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 [...]
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Last week, my blog had one of those moments when I realized it was growing up before my eyes.
Robert J. MacPherson is the Chair of the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry. In the recent issue of The Construction Lawyer (the Forum’s Journal), Mr. MacPherson published a farewell column as outgoing Chair (PDF). I [...]
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[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. [...]
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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 [...]
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Love might be too strong of a word but you get the point. The idea of LEED de-certification has touched off a firestorm of comments, some in support and others in objection. I think a follow up post is warranted.
First, I want to clarify one important piece of information as I noticed some were [...]
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I’m impressed. In one fell swoop, the USGBC has stepped up to the plate to address the primary criticisms of the LEED rating system.
Kudos to Scot Horst and the USGBC for acknowledging an issue that has bothered many users of the LEED rating system:
“Today there is all too often a disconnect, or performance [...]
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I wanted to take a moment and thank all of the Green Building Law Update readers. You all have been blowing my minds the last few weeks. There has been a surge in comments and discussions that take place after my original post. Many times, these comments and discussions are much more important than the [...]
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As I mentioned in my June 24 post, starting June 26, the USGBC eliminated public CIRs in order to improve the functionality of the LEED rating system. The USGBC’s Peter Templeton provided the following explanation for eliminating the public CIRs:
Under the new LEED certification model, standards development and project certification responsibilities are divided between [...]
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I took away a very important, very big thought from my conversation with Rob Watson. This big, important thought was based first on a comment from Watson himself:
"We are in a ‘you bet your species’ proposition with unmanageable climate change, so more rapid penetration of LEED is not a problem, rather a prerequisite with regards [...]
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I have been spending a lot of time recently thinking about two posts I made regarding the LEED 25 percent premise and why this will be problematic for green building mandates. Why did I reconsider these posts? Rob Watson told me I was wrong.
Watson knows LEED better than you and I. He was one [...]
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