Green Building Law Update

Environmental Law and Sustainability for Business

Tag Archives: Kaplow

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

EPA Cancels Pesticide Registrations to Save the Bees

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Federal
In a rare move, the EPA issued product cancellation orders for certain pesticides effective May 20, 2019. The pesticides contain neonicotinoids that, despite their widespread use have become controversial when laboratory studies reported a link between neonicotinoids and declining bee populations, although a link has not been replicated in field studies. Neonicotinoids are compounds in … 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

Blockchain has come to U.S. Real Estate

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations
Earlier this year a precedent setting property sale in Vermont was the first real estate transaction in the United States using blockchain, portending a new era in the sale of land and improvements. Blockchain technology is an industry disrupter on the cusp of improving transactions across all sectors and borders. It is suggested blockchain may … Continue Reading

2018 IgCC – A Fast Paced Deep Dive

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, IgCC
The 2018 International Green Construction Code was released on November 8, 2018 by the U.S. Green Building Council, International Code Council, ASHRAE and the Illuminating Engineering Society. Make no mistake, the 203 page document unveiled by the coterie of trade group authors and available from the ICC for sale to the public (.. click here … Continue Reading

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
LexBlog