Virginia has become the latest government to mandate an alternative compliance path for green building that includes the International Green Construction Code.… Continue Reading
The Department of Energy will remain busy in 2010 with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects. In addition to $3.1 billion for the State Energy Program, the DOE is also responsible for $5 billion distributed to states for the weatherization of homes. One state has already come under criticism for management of its weatherization … Continue Reading
On Monday we highlighted "headaches" that may arise from climate-related stimulus funding. Cities and towns are struggling to come up with worthy programs for the funds. Furthermore, the Department of Energy has warned officials that funding should go towards the long-term establishment of programs: "Don’t use the entire amount of this money to set up … Continue Reading
While we have all (or at least I have) been focusing on the federal stimulus and its effect on the green building industry, an interesting development occurred in Virginia that may impact the future of a statewide green building regulation. In past posts, I highlighted Governor Tim Kaine’s attempts to pass a statewide green building … Continue Reading
As promised, below is the slideshow from last week’s "Green in the Stimulus" presentation as part of Rutherfoord’s Trends in Green Building seminar. Unfortunately, I have not figured out how to synchronize audio files with a slideshow – maybe next time. I had two goals when I created this presentation: (1) Explain the green building … Continue Reading
Update: For a rundown of green building provisions in the stimulus pacakge, see this post. This week, in preparation for my "Green in the Stimulus" presentation, I have been providing what I hope is interesting and useful information about the stimulus. Today we are briefly going to review a new website in Virginia, Stimulus.Virginia.gov, which … Continue Reading
Last week, we talked about the William & Mary Environmental Law Review Symposium "It Ain’t Easy Building Green." Today, I am going to try yet another new blog trick and make my slideshow available from the Symposium. If you have any questions or would like to discuss any of the slides in detail, just post … Continue Reading
[Green Building Law Update is achieving another first: our first guest post! Christopher G. Hill is a Virginia construction attorney and recently started a legal blog, Construction Law Musings. I first met Chris through Twitter and I appreciate his willingness to discuss green building legal issues.] By: Christopher G. Hill Lately terms such as LEED … Continue Reading
Last week, we discussed a law in Virginia that prohibits municipalities from creating green building codes or mandates. In short, Dillon’s Rule only grants to municipalities those powers that are explicitly granted by the state. The Virginia Code has specifically granted the power to create a building code to the state; municipalities, on the other … Continue Reading
I hope you survived the dramatic cliffhanger from Monday. Now, time to answer the question, how do Virginia cities and counties regulate green building if they cannot adopt a building code? Such a dramatic pause for such a mundane answer: zoning ordinances. The Virginia code specifically delegates to the municipalities the right to create zoning … Continue Reading
This past weekend, I spent a lot of time preparing a slideshow for the William & Mary Environmental Law & Policy Review Symposium, "It’s Not Easy Being Green." As you may recall, I will be presenting on green building regulations in Virginia. Guess what we are going to discuss on Green Building Law Update this … Continue Reading
In continuing our week of epiphanies, here’s another one that struck us here at Green Building Law Update: should governments consider getting out of the green building certification process? Yes, I realize this epiphany is out there and that practically every state has implemented some sort of green building regulation. Over the past few months, … Continue Reading
Now that our discussion of Southern Builders v. Shaw Development is over (whew!), Green Building Law Update is going to take the rest of the week to answer some reader questions. The first question comes from Erica: How should a locality located in a "Dillon Rule" state, such as Virginia, go about establishing a mandatory … Continue Reading
Last week, we discussed the Virginia General Assembly’s attempts to pass green building legislation in 2008. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine was also forced to weigh in on his preferred green building rating system in 2008. Previously, in 2007, Governor Kaine indicated his preference for the LEED rating system in Executive Order 48: “All agencies and … Continue Reading