Mandatory green building (including LEED-centric) laws are spreading internationally. The international growth of LEED presents huge business opportunities when today there are LEED projects in 142 countries and USGBC member companies in 86 countries, from Brunei to Israel and from Mauritius to Mongolia.… Continue Reading
The biggest take away from Greenbuild was that after 15 years of LEED, the green building rating system is still flourishing. And after 12 years of Greenbuilds, the conference is thriving. 2013 was simply more of the same and that made attendees very happy!… Continue Reading
USGBC had advised the deadline is next week to submit a project to be LEED certified before year end (without the time and expense of an expedited review).… Continue Reading
"Winter is coming." This is the common refrain in the popular book, Game of Thrones, in which kings vie to take over lands. As I thought about the green building policy mess of 2012, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to Game of Thrones. This was supposed to be the year of the USGBC’s … Continue Reading
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has dismissed Henry Gifford’s lawsuit (PDF) against the US Green Building Council. Gifford originally filed a class action lawsuit for $100 million dollars based on the alleged false advertising by the USGBC. The lawsuit was later amended to only cover four plaintiffs but the … Continue Reading
I knew there was a reason I saved my law school text books. When I first heard of the class action lawsuit filed by Henry Gifford against the USGBC, my initial thought was "how in the world will he get a class certified?" The initial hurdle for any class action lawsuit is to get … 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
The green building industry has been besieged the last few years with stories about buildings not performing as anticipated. It appears the federal government has taken notice, and is pushing reforms to green building certification, based on comments by one high-ranking General Services Administration official: “’One of the things that I tease the USGBC … Continue Reading
My first legal case involved "fly ash." I had no idea what fly ash was so I looked it up in the dictionary. Fly ash is a "coal-combustion by-product" (CCB) that is often used in concrete as a replacement for portland cement. When used in massive concrete structures, like dam construction, fly ash can result … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, I posited that codifying the LEED rating system, or any other third party green building rating system, is not a viable option for an entire state. Why? Here are three primary considerations: 1. There are troubling antitrust issues associated with the LEED rating system. These antitrust issues are significantly exacerbated by the … Continue Reading
These are strange times for the green building industry. Last week, California prepared to vote on new green building codes that would improve energy efficiency, water use and waste reduction in the construction industry. Normally you would anticipate that environmental groups and green builders would applaud these measures, right? Not quite. "[P]arts of the state’s … Continue Reading
Many federal agencies are applying the LEED rating system to buildings in the United States, but one agencies unique use of the system recently caught my attention. The Army Corps of Engineers is attempting to modify the LEED rating system for international application.… 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
[Today we are highlighting the what is, in my opinion, the most important green building legal story of 2009. With the launch of LEED v. 3.0, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) announced it would revoke certification of projects that failed to meet minimum requirements. The possibility of LEED de-certification creates new liability issues … 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
If you have been reading Green Building Law Update for any length of time, you have read about the $4.5 billion that was given to the General Services Administration through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The GSA has announced plans to use the $4.5 billion to create high performance, green government buildings. The … Continue Reading
Tomorrow I will be in Nashville, Tennessee to talk to the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) about green building law. It is great news that the green building industry and the people who are involved in green building projects on a daily basis are so interested in green building … Continue Reading
I hope everyone is having a great Labor Day. No new post today. Instead, I would suggest you read or re-read the New York Times article about LEED and energy performance. The article is one of my most important to come out on green building in awhile. As I said on Friday, the most interesting … Continue Reading
I found a YouTube video of a green roof being set on fire that I planned to post today. You know another topic would have to be very important to pre-empt a green roof fire video. Such a topic has revealed itself. On Wednesday, we started talking about the New York Times LEED energy performance … Continue Reading
You may have recently read the New York Times article about the gap between LEED building designs and actual energy performance. If not, I would recommend reading the article. You may have also noticed a reference to "construction lawyers": "Already, some construction lawyers have said that owners might face additional risk of lawsuits if buildings … Continue Reading
[Sometimes I get great emails from readers and we discuss a green building topic or blog post. Then I sit on the topic for a while, waiting for the right time to share with the Green Building Law Update readers. Now seems like the right time to share an email I received from a reader. … Continue Reading
With the recent announcement that LEED certified projects will have to report energy performance data, the USGBC has signaled its intent to take on under performing green buildings. LEED 2009 requires the reporting of energy performance data, but does not include actual energy performance requirements. I have no doubt that the USGBC will require some … Continue Reading