Do you remember Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bonds? If you recall, in a June 2009 post, I proclaimed my undying affection for PACE bonds, which can serve as a financing mechanism to retrofit homes and buildings: “PACE is a bond where the proceeds are lent to commercial and residential property owners to finance energy … 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
Reminder: Don’t forget to register for Green Building Law Update’s Birthday Happy Hour Sometimes, my fair city of Washington, D.C. can drive me crazy. There is no doubt we have our issues. But one thing Washington, D.C. has going for it is its push to become more green. D.C. is at the forefront of the … Continue Reading
The Washington D.C. government has recently began incorporating Social Media 2.0 into its public outreach. Agencies have Facebook pages, some are on Twitter and officials have even taken to participating in online chats with the public. I was very excited to learn that Councilmember Mary Cheh was conducting one of these online chats last Friday. … Continue Reading
When you heard that the Department of Energy would be providing $3.2 billion for Energy-Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants to states, what kind of programs did you have in mind? I imagined weatherization of the leaky, old buildings in Washington, D.C. I imagined an incentive program to build green in D.C. I am imagined solar … Continue Reading
This week, I want to tell you about new green building developments in the D.C. metropolitan area. I like incentive programs related to green building. D.C. recently came out with a solar rebate program that will most definitely increase the installation of renewable energy systems: Beginning February 23, 2009, the program will provide rebates to … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, we looked at the best case scenario that can result from the D.C. Green Building Act "performance bond" requirement. We assumed that the green building "performance bond" was created. The scenario was not pretty and involved extensive LEEDigation™ . Today we look at the worst case scenario. Imagine no new construction projects … Continue Reading
Today I am speaking once again on the D.C. Green Building Act "performance bond" issues (see slides in this post). I have a new message for this presentation because, frankly, I am not certain we are getting anywhere. If you need some background, here are all of the Green Building Law Update posts regarding this … Continue Reading
General Services Administration, I am impressed. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act mandated that the GSA determine projects that would receive $5.5 billion by April 3, 2009. The GSA beat this mandate, making its list of projects available on April 2, 2009 (hat tip to the Washington Business Journal for breaking the story ). If … Continue Reading
Last week, I had the pleasure of testifying before the D.C. Council regarding green building policies in the district. As mentioned in my post last week, the focus of my testimony was the Green Building Act’s “performance bond” requirement. Before my testimony, I had the opportunity to hear George Hawkins, Director of the District Department … Continue Reading
I am very excited for an event taking place today: the Public Oversight Roundtable on Green Building Practices hosted by the Council of D.C. Committee on Government Operations and the Environment. As you may recall, Green Building Law Update has repeatedly discussed the "performance bond" requirement of the D.C. Green Building Act . As currently … Continue Reading
I have been working with the D.C. City Council recently on revisions to the D.C. Green Building Act of 2007. In particular, I have been looking for an enforcement mechanism that can be used to ensure compliance with LEED certification requirements for commercial buildings. The problem is that the current Green Building Act requires a … Continue Reading
To start this post, I want to thank Rick Fedrizzi , CEO of the United States Green Building Council. On February 12, I attended a breakfast hosted by Bisnow at which Mr. Fedrizzi was the guest speaker. I really appreciated his speech – he did not ignore the current economic climate but talked about the opportunities that will emerge from the green … Continue Reading
Here at Green Building Law Update, sometimes we wonder if we are just talking to our parents and significant other. Then we get a comment or a great email from one of our readers and we realize someone is actually paying attention. With that said, what happened this past week in the green building industry … 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
Today we are going to take a hiatus from the discussions of green building in the current financial markets and, instead, wrap up what potentially could have been major green building litigation. On October 17, 2008, the Lerner family and the D.C. Government resolved litigation stemming from the LEED-Silver certified Washington Nationals Stadium. … Continue Reading
To finish off the week at Green Building Law Update, we are going to attempt to answer another reader question with the help of all the readers out there. In a previous post, Anna MacLeod posted the following question: I need to find some DC-based architect, commercial building development companies, etc… Anyone who would be affected … Continue Reading
Today we are wrapping up our discussion of Shaw Development v. Southern Builders, one of the first examples of major green building litigation. On Monday we discussed the basic facts of the case; on Wednesday we looked at the contractual green building requirements between the two parties; and on Friday we looked at Shaw Development’s … Continue Reading
Back in August, GBLU discussed protracted disputes between the Washington D.C. Government and the Washington Nationals owners over the construction of the Nationals’ new stadium. The dispute centers on when the LEED certified stadium was substantially complete. To date the Lerner family, the team owners, have withheld payment of $3.5 million as a result of … Continue Reading
You may remember that in previous posts, GBLU warned that September was going to be a big month for green building regulations in Washington D.C. It was anticipated that the D.C. City Council would vote on new green building codes on September 16 but the codes were tabled to allow for more feedback from affected parties. But … Continue Reading
One factor that has significantly increased demand for green building is government regulation that requires green building strategies. So far, GBLU has focused green building initiatives at the city level. While there has been some federal green building legislation, GBLU anticipated major federal green building legislation would emerge from Congress in 2009. It now looks like federal … Continue Reading