I was recently given the opportunity to interview Thomas Taylor and I jumped at the opportunity for two reasons. First, Taylor wrote the forward for the first green building book I ever purchased. Second, Taylor was involved with the Northland Pines High School project, which I have written about extensively. Taylor currently works for Alberici’s sustainable … Continue Reading
It is the week between Christmas and New Year’s, which can only mean one thing: bloggers are getting lazy and doing "best of" posts. There was one story I wrote this year that was far and away more interesting to me than any other: the Northland Pines High School LEED certification challenge. I found the … Continue Reading
The law moves at glacial speeds. The USGBC does not. On June 21, 2010, I wrote a blog post titled "Green Building Challenge Policy Requires Fixes." My post detailed problems with the LEED certification challenge policy, as published in the LEED Certification Policy Manual. You may recall that I wrote on, and on, and on … Continue Reading
I continue to be amazed by the lack of litigation stemming from the LEED certification process – i.e. LEEDigation. There are only two instances of pure LEEDigation – Shaw Development and Northland Pines. I’m not even sure Northland Pines counts since it has not resulted in a lawsuit. What factors have contributed to the … Continue Reading
Reader’s note: This is my last post on the LEED certification challenge. Thanks for staying with me. I thought I would end my discussion of the Northland Pines High School LEED certification challenge with some constructive suggestions. The LEED challenge issue is not going away anytime soon and clearly requires some fixes. 1. Appeals of … Continue Reading
Reader’s note: Two more posts on the LEED certification challenge. I recently read the book Greed to Green, by David Gottfried, which describes how the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), and the LEED rating system, were launched. You can tell that Gottfried is quite proud – and rightfully so – of the USGBC’s accomplishments. … Continue Reading
Reader’s note: Three more posts on the LEED certification challenge. If you have taken a look at the Northland Pines High School LEED certification challenge documents, you know that the documents are extremely technical. I am not an engineer but I will share with you some of the more interesting parts of the documents … Continue Reading
Welcome to our first afternoon edition of Green Building Law Update. No one is quite sure whether the challengers to the Northland Pines High School LEED certification have grounds for an appeal. But I figured two statements by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) regarding the "appeal" warranted a special blog post. First, Brendan Owens, … Continue Reading
As we begin our review of the challenge to the Northland Pines High School LEED certification, the most obvious starting point is the LEED challenge itself. The challenge was prepared by two engineers – Mark Lentz and Lawrence Spielvogel – on behalf of five appellants. By just the second paragraph, my jaw was on the … Continue Reading
News continues to emerge about the challenge to the LEED Gold certification received by the Northland Pines High School. Green Building Law Update previously reported on a statement made by United States Green Building Council (USGBC) General Counsel Susan Dorn that the certification challenge had been denied. There is so much more to this … Continue Reading
A few weeks ago, after a green building legal presentation, I remarked to a colleague that I was growing tired of discussing Shaw Development v. Southern Builders, the prime example of LEEDigation. Less than one week later, along came the Wisconsin LEED challenge and the discovery of the LEED Certification Challenge Policy. The LEED … Continue Reading
Up in Wisconsin, a group of concerned citizens challenged the LEED certification of a high school under the Green Building Certification Institute’s (GBCI) Certification Challenge Policy. The LEED challenge came to light in December 2009 although it was originally filed in 2008. Last week, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) denied the LEED challenge. … Continue Reading
I am going to be honest with you, I have been sitting on some LEEDigation-related stories. I sat on these stories because I wanted to understand the implications before writing about them. Take our first story from Wisconsin. As was first reported at the Green Real Estate Law Journal, a group of Wisconsin residents … Continue Reading
