decades (despite the increase in population), Congress passed an energy bill. ... Tenant Star will present business opportunities and may some day be a market driver in the commercial real estate sector… Continue Reading

All Water is Greywater – So Don’t Ban Greywater in Your Plumbing Code

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Sustainability
.. about 150 million years ago a dinosaur stopped and peed 300 gallons. And there were millions of dinosaurs, all drinking water and peeing. So, easily creatures have had inside their kidneys and peed thousands of times all the potable water available on the planet. At this point it is all greywater. .. As governments across the country enter the triennial building code cycle, including adopting the 2015 International Plumbing Code, it is key that they not ban greywater use.… Continue Reading

Indoor Marijuana Growing Accounts for Over 1% of all Electric Consumption in the U.S.

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in LEED, Sustainability
Indoor Marijuana Growing Accounts for Over 1% of all Electric Consumption in the U.S. ... Boulder, Colorado has responded with a regulatory requirement that each Medical Marijuana Optional Premises Cultivation ... must "directly offset 100% of the electricity consumption through a verified subscription in a Community Solar Garden, renewable energy generated on site, or equivalent."… Continue Reading

Dunkin’ Donuts Green is a Hot Trend in Green Building

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in LEED, Sustainability
Dunkin' Donuts Green is an example of sustainability initiatives by an increasing number of U.S. companies. ... This law firm has worked with more than four score and seven organizations creating their own green building programs. And we regularly provide third party validation of green including "opinions of counsel" that specific projects are "certifiable" or otherwise in compliance with specific green building requirements.… Continue Reading
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