In April 2010, the Department of Defense (“DOD”) issued a memorandum (“memo”) that altered the structure of the defense budgeting cycle, beginning with fiscal year (“FY”) 2012 budget. These changes were ostensibly made to offer more stability to the budgeting process, which prior to the memo involved a more complicated two-year budgeting (more…)

Many people, including me, have noted that the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”), signed into law by President Obama on December 31, 2011, prohibits the Department of Defense (“DoD”) from using any appropriated funds to achieve the two highest levels of green building certification offered by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and (more…)

It was a rough year for Congress. The Republican and Democrats, the House and Senate — no one could seem to agree.

Unless we are talking about green buildings.

In June, I reported on the Department of Defense Reauthorization bill that passed the House of Representatives. In the legislation, the Department of (more…)

Located in Stanford, California is the very well known Stanford University. Because the university resides in what is known as one of the largest “cleantech states” in the United States, being California, Stanford University does what it can in an effort to bolster California’s stance as the number one sustainable (more…)

When you think about a “green” building, you probably don’t picture a centuries-old National Historic Landmark that’s lined with columns and made of thousands of tons of granite.

Well, maybe that’s about to change. I'm pleased to announce that the Treasury Building – which dates (more…)

For much of 2011, my focus has been the Destiny USA project. This should not come as a surprise to readers who waded through my thirteen posts on the topic. I had planned to not write about the Destiny USA project again. But then I came across a press release while I was at Greenbuild: (more…)

Contrary to common belief that nothing is really happening in green building at the Congressional level these days, I provide the following two counterexamples.

 An amendment to the Senate Appropriations Bill for Energy and Water introduced by Senators Wicker (more…)

Houston is one of the major cities in Texas. As part of a state-wide effort to become more cleantech friendly, including the use of renewable energy and energy efficient products, Houston has been doing what it can to work toward sustainability. This includes making changes in buildings, throughout (more…)

One of the very first green building legal conundrums may be resolved.

The Washington Business Journal reported on October 31 that legislation will be introduced in Washington D.C. that will create an alternative to the much maligned LEED bond requirement in the D.C. Green Building Act of 2006. (more…)

I have spent just over a year thinking about the International Green Construction Code (IgCC).  I know it has been one year because I received my first copy of the code at Greenbuild 2010.  My conclusion today about the code is no different than it was one year ago: 

(more…)